Posted by Tuten (63.210.223.30) on May 16, 2000 at 15:55:37:
In Reply to: Lee Oskar or Huang? posted by Lee.....agian on April 19, 2000 at 13:48:33:
: I'm still trying to buy a new harmonica.(first one) and I've been told 2 very good brands are Lee Oskar and Huang. I've been told that the Huang Frontier is a very good harp and I could get it for $10. I've also been told Lee Oskar is a good brand and I could get a major C diatonic(which is the one I want)for about $25. they pretty much look the same to me but I(as I am may times) could be wrong. So if there is anybody out there that wants to help me please respond. And also thank you Stan Besaw and mark you helped me greatly.and if this works there should be a picture of the huang frontier harp down below(it probaly won't work).
: It's better to make love then break love
: -a Jimi Hendrix song interpreted by me
Okay-
Let me tell you a story about huang harps.
Once I met a guy who told me that he's bought a Huang(and Huang makes relatively inexpensives harps), and got to playing it. One day,he pulled
a draw note and felt something sharp hit im in the back of his throat. For weeks his throat was raw and he kept hawking up blood. He went to a doctor and the doctor couldn't make out what was wrong right away. He figured it out himself when he went to pull that same draw note and heard nothing. When he opened the harp to see what the problem was, he discovered that the reed had broken off and that apparently he'd sucked it down his throat, where like a dagger, it'd been imbedded.I only had a Huang harp once, and that was given to me. It played until the casing and the comb crack in so many places that eventually the entire harp just crumbled into pieces.Huang harps are so cheap that you can purchase and entire set of them for the cost of a Tombo harp.
My advice to you is to run from Huangs like you'd run from the plague!Don't even consider purchasing a Huang for any reason.I've played just about every diatonic brand there is;The Flying Ace;Special 20;Pocket Pal;Tombo;Marine Band;Blues Harp(Hohner)- You name it, I've played it. I can tell you now that if you want a reliable, inexpensive diatonic harp, get a Special 20. I have to let you know though that most harps, no matter what kind, usually lose pitch on the D harp at the 4th hole draw note, and also the 6th hole draw note. This happened with my Sp20-Dharp. But it's also happened with Marine Band,and Tombo as well.High key harps that get heavy work will tend to pitch out. If you're
going to get a D harp at any time, get a Tombo. That way you can always change the reed plates if they pitch out on you. I hope you take the Huang story as seriously as I do, and good luck!