23 replies to this topic

[Hipster]

Hi, I'm an absolute beginner on the Harmonica and have bought myself a Jambone because they are dirt-cheap and had some good reviews from experienced players on the internet. Jambones aren't stocked in my area so I had to mail order paying £3.00 postage & packing which brings it up to the same price as the lowest priced harmonica that I can get locally, the Hohner Silver Star. I couldn't find any reviews of the Silver Star so my question is, when I come to replace my Jambone or need to get a harmonica tuned to a different key, which is better, the Jambone or Silver Star?

Obviously, the instant answer that springs to mind is to pay more and get a universally recognised quality harmonica like the Special 20 or Lee Oskar but let's for the moment pretend that I'm a cheapskate.
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[FatJim]

Silver Stars are junk!

I can't be 100%, but I do know that just about all of the budget harps out there are made in China and rebadged for sale elsewhere. This includes the low-end Hohners like the Silver Star. Since there are only 7 harmonica factories in China - all State owned, there's a pretty high chance that the Johnson (Jambone) and the Hohner are actually made in the same factory, by the same people, using the same tools and under the same quality (or lack thereof) control.

Plenty of good harps are built in China, Suzukis to name just one, but a lot of absolute junk comes from there too.

In a nutshell, any harp is better than no harp; but you've answered your own question really. Don't be a cheapskate! Spend more on a good quality brand - £25 upwards. The instrument you'll get will be infinitely better quality.

[Hipster]

Cheers for that FATJIM, do you know how good the Big River is? It's the next one up in price at about £12 - £15.

[Harper-Chris]

The Suzuki harps are not from China, they are from Japan....
The Hohner Big River Harp is a very good harp for beginners!!
Easy to play and easy to bend....

[Harper-Chris]

Suzuki makes very good quality harps
http://www.harphouse.com/shop/category.asp?catid=30

[FatJim]

suzuki is a Japanese company; they outsource harmonica production to China.

http://www.gluckman.com/ChinaHarp.html 6th paragraph.

[SolomanDHBlues]

I bought a Hohner International BluesBand harmonica, in the key of C, for around USD $5.00. They are pretty prevalent at a place called Cracker Barrell, and they sound really good and are great to practice with.

[Harper-Chris]

SolomanDHBlues said:

I bought a Hohner International BluesBand harmonica, in the key of C, for around USD $5.00. They are pretty prevalent at a place called Cracker Barrell, and they sound really good and are great to practice with.

That´s right!!!
The BluesBand is made in China, but it is a Hohner!!

[Harper-Chris]

FatJim said:

suzuki is a Japanese company; they outsource harmonica production to China.

http://www.gluckman.com/ChinaHarp.html 6th paragraph.

Sorry, but they just make ths cheap harps in China!!!
Hohner makes that too.
http://www.fbeat.de/harpshop/suzuki_en.html

[Dauber]

Heh...when I took my first Chicago blues harp class, my instructor spent about 15 minutes playing show-and-tell with some harmonicas he acquired, including the cheapo Hohner that they sell at Cracker Barrell. He said he got that from a student he was tutoring privately, and that the poor girl was just constantly running out of breath on the thing because she had to blow and draw so much air with it. He felt sorry for her, so he bought her a Marine Band and demanded that she surrender the Blus Band. One of the other students in my class laughed and said, "You know what? That's exactly the same damn harp I've been using!"

Seriously, though, with musical instruments, for the most part you don't want to cheap out. Spend $25 on a harmonica -- which really isn't all that much money. (However, I've found that Fender's budget Squier line is a good guitar, surprisingly...)

[Hipster]

A big thanks to everyone for all your advice, it's been really helpful. I just didn't want to fork out a lot of money on a harmonica to start with as I'd be practicing a lot and getting it wrong initially and would possibly wear out the reeds quite quickly, I may try a Big River next and move on to a Special 20 when I feel I've reached a good enough standard.

[Harper-Chris]

Hipster said:

A big thanks to everyone for all your advice, it's been really helpful. I just didn't want to fork out a lot of money on a harmonica to start with as I'd be practicing a lot and getting it wrong initially and would possibly wear out the reeds quite quickly, I may try a Big River next and move on to a Special 20 when I feel I've reached a good enough standard.

The Hohner Big River is the best choise!!!

[Vinnie Blues]

I've started with a 20 Special. I consider - out of experience from other musicians with other instruments, including husband with his flute - that's in the long term, it's better to learn with a good instrument, as it's encouraging to get something nice out of it. I tend to consider this as a good investment. Learning to play an instrument is enough difficult like that, no need to make it worse and discouraging with something that would not reward you with a nice sound and outcome. Besides, when you invest money in an instrument, whatever it is, it's extra motivation as you think "well, ain't gonna stop like that, gotta go on". The path to music is a difficult and demanding, let's have some pleasure with good instruments.

The 20 Special in C I purchased cost me EUR 27.00 at my local music shop. Thought it would have been more expensive.

Well, just my thinking.

[FatJim]

I agree with you vinnie. Learning on a poor instrument is a bad move. some techniques will be harder to master. I remember the first time I played a non-budget guitar; I make no pretensions to be anything other than a three chord campfire strummer, but I could not believe the difference in the action, tone, and feel of the thing. Same with harp. I actually buy a few of these cheap Chinese harps (various brands, but all £5 or less) to practice tuning and gapping skills on - I have about 10 of them kicking about in various states of disassembly / playablity. I didn't find one which was properly tuned 'out of the box' and they were all very leaky breathwise. Sure with a fair bit of tweaking you can make them play a lot better, but still not as good as a 'proper' harp.

A leaky harp means much less control, but that is not necessarily something a beginner will recognise until they play a good instrument.

And think how lucky we are: a harp player can get a pro-instrument for around £25! No wonder guitarists don't like us!

[Vinnie Blues]

... or no wonder some guitarists blow in a harp too !

Besides, as we're on the subject, I almost master 'Amazing Grace', have made good progress on 'Oh Susanna' and have just begun a version with no bend of 'Dixie' I found.

Despite my exercising, I still have some problems with my G to be drawn in the 2nd hole. So I cheat and blow it in the 3rd hole. But in general the sounds I get from the 1st and 2nd holes are just awful while I manage to have a nice sound for the other holes (when I don't blow/draw in more than 1 hole - LOL !). Guess it's me and have still have a lotta progress to make. I've checked the harp sound with our conductor in the band playing the piano and all the notes were fine in tune. Any ideas ? All advice most welcome.

[FatJim]

Try inhaling through your nose a little as you draw the hole 2. Sounds like your drawing too hard. Breathe through the harp, inhale and exhale NOT suck and blow.

[Hipster]

Yeah, I'm having trouble with draw 2 as well, I thought it might be because I was playing a cheap harmonica but after experimenting for a while, I find I can get the note if I draw more gently than I do with the other holes, of course a side-effect of this is that draw 2 produces a much quieter sound than the others.

It's good to hear that I'm not the only learner in the forum; I'm using Jon Gindick's Country & Blues Harmonica for the Musically Hopeless book & tape (I bought it used so didn't get the Pocket Pal that's usually included), it's very clear & easy to follow.

[FatJim]

Everyone has trouble on the 2 and 3 draw when they're learning! don't worry - just keep playing that thing!

[Vinnie Blues]

Aaah... this is it then. Thanks FatJim for the advice !!!

Yes, I'm gonna try and thinking of it, I carry my harp everywhere with me. While waiting for the bus at the bus stop, I get it out and play, not too noisily and it sounds just right !!! That's because I don't wanna make too much noise, I play it gently. I got it now.

"inhale and exhale NOT suck and blow" : I'll keep that in mind, for sure.

Tonight, I trained once back at home and frankly, even hole 3 became difficult. *sigh* By the way, how can we maintain the harp ? I mean, I can see my husband removing damp from inside his flute after he's done with it. Is there some similar care to bring to a harmonica ? I'm under the impression that sometimes, the reeds inside the harp don't play anymore maybe because of too much damp due to breathing inside. Am I correct ?

Thanks in anticipation !

[Dauber]

Vinnie -- if you're a beginner and your reeds aren't sounding already, then either the reeds suck or you're blowing/drawing too hard.

But regarding your moisture question...the most common thing to do is just slap your harp against your (covered) leg, hole-side inward, a couple of times. Not necessarily the most sanitary thing in the universe to do, but the nature of the harmonica design forces it to be unsanitary...but that's the most common method of de-moisturizing the reeds.

BTW -- yeah, the 2-draw is a challenge...but some day all of a sudden you'll be able to work with it. Now...just wait until you try to BEND the 2-draw! The first bend is hard, but the second bend is a doozy...