For a person without a lot of money, which is better, Lee Oskar or Hohner Specil 20?
The music store here has both (surprising since the only whistles they have are Sweetones)…but the people who work there don’t know anything.
What’s the difference between D harmonicas and low D? The same as D whistles and low D?
The only key I’ve ever played is C.
I’m no harmonica expert, but I do prefer the Lee Oscar for two reasons:
but also
I’ve only fooled around a bit with harmonicas, but actually played them on stage last weekend, so for once I actually put them to some use.
I keep going back and forth about getting a chromatic, but I’m afeared of blowing out the reeds and not being able to swap reeplates like I can with the Lee Oscars.
The Lee Oskar is tuned to “equal temperment” and the Special 20 is tuned to “just intonation”. Both are very good harps. Some people find the Lee Oskars to be a little squeeky when trying to bend notes in the upper register on higher keys (C and up). My harp instructor recommends Special 20’s for what it’s worth. Just like whistles you’ll find opinions in both camps. Best price is on the web Coast to Coast Music. That’s where I buy mine.
Good Luck,
Jon Harl
Here’s the link:
http://www.coast2coastmusic.com/
Kev man, you’re starting to scare me…
Loren
Whadda mean??? Nothin wrong with a little harpin, now, is there?
Meh… just get a Hohner MS Blues Harp. They play great, and have replaceable reedplates, and a whole harp isn’t much more than a Lee Oskar replacement plate.
A regular D harp is a good one for bending notes on, IMO, but you’ll find yourself in the key of A, whereas, a C will give you G in cross position.
OK, let’s see if we can name three instruments Walden doesn’t play.
Here’s a guess:
C-melody saxophone
duet concertina
tama (talking drum)
Well actually I don’t think Walden plays saxophones or concertinas of any type but I just wanted to more or less make sure. 
To make the challenge harder I tried to select from instruments I do play but once I got specific I lost out. I play sax, but not C-melody, concertina but not duet.
Couldn’t a C-soprano work just fine for ITM?
ok, had your fun? Now think of it…
PS: Cran, how come the green colour of your new flag avatar reminds me more the US$ bills backside than the Green Party? It’s really the same moldy hue…
OK then:
tama
kora
vibraphone
Some more instruments I don’t play:
guitar
tuba
trap set
koto
Nah man, (diatonic) harpin’ is good, I’ve been know to do a bit myself now and then over the years but Chromatic…that’s the devil’s instrument my friend 
It’s the road to madness I tell you, MADNESS!!! 
Loren
I do believe I set my foot firmly upon that road the day I took up the fiddle.
To confirm my descent, I’m now looking around to find a good-old-fashioned galvanized washtub to make a washtub bass. Home Depot only has plastic tubs, and Dat juss wont DO!!!
Between the Hohner and Lee Oskar I’d choose the later for it’s superior response, breath requirements, and the fact that the reeds are replaceable. For an excellent harmonica at a very good price, check out Suzuki.http://www.suzukimusic.com/harmonicas/Pages/home.html As far as I know, they don’t sell replacement reed plates, though.
Suzuki does sell replacement reeds. I’ve got a set sitting on my desk from Coast to Coast Music that I’ll install on a Promaster that I blew the reed out of.
Hey, while I’ve got you all here, could anyone recommend a harmonica instruction book and/or cd for a kid?
It would help if we knew what style the kid wants to play. It would even help if we knew what style you want the kid to play. 
This might not be much help I fear, but I’ll tell you what I know anyway. Paul Butterfield has an excellent tutor with CD on Homespun for aspiring blues harp players. I have it and think it is superb but I think it presupposes a bit of prior knowledge and moves quite quickly. John Sebastian also has a blues harp tutor on Homespun which is likely to be more accessible because, as far as I am aware, his skills are considerably more modest, too modest to warrant my buying it. I think that Brendan Power has a teaching kit for Irish harmonica but I haven’t seen it. I’d like to at some stage but I’m preoccupied with other instruments.
This
http://coast2coastmusic.com/cgi-bin/cart/GBWH12.html
almost started me in a frenzy of HOA! What do the conneisseurs think! Is this a good instrument? Their description and price are very good…
Then, after i found out that one of the 2 top harmonica makers is in Brazil, i resigned that i can delay this madness, but i can’t escape it. :roll:
How can it say it is “virtually identical to the CX-12 model by Hohner,” in one sentence, and that it’s “unique in both styling and sound” in the next?