I know these are crappy plastic harps. But I'm thinking of buying a set because:
1) I hear the case is nice, and I'm in the market for one
2) I want to start working on my own harps (Special 20s) and am told that it's a good idea to learn by tinkering on old harps you don't want anymore because you will make mistakes. I don't want to mess up any of the harps I actually play regularly. So I can learn on these, so to speak.
What do you think? Thanks for any and all thoughtful responses. I'm not real hands-on type person by nature but I do want to be self-sufficient and this seems like a good way to start.
I've seen people buy them, dump the harps in the trash and keep the case. It's a nice case. You bet it's a good idea to work on these. Absolutely... and Chinese harps, when you put some effort into them, can make responsive harps, because thin reeds are responsive - the thicker a reed is, the more tone it has, the thinner it is, the more response, generally. By the time you get to the point where you make stuff better more than you destroy stuff, you'll get tired of working on crap and will be ready to move onto real harps. Try embossing and setting the gaps first thing. That background music on the embossing, by the way, is the HARPBeats. Phil Caltabelotta, Chromatic, Wally Peterman, chord, and George Miklas on bass harmonica. It is the richest piece of music I've ever heard. When they hit that full chord at the end, Wally flips the chord, because when he hits that split chord at the end, he likes the tone better when that one particular note is played on the right side of his mouth instead of the left. Those guys do NOT screw around.
The "Exacto Knife" I'm using in the demonstration is a bayonet from a 7mm Mauser rifle, BTW.
no lynn Hohner Piedmont Blues harps though primarily used in the usa as landfill and tap water flavoring are excellent harps and once replaced with a corian comb and seydel reedplates, sound better than suzukis. the case isnt really that great its a cheap foam rubber that rots when it comes in contact with human skin oils. i always throw the case out for this reason and use a plastic grocery shopping bag instead.
FWIW, if you wanna try to improve Piedmonts, you can also use SP20 or Jambone coverplates on them as well. My current F harp is a tightened-up Piedmont with Jambone covers. The metal coverplates make a good deal of improvement on their sound.
Also FWIW, the Hohner Blue Ice and Hohner Hoodoo Blues can both be found in a bargain three-harp zipper pouch at a lot of local music stores. They're the same harp as the Piedmont, just with different colored plastics. ---------- Hawkeye Kane
I like the cases, and like Dave said, you can use the Piedmonts to practice tinkering on. The covers muffle the sound, but sometimes that can be a virtue. There was a video a couple days ago where someone suggested wrapping your harp in a towel to muffle the sound for playing late at night in an apartment. With Piedmont you are half way there. The covers are interchangeable with Sp20's. I've switched them back and forth both ways. The plastic covers, in my opinion, are the most comfortable covers on the lips, but you pay for it in tone.
And, it's worth mentioning the taste. Piedmonts, when they are new, taste terrible. They have snazzy gold paint on them which wears off after about a day (which is too bad, because it actually looks pretty sharp). I don't know if that's what gives them the terrible first taste, but it seems to go away about as quickly as the paint. When I say terrible, I'd rank them at about 9.5 on the bad taster Richter tuned scale. Thinking about this has inspired me. I'm going to send a letter to Hohner to see if they can get rid of the paint. Yuck. I'm still having flavor memory.
A family member sent me a set of these to clean up a while back. Maybe the Arkansas climate or hard playing took its toll, but on almost all of them the plastic covers and plastic comb mouth pieces had started to melt or rot away in one fashion or another. I put these in the garbage and focused on the Big River's which ended up sounding very good.
For practicing repair and tweaking though as David suggested above they might be worth a look. But the case is probably the best part.
Alternately, I was very surprised at how much better a $5 Hohner Blues Band Harp sounded after some embossing and reed work! Maybe they are a step up from the Piedmonts and the sets are pretty cheap. I'm not sure what the manufacturing differences are, but the Blues Band seems more substantial to me.
Up from there would be the Blues Bender's for around $18. These are a pretty decent harp to start with. The entry level Power Benders I believe are made with the same parts.
Don't just buy the case. Buy the set and give the harps to kids.
You may think some of these harps are pretty good after tinkering or whatever. To me the decent usable harps start at $30 +...and these need tinkering too.
Last Edited by on Jun 30, 2012 3:21 AM
Cover plates that melt, gold paint that rubs off, funny taste to plastic.....if these are not all blatant warning signs to avoid this made in China garbage like the plague, I don't know what else to say. I can only imagine the level of VOC's, phthalates, most likely lead paint, etc is off the charts. I also don't imagine that the chicoms have strict "quality control" measures either. I am not one of those crazy health freaks, but this product sounds dodgy at best. Just my 2 cents
Last Edited by on Jun 30, 2012 9:31 AM
Uhhh... don't give bad harps to kids if they're old enough to want to play music with them. But okay if they just want to throw them into Lego block constructions.
I gave a Big River to mys 8 yr old granddaughter and her mother was very grateful because the Pocket Pal she had before was driving Mom nuts.
Besides, you might give the kid a negative attitude toward harps if they were sensitive and hopeful for good sound. Subliminal training, you know.
Kids learn a lot we don't even realize sometimes.
My brother in law was playing his guitar one evening with the family in the living room. His 1 yr old daughter was crawling around playing on the floor. Her Dad was briefly interrupted for some reason and somehow misplaced the pick he was using. There was quite a to-do about finding it again. At one moment during this his daughter, who couldn't yet speak even simple sentences, crawled over and pointed at a shoe on the floor a couple of times, but the grown-ups were too busy searching to pay attention and they never did find that pick. Next morning I recalled what the kid had done and I looked in the shoe. There was the pick.
Last Edited by on Jun 30, 2012 10:41 AM
Great day Lor. I'm talking about giving these harps to 2 and 3 year olds just as an introduction to harmonica. They won't do anything but make noise with them. I have taught my two pre-kindergarten grandsons to blow in and out while doing a foot rhythm with them. Perfect for that.
Of course they may want customs when they turn 4 if they get pissed about not being able to bend the 7 overdraw up 1/2 step. Geez.
Last Edited by on Jun 30, 2012 11:47 AM
Billy..better not let em drink from a plastic bottle or cup... no way i would let em go near an aluminum can...either glass or cup their hands under the spigot...why not get rich Billy and sue Hohner cuz you got sick from a toxic harp
If a case is what your looking for, go to harbour freight tools and buy this kind. It was about 15 bucks and this one holds everything you would need. Use the extra 15-20 bucks you would otherwise spend on the piedmont set and buy yourself 1-2 better quality harps. IMHO learning on really cheap harps will hamper your progress. Just a thought and suggestion FWIW
Chemical sensitivity is just that, a sensitivity. Some people have it, some people don't. Some chemical smells give me really bad headaches at really low levels. Other ones don't bother me at all. If you've got them, and you find something that triggers it, avoid it.