silverharp88
17 posts
Jul 16, 2013
9:45 AM
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are they all the same?
Johnson
Jambone
Kane
hurricane harps
Chinese made Hohners
blue steel harps
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HawkeyeKane
1886 posts
Jul 16, 2013
9:50 AM
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There's a "Kane" brand harp?!?!?! How in the hell did I miss that?!
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Hawkeye Kane
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nacoran
6933 posts
Jul 16, 2013
10:02 AM
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More or less they seem to be. I'm not sure with each one, but there are a bunch of cheap clones. Hohner hand mades, Seydel, Suzuki, Tombo (Lee Oskar) are the brands most people think of as good harps, with maybe Hering in there too, with Huang as an also ran.
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Nate
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silverharp88
18 posts
Jul 16, 2013
10:09 AM
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sorry about that hawkeyekane the harp brand is actually spelled Kaine.
http://www.offerany.com/p-7350983310-10-hole-20-tone-genuine-Kane-Brand-Advanced-Embedded-played-tone-harmonica-silver-sent-beginner-tutorial.html
Last Edited by silverharp88 on Jul 16, 2013 10:09 AM
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isaacullah
2459 posts
Jul 16, 2013
11:42 AM
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I think Gnarly is correct. Most of these cheaper harmonicas seemed to be made by the Shanghai Guoguang Harmonica Factory Co.,Ltd.. That factory also makes the better Chinese-made harp brands "Swan" and "Leo-Shi". Chinese business have very liberal outlooks towards what constitutes copyright and patent infringement, so you often see the exact same product made in the same factory by the same works, but with different brand/model names stamped on them...
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isaacullah
2460 posts
Jul 16, 2013
11:43 AM
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Here's a fun article about that particular factory in Shanghai...
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nacoran
6935 posts
Jul 16, 2013
12:07 PM
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Isaac, I suspect in this case the patent protection is long since expired. Even the Sub30 is out in the open at this point, although there might be some trade secret agreements or new tricks that might be protected.
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Nate
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LIP RIPPER
692 posts
Jul 16, 2013
1:02 PM
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"Liberal outlooks" is putting it lightly Isaac. To quote my friend who owns a manufacturing business; "the Chinese don't give a fuck about patents".
You finding any indian artifacts up there in Indiana? Too late now, you'll have to wait for harvest and the fall till.
LR
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isaacullah
2463 posts
Jul 16, 2013
3:20 PM
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:) Well, I was trying to be diplomatic about it, but you are right. They don't care at all. Nate, you are probably correct that any salient patents have likely expired by this point, but I have a feeling that all these cheap harp "brands" are one-for-one rip-offs of the original Hohner Bluesband design that was likely sent to this factory some time in the '80's... I've seen several of these harps in person, and the only things that are different are what is stamped on the coverplate, and the color of the plastic comb. The screw patterns all match perfectly, however, and all the parts are perfectly interchangeable...
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isaacullah
2464 posts
Jul 16, 2013
3:41 PM
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Hmmm... I think the picture is a bit more murky. Apparently, the Golden Cup brand is made by a different factory: the Jiangyin Qiling Musical Instrument Co., Ltd.. I know that Golden Cup and Leo SHi intstruments are identical, so it looks like this factory makes those ones, and the Shanghai factory makes "Hero" and "Star" brand harps, among others. Also, there seems to be a "Donfeng Musical Instrument" company that makes Hohner's Chinese harps now... I also found a reference that claims there are 7 harmonica manufacturers in China... At one point they were all government run, but now at least some of them have been bought by private investors... Very interesting stuff!
Also, I discovered that the "Swan" brand has an "offical" US store (http://www.swanmusicstore.com/), that claims "the manufacturer has found various counterfeit products on the market. Please buy SWAN products from authorized dealers only." Now THAT'S interesting! A counterfeit counterfeit! :)
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nacoran
6938 posts
Jul 16, 2013
6:14 PM
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Isaac, how did you scrounge that info up? I haven't done a search in a while but I'd love to update the forum map with more factories. :)
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Nate
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isaacullah
2467 posts
Jul 17, 2013
8:49 AM
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@nate: What can I say? I'm a googling fool! I didn't really even have to use much google-fu to find them. Just the right keywords and persistence... Google the names of those factories, and I'm sure you'll get a map result....
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