I’d thought I would never like a Hohner Marine Band because of its fanbase telling me that I have to switch to them from the Golden Melody. They thought the GMs are only for melody playing and badly tuned. Those obnoxious people ruined my interest in buying one for years. I also hated that some Marine Band players when they lip pursed, the notes sounded very strained. So I avoided them for a long time.
I recently bought one at Pianos N Stuff, a small music store in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I had a lot of money burning in my pocket after getting some during Christmas. I thought that I would give it a shot because I actually never bought one before. I had to come in with more realistic expectations because a lot of people online tend to overhype it as being the best harmonica for everything, despite mainly being known as the original blues harp.
My first impression of the Marine Band is that it plays very well. I got one in the key of A and it plays very well across all of the holes. I even managed to get an easy 6 overblow on it. Regarding the pearwood comb, it is double laquered, which makes it harder to swell up than the vintage ones, and feels more smooth compared to the Hohner Blues Harp. My only gripes with this harmonica is that the wooden comb makes it hard to clean and it’s assembled with nails instead of screws. My first A Golden Melody (which was a vintage one) had both nails and screws on it, but the Marine Band is all nails. But I feel like the nails really add to the aesthetic of the harp being from the 19th century. Anyways, I like this harp but it has its own flaws.
I think they do a deluxe edition, I know Rick Estrin plays those because he enjoys the woody sound. They are a bit better constructed that the original apparently the varnishing is even better, they are better to take apart and clean and apparently the factory spends more time getting the tuning right on them. Like you I dislike the original Marine bands for the same reasons. I like to use alcohol to clean my harps, I doubt very much that their double varnishing would stand up well against Isopropanol hence why I haven’t bought one for years. That and people telling me you’ve got to get this. As for Golden Melody there’s some wonderful footage of Paul DeLay playing one he say he couldn’t get the key he wanted in what he normally plays so he picked the Golden Melody up at a local store. He makes it sound amazing but hey— he is Paul DeLay
Which also goes to show[1] that you are open minded, unlike those who tried to badger you into accepting their view of the world. 
[1] If proof were needed - which it’s not since you clearly are. 
The marine band thing strikes me as a lot of “it is because it is” from marine band “loyalists” when there’s a huge amount of personal preference with harmonicas and everyone’s mouth and breathing are going to be different anyway. (people reenforcing themselves, it’s the same as “you need a telecaster to play country music” or “Martin is the best acoustic guitar”
The best instrument is the one that inspires you to play.
Do you drop the harp in alcohol? I know I can take it apart but I don’t think I need a deep clean at this point. Just curious if I can soak the Sydel Noble in alcohol.
The only store that carries the Deluxes in the US is Rockin’ Ron’s, but I’m on vacation in Pittsburgh right now and don’t have any money on my card so I couldn’t buy a Deluxe from Ron.
It depends how dirty it is I have a little spray bottle with which I spray them every time I use them. However as I’ve recently come down with flu there are certain harps I was playing before I came down with it, so I’ll be taking those apart and giving them a deep clean with a bit of alcohol in my ultrasonic cleaner ( this is probably very unnecessary but I’m a bit of a germaphbe
No, when I play them I have a little bottle I carry around in my gig bag to clean them. If they get really dirty I take them apart put them in an ultrasonic cleaner but that doesn’t happen too often because I generally keep them clean.