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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Double Special 20s`
Double Special 20s`
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Rhartt1234
225 posts
Feb 24, 2017
11:34 AM
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Here's a crazy set of custom double Special 20s on Ebay. Two separate combs, tuned a 5th apart.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-SET-of-NINE-Dual-Double-Hohner-Special-20-HARMONICAs-18-Total-Pro-Player-/172544085595?hash=item282c6dce5b:g:dTYAAOSwImRYLEeK
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nacoran
9379 posts
Feb 24, 2017
2:29 PM
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Lol, that looks like how I've doubled harps up. Pretty cool. When you figure that it's really the guts of 18 harps with what looks like a custom comb sandwiched in the middle the price isn't really that bad, although personally I think I'd rather just buy one like that (or make a super stack... I always wanted to do this with a full set of 12 harps stacked one on top of the other (I was planning on doing it with cheap harps though, and maybe use it for one novelty song and for the lolz).
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Nate
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First Post- May 8, 2009
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Bass410man
140 posts
Feb 24, 2017
5:55 PM
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Lol, for harps that have been hardly use and in great shape, they look pretty used and beat up. I wouldn't have the nerve to sell as harps in that condition, thats for sure. Apparently all the scratches and things you see in the photos disappear when you see them with your own eyes. what a deal!
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Sundancer
88 posts
Feb 24, 2017
8:28 PM
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Like the advert says, rare.
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nacoran
9380 posts
Feb 24, 2017
8:29 PM
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Bassman, but you are still getting 18 reed sets. Assuming they all play well... well, maybe above the going rate for used harps when you math it all out, but cheaper than if you were going to make a set like this for yourself.
If you did it with Lee Oskars (fairly reasonable prices for just reed plates) you'd be up to $350ish before you got the combs and 9 sets of covers, but you also need that reversed comb in the middle, which looks metal (and not stock- when I thought about doing this, for what it's worth, I planned to indent that piece to give your lips more room. It looks like they at least used a smaller comb). Then a few more bucks for the screws... so figure 9 sets of covers at $5, 18 sets of plates at $19, 18 regular combs at $5 each, screws and bolts at maybe another $5, and then those custom backward combs in between (which have to be cut like combs, not just blank pieces of metal or the reeds hit)... you are at $482 in parts if you did it new with L.O.s, which are a little cheaper than Sp20s most of the time, without the backwards combs.
I've never heard of a company making this stock, so you could argue this is 'custom'.
As for being beat up, they look scratched, but that's cosmetic, but you are right, for that price I'd want some guarantee that they were all in playable condition.
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Nate
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Bass410man
141 posts
Feb 25, 2017
8:42 AM
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Nate, that's true, but if you wanted to make regular harps out of these, you would have to buy covers also. I honestly don't know how anyone could play these, how would you get the harp into your mouth. I would think the tone of these would be weak, to say the least.
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nacoran
9383 posts
Feb 25, 2017
1:24 PM
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Bass, it's not hard. You basically just adjust your embouchure when you switch. Top lip over the top of the harp when you are playing the top one, bottom lip over the bottom one when you are playing the bottom one. Your other lip just sort of sits in the gap in the middle.
Actually, Brendan Power has a setup for this that uses the guts from two harps, but he angles them so they go through a front mouthpiece with a slider. Separated by a 5th they are great for Irish stuff. You never are playing both harps at exactly the same time. It's just so you can switch really quickly. Alternately, you can put a two harps just a half step apart together, like C/C# and use it to get all the notes for fully chromatic. They actually do this in Asia a ton with tremolos. (I actually think that's why tremolos tend to have 'flat' covers instead of having that little finger ridge along the back that most diatonics covers do. It makes the tremolos easier to hold two together).
And I'd cry if someone bought these with the idea of taking them apart and putting them back together as regular harps! These are specialty harps. I just priced it out to see what it would cost to create them.
And, by getting rid of two cover widths and replacing it with just that little backwards comb they made it easier to do than to just try to hold two harps. (I've got at least one song I hold three harps like this to handle the changes!)
That said, these are a specialty item. I'm not sure I'd want more than one of these in my kit. Actually, as long as you had the middle comb and the nuts and bolts you could swap any Sp20s you had for any combo. If somebody was selling just that part I might very well bid $20 just for that for one harp. (Of course, my harp collection is a hodge podge, so having the keys I needed in the same model harp might be an issue!)
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Nate
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