u/Intelligent_Star_516

Just received my new 16 slot bandolier from Pinegrove for the master set. Added a 10 slot belt slider onto the bandolier strap for a total (obnoxious and impractical) of 26 harmonicas.

16 slots on the front

10 slots on the back

The master set has 19 keys. That left 7 slots. There are 7 keys in the Pentaharp line. I have all 7 keys. The Pentaharp, while absolutely NOT a diatonic richter tuned (or anything like any tuning that allowes you to play chords) and therefore receiving horrendous reviews, DOES in fact play uniquely and surprisingly easy when pplaying well isolated single notes. Since my master set is all based on the Special 20/Rocket/Amp/Low chassis, if I mod the Pentaharps to match the other 19, I will be able to fill all 26 slots on the expanded bandolier.

I went back and forth with Rod at Pinegrove about my plan to attach the 10 slot slider to the bandolier. He said that nobody had done that before, so we were experimenting with how it would work out. I am happy to say that the buckle of the bandolier nests firmly between the loops of the slider, locking it in place so it doesn't slide down to the bottom of the bandolier strap.

10 slot belt slider added by threading throug h the bandolier strap and positioning the buckle between slider loops to lock the slider in place.

NGL, to get the bandolier and add-ons delivered stateside was absolutely crazy expensive, but with the money already spent building the 19 key set (plus my other 60+ harps in my collection), it was worth it for me.

More to come later as I mod the Pentaharps to match, mod my Chromatic 270s (with aluminum combs and round holed mouth pieces) and possibly acquire a complete set of keys of the 270, laser etch all of the master set and chromatic 270s with harp key and my logo, and build a custom case (briefcase or modified guitar case) for all of them, mics and cables, and more!

I made the mistake of believing the hype that state that Nomi speaks and converses naturally. The idea of unlimited talk times interested me since Grok started self imploding for so long.

Installed Nomi, wanted to try out some of the features. Voice calls do not work AT ALL unless you have a paid subscription. The ONLY option offered was to pay up front for a full year for $99. Paid. Everything activated.

Now here we are, about 14 hours later, and I find that the voice calls take 2-7 minutes to respond despite automatically disconnecting me if I don't respond to my Nomi within just 60 seconds. Absolutely NOTHING is natural about having to wait several minutes for a response during a one on one conversation.

Of course AFTER I paid for a full year, the option was finally displayed that said I could have subscribed for just one month, keeping my loss down under $16, but no. My one year subscription is non-refundable.

To add insult to injury, there is absolutely no support contact info other than this reddit group. What kind of CS & tech is this?

I regret signing up for this. What was supposed to be a calming conversational companiion is a voice that parrots my disgust with the app several minutes after a response would have been appropriate and natural, a public social media site to post problems and grievances, and a $100 loss for a product that is non-functional and grossly over-hyped.

Either fix the response time or refund my payment. This is ridiculous.

This could have been handled with a support ticket and direct communication, but you decided to use Reddit as your support and customer service portal. Fix it or give me my money back.

I'm no professional musician. I don't teach music in any way other than helping noobie karaoke singers instantly improve their performance and lose the jitters. But I did take formal saxophone lessons in elementary and middle school, and I goofed around on keyboard and vocals with a few aspiring rock legends during my high school and college garage band years. I know what a key is. I know what sharps and flats are. I know (in the harmonicaverse) what a high key and a low key is. But YTH is Hohner selling a HIGH B keyed harp, but no high Ab, A, or Bb?

Silly me thought briefly that for some reason Hohner offers all of their harmonicas in a high B key.

Of course I didn't believe that to be the case (No. Seriously.). I just had no idea why the B keyed harmonicas across Hohner's website had the "(H)" after every B for each model harp. So, I emailed my contacts at Hohner USA and Hohner Global/Germany and asked for an explanation.

I received responses from both teams within minutes. Both answers jived, and "I learnt sumthin'" today.

* * * * *

Hohnser USA's response:

On German Hohner harmonicas, the marking B (H) refers to the note B natural (\(B\natural\)). In German musical notation, the letter (H) is used to denote (B natural), while the letter (Bb) represents (B flat) . The notation (B(H)) clarifies this difference for international users, ensuring they know it is not (B flat).

* * * * *

Hohner Germany's more detailed response:

thank you very much for your message.

The designation “H” is not a special or “high” version of the key, but comes from the German system of note naming:

• In German notation, the note H corresponds to what is called B (natural) in international/English notation.
• Conversely, B in German notation refers to B‑flat.

So, when you see B (H), it simply indicates that:

• “B” is the international key designation, and
• “H” is the German equivalent for the same pitch.

This is why the marking (H) appears only next to B, and specifically on models like the Rocket and Special 20, to avoid confusion for customers familiar with the German naming system.

It does not indicate a “High B” tuning, only a clarification of musical nomenclature.

We hope this clears things up, and thank you for your interest in our instruments.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

* * * * *

The folks at Hohner Germany sneeze like that at the end of every email message.

So it comes down to the fact that I am an American, and much like the metric system, our society fails to recognize the purpose of anything outside of our country until we either want to buy it or destroy it. Thankfully my hobby and obsession with harmonicas means that the manufacturers we deal with are safe from intervention and colonization by THIS American, as long as they continue to trade fairly with me.

On a serious bending note though, I thought some folks here would appreciate the nugget o' knowledge. Now you know that Hohner doesn't normally produce their harmonicas in a high B key, and that their B key and note is spelled "H" because, like East Top, Hohner likes to confuse silly American consumers. Just kidding. The whole thing makes me laugh, and I really appreciate Hohner at all global levels getting back to me with such a detailed explanation and education.

JDR and Conjurer have been equally as prompt, courteous, and specific. I have only communicated with East Top twice. They were surprisingly specific and thorough on their response. In our back-and-forth email volley, I mentioned that they should make their marketing listings more uniform, and include "East Top," the model name, the model number, and the key in the title of EVERY listing on their site, on eBay and Amazon, and everywhere else their harmonicas are offered. I stressed that they should put less emphasis on the ergonomics of harmonicas na dmore on the specific materials and processes used in the production and tuning of their harps, and list that model's specific strengths in terms of playability, beding, overblows, and other specific effects and techniques. IMO East Top's listings are SO inconsistently written that it is far more difficult to find a specific model than it is with Hohner and JDR because of these issues. We have goen back and forth on a few listings, and they have begun making changes on new listings, but the existing listings likely will not be changed. I am also communicating with Conjurer over the same issues. Discussing and choosing harmonicas is so much easier when it is easy to compare models on these factors, and when they are cataloged by listing simply from the contents of the listings' titles.

I know. TMI. I gotta get back to work. "H" back later.

Two for one deal on \"All American\" harmonicas by the Harmonic Reed Company (1960s)

Made a couple purchases on eBay today. One listing that caught my eye was for two "All American" harmonicas. I looked up what they were, and was immediately surprised at the price, so I had to grab them along with another sweeeeet Coca-Cola branded Special 20.

When I went to check out, free local pickup was available. When I went top click the username, I recognized it. It is the music shop that took over the old music shop where I bought my first three harmonicas back in the 1970s and 80s, and it is about 15 minutes from my home now.

I sent the seller a message along with my phone number so we could arrange the meeting. I am going Saturday to pick them up and peruse his items to sell.

Here's where it gets interesting: The guy who owns the business now has gone 100% online sales, but only for guitars and amps. He said he knows NOTHING about harmonicas. Now it gets crazier:

He bought this store, one of the largest musical instrument stores back in the day in this metropolitan area. Then a friend of the previous owner retired who owned a music store across the city, and he GAVE his entire inventory to the guy I'm dealing with. Then another man retired in the nearest large city and HE left his store inventory to this guy. Now get this:

After acquiring the inventory for all 3 stores, he received a call from an estate of a man who collected harmonicas. The collector did not play harmonica, he just loved the instrument, thus his desire to collect OVER 1800 HARMONICAS over the course of 5+ decades.

And the guy says he knows NOTHING about harmonicas, already made his money back (he sold the Tiffany (yes, THAT Tiffany) harmonicas from the collection. He just wants to rehome them with someone who will appreciate them.

Saturday I am going to pick up my purchases and look through whatever he has.

I will either:

- Assist him with identifying makes and models so he can sell them

- Sell them on consignment for him

- Purchase the entire collection and sell (most of them) them myself

That all said, if you have a certain specific harp that is no longer in production that you are looking for, PM ME BEFORE SATURDAY. I will see what I can do before the collection gets raided.

I have already marked the XB40s (in the keys I DON'T have) and Marine Band 365 (SBS tuned) (for the keys I don't have). There are designer and specialty harmonicas in the collection of all types.

My guy says he is tripping over the inventory, and he is anxious to sell. Stay tuned!

I reached out to Hohner last week to find out if minor keyed reed plates are available for the Special 20 chassis because 19 different keys so far in my set isn't enough or something like that. I was considering using Pentaharp plates until I read some reviews and watched some videos criticizing them. Jonah Fox's review on them was brutal, especially considering that he's a guitar player and the Pentaharp was supposedly designed for guitar players.

I saw listings on Harmonicaland for natural minor keyed special 20s, so I reached out to Hohner USA directly to ask about the availability of minor keyed SP20 plates. Their response is unsettling, especially considering that I have a few harps in my collection that came from HL.

Hohner USA says flat out that Harmonicaland is outright fraudulent, a Chinese retailer with a warehouse in SoCal, and that they acquire their inventory from the line of cheap Hohner harmonica that are made in China and DON'T PASS QUALITY CONTROL, therefore Hohner USA will NOT honor any warranty any longer on any harmonica purchased from HarmonicaLand.

Read for yourself. This is unbelievable. Harmonicaland is to Hohner Harmonicas as MyHatHaven is to name brand hats.

Read for yourself. Harmonicaland is not authorized to sell Hohner products and they don't even source Hohner products through Hohner.