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 Post subject: Special 20s
PostPosted: Thu Aug 06, 2015 11:27 am 
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Back when I was playing harp all the time, I migrated to Hohner' "Pro Harps" because of their volume, rich tone, and reliability. Recently, I wanted to play harp-on-a-bracket on a song I'm working up on banjo. Since I'm now going back and forth between multiple banjos and guitars, I'm also considering getting a harp bracket and harps to go with each of the instruments I use most often. I need C, G, and D harps for my own repertoire.

The last "Pro Harp" I bought cost me $13, if that gives you any idea of how long I've had these. But now they are far too expensive to buy multiples at a time. ($45 plus mail-order).

I could buy Pro Harps in combos, with cases or whatever, but the combinations that had the harps I wanted included stuff and keys I didn't need or couldn't use, and cost too much.

When I started shopping, Musician's friend has three-packs of Special 20s for $98, but they were C, G, and A. A "D" would add $35 to the mix.

They had a case of 5 (C,G,D,A, and E) for $130. (They don't come up on searches any more but I found them here: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/folk-tra ... ica-5-pack )

So I ordered that set. The case would hold 7, so I ordered F and Bb as well. No 95% of the keys I'm EVERY likely to encounter are covered.

I also ordered three more harp brackets, from Elderly because they had them cheap.

Today, I tried out a song I wanted to play on banjo and use a harp bracket for. It's in the key of A but requires a D harp, so I started with my first "Blues Harp," a D I bought back in the 1970s. It's too far gone, and I've mislaid my D Pro harp, so I fished out the new D Special 20.

In the bracket it doesn't seem to have quite as rich a tone as the Pro Harp. But most people probably don't buy these to use that way. In my hands, it's very responsive and loud, and I have no trouble coaching a good tone out of it. It also has all of the features that made my old Pro harps durable and low-maintenance, so I'll give it 5 stars. Since I'm buying multiples, I'll probably stay with these for my harmonica-bracket uses.

Of course that brings us to the ongoing conundrum - if I want a C,D, and G harp to put in the cases for my other most-used banjos and guitars, I'll have to buy another set with another E harp I certainly won't need.

Anybody have D pro harps or special twenties they have never played that they would like to trade for E harps I've never played?

Oh that's right hardly ANYBODY ever plays E harp.

If you have any comments about these or other harmonica-related topics, log in and post. Or use my comment page here to send me your comments:

http://www.creekdontrise.com/contact.htm



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Paul Race playing a banjo. Click to go to Paul's music home page.Whatever else you get out of our pages, I hope you enjoy your music and figure out how to make enjoyable music for those around you as well.

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    - Paul Race Click to see Paul's music home page Click to contact Paul through this page. Click to see Paul's music page on Facebook Click to see Paul's music blog page Click to hear Paul's music on SoundCloud. Click to sign up for the Creek Don't Rise discussion forum. Click to learn about our Momma Don't Low Newsletter. Click to see Paul's Twitter Page Click to see Paul's YouTube Channel.



All material, illustrations, and content of this web site is copyrighted © 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006,
2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 by Paul D. Race. All rights reserved.

Note: Creek Don't Rise (tm) is Paul Race's name for his resources supporting the history and
music of the North American Heartland as well as additional kinds of acoustic and traditional music.

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