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Harmonicaster electric harmonica
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Harmonicaster
1 post
Aug 20, 2017
8:55 PM
Prof. John Shirley just put on a demonstration of the Harmonicaster electric harmonica at the SPAH convention. John tells me that it was well received. While he was giving the demo I was busy launching the IndieGoGo campaign and sending out the following press release:

The Electric Harmonica Company is proud to announce that after a very successful introduction of the Harmonicaster TM (Pat. Pending) at the 2017 Summer NAMM show in Nashville, the first practical electric harmonica is now in production and available to the general public. The very first production Harmonicaster, serial #001, in red, white, and blue, is being auctioned on eBay at http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/162634417348? to help music related charities that benefit kids and veterans, while the remainder of the first 50 Harmonicasters will be available to supporters of the Harmonicaster's IndieGoGo campaign at https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/harmonicaster-the-first-true-electric-harmonica-music . Once that campaign wraps up, the Harmonicaster will be for sale at Harmonicaster.com and from a major U.S. music retailer that has committed to carrying it.

While still retaining all of the conventional harmonica's virtues, the Harmonicaster is a new thing, with a sweet new electric tone right out of the box. That's just the start, though. Based on Seydel's stainless steel reeds and inductive pickups supplied by Lace Music, not microphones, the Harmonicaster is compatible with any effects device or pedal that will work with an electric guitar or bass. That opens up an entire world of tonal possibilities previously unavailable to harmonica players.

The Harmonicaster is attractive, compact, ergonomic, lightweight and with our color coded Key Cassette system you can easily change keys in seconds in a dark night club or on an unevenly lit stage!

. Onboard volume and tone controls are at your fingertips and you can use a traditional grip with hand wahs and flutters if you want to. You can even cup the Harmonicaster to a microphone and play two tones at once.

The traditional method of amplifying harmonica with a cupped microphone creates a great sound but it also creates problems. You can't play loudly through a microphone without eventually getting howling feedback. Impedence matching issues limit amplifier choices and using a matching transformer can affect tone. There are a limited number of effects devices made to work with mic'd instruments.

With the Harmonicaster you can play as loudly as you want to and it won't feedback under normal playing conditions. Since its electronics are similar to those of an electric guitar it will work with any amplifier or effects device made for inductive pickups. In fact, as one harp player said, you don't even need to carry around a heavy amp to gigs, just take a digital amp modeler to your gig and plug right into the PA. For studio musicians, it works just fine with a DI box.

That just scratches the surface of the Harmonicaster's potential. It's a new thing and we can't predict how far players will take it. Leo couldn't predict what Jimi would do.

Available in black or silver and a dozen custom colors, the Harmonicaster is "Made in the Motor City". Assembled in the Detroit area from the very best domestic and imported components, the Harmonicaster is made with a combination of old-world hand craftsmanship and the most modern manufacturing techniques include 3D printing and laser cutting. Seydel, the oldest harmonica company in the world, handmakes our reedplates in Klingenthal, Germany with their stainless steel reeds. Lace custom winds our pickups in California, voiced for harmonica. We use Alpha potentiometers and Orange Drop capacitors. The rest of the Harmonicaster is fabricated in our own workshop in Michigan.

The Harmonicaster has a retail price of $359.99, which includes a Harmonicaster, one Key Cassette in A, an adapter for 1/4" guitar cables, and a protective case that is Made in the USA. Additional Key Cassettes are available from Low C to F, individually or as sets. The Key Cassettes will also work as conventional acoustic harmonicas.

It's our own invention and The Electric Harmonica Co. has secured intellectual property relating to the Harmonicaster but we think the idea is too good to just keep to ourselves. We will license anyone who meets our technical standards, with a nominal royalty fee.

We are also "giving away" the Harmonicaster's prototype designs. We're a part of the "maker" community, and without the use of 3d printers and lasers we would not have been able to develop the Harmonicaster as quickly or as efficiently as we have. To give back, and to popularize the Harmonicaster concept, if individuals want to make their own electric harmonica we'll be making the design of the final pre-production prototype, including a bill of materials and the 3D print files, available to the general public for non-commercial use. While it is bigger, heavier, and doesn't have the same cool tone (it uses off-the-shelf pickups for bass guitars, not custom wound and voiced pickups like the production Harmonicaster uses) as the production Harmonicaster, it certainly works and we want to popularize the idea.

For more information, visit Harmonicaster.com.


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