I posted this in the free reed forum. I’m not busking yet but I’m getting there.
Here’s a harmonica story. I take my neighbor grocery shopping almost every Saturday. On the days he takes longer to shop than I do, I sit on the bench and play some harmonica. The cashiers have come to expect this. Yesterday, an older woman stopped in front of me after she checked out. She paused, looked perplexed, moved an inch, then stopped again perplexed. She didn’t say anything and when I finished the tune, I stopped playing a moment. She finally looked directly at me and asked where my can was. I said she’d have to listen for free.
mute’s got a groupie 
I guess whether an instrument is a ‘money maker’
is relative to what other instruments do.
I don’t think solo whistle is optimal or as
good as solo fiddle, but I do OK with
the Susato C. Maybe 45 bucks in three hours,
on a good day. Sometimes better, Christmas
rocks.
I suppose it is relative Jim but less than €10 an hour is really pity money and by most busking standards, extremely poor.
Susatos do carry, I remember some years ago a local man, Galvin, who always played at the Cliffs of Moher was at it near the entrance there, before they dug in the Darth Vader centre and made parking and entry charges prohibitive for those just going for an evening’s walk. I could still identify what tune he was playing 3/4 of a mile away walking along the Cliff edge (it was downwind in fairness on a winter’s day)
Where you in Salt Lake City? I swear somebody on the city council was dumped by a busker and passed laws to get their revenge. I’ve got to be within 5 feet from an imaginary polyangular line drawn from the curb to the nearest seagull and can only play on small 17" authorized zones in specific parks on Tuesdays following General Conference, unless there’s been a southerly wind in which case I’ll be shot on site. You think I’m exaggerating? Check out the location restrictions 
http://www.buskersadvocates.org/saalegalsaltlakecity.html#SaltLakeCityStreetOrdinance
OK, maybe I was exaggerating a little, but not by much 
Great list. Thanks for posting it.
Looks like you need to carry a measuring tape in your gig bag!
In our case, the buskers got dumped on because of the beggars. We have a lot of trouble with aggressive panhandlers in downtown Santa Cruz, and when the laws were tightened to protect downtown visitors, some idiot decided that the same laws applied to street musicians. We’ve been fighting it for years now (that’s what kicked off the “Keep Santa Cruz Weird” campaign), and generally the cops look the other way when it’s a performer, but it’s still irritating to be lumped in with the guy who sits on the street corner with a sign saying “Never had a pony.”
Redwolf
Aww c’mon, some people have good reasons for begging, take this guy for example:
A couple of odd experiences I’ve had while busking include (all in the same city):
-
learning that buskers [in one section of town] are allowed as long as they remain within three feet of the curb; you may only sit on things that you bring (sitting on the ground, fences, benches, leaning on poles etc is forbidden).
-
“Pro” buskers and panhandlers with run you the heck off if you crowd their space. The “rule of thumb” was one busker per block in this area. There was no “official” policy but the pros were agressive about keeping their territory to themselves.
-
one night i was playing whistle outside a bar. It was a nice evening, I was not making anything but the weather was nice and the people watching was good. I had my back to the street so didn’t see the two, young highland bagpipers setup until after they started playing. What little “crowd” I had evaporated to the otherside of the street. My little whiste could not compete with volumn or cute kids. Sigh.
-
the best thing that happened out there was one evening a man and his son stopped to listen to my playing. He asked if he could try my whistle. Well I didn’t want to possibly sacrifice the one I was playing but I did have a sort of abused generation in my bag. I let him play that. Turns out he was a top-end highland piper in town for a visit and he played rings around me
It was brilliant.
Loren, I’m lucky I wasn’t drinking anything when I saw that picture. I would have drenched my screen. Too funny. 
Redwolf, we actually had the same problem here. SLC has a problem with professional beggars http://www.breitbart.tv/html/84523.html. Some even pretend to be street performers. Before the downtown mall was abandoned I can remember blokes sitting there with a harmonica and a cup. They’d blow nonsense in and out of the harp under the guise of playing music.
I actually haven’t done any busking myself, though I’d like to make it a goal for me. (I have a terrible fear of pavement). I have seen busking done at several Larry Miller malls, however. My daughter will be trying them out this summer. You have to sign up for a space and time, so it’s not quite the same as just whipping out an instrument and playing on the street, but we’ll take what we can.