Special 20 5-Piece Harmonica Bundle with Case

I snagged this deal from Amazon when they were at $106 the week before Christmas. The harps arrived just before New Years. I'm fairly obsessed with Special 20's these days, having come around from Marine Bands, and traveling through the gamut of harmonica brands and models. A few things of note about this 5-pack: 1) These are, indeed, the new "Progressive" Special 20's, not NOS ones from before that change. 3) The case is pretty good, although it is a bit cheap, and made in China. The outer "clamshell" is quite rigid (although it is of a flexible canvas), but you can tell that lower quality materials were used for the padding and cutouts (probably cheap opencell foam for the one, and styrofoam for the other). It's all lined with a velvet-like material on the inside, however, and the harps do fit snugly. Not a bad "addon" for this purchase, but not really a main reason to buy this set. FYI, there is space for two additional harps in the case. 3) The harps are all gapped high for my taste, but the two lower harps (A and G) are gapped VERY widely. This is a non-issue if you know how to tweak your harps (which I do). The E and the C were the best two OOTB, but YMMV. 4) Yes, that E is in there, and it's a bit hard to know what to do with it. Two things, however: a) at $106, even if you never play the E, you are still getting a good deal for the four remaining harps. b) if you are handy, half an hour with a file and tuner, and you've got a high F. Still a "fringe" harp for me, but probably more useful than the E. Perhaps more useful still, break out the BluTak or the soldering iron, and you could take it down to an Eb. You could even experiment with an alternate tuning layout. Tuning this to "Easy third" would let you play across the whole harp in 12th position as if it were 2nd, which is the key of A major. Could come in pretty handy for country tunes and the like. Some observations about, and thoughts on the new 'Progressive' Special 20 design: first impressions are that they are not significantly different than the old Special 20's. The tone is clear and certainly darker than a Marine Band. On the better-gapped ones, the bends come easy, and can be sustained well with out squeals or unwanted overtones. The lower-keyed ones seem "breathy" to me, but I am fairly certain that's due to the wide gaps, and not due to being leaky. Out of curiosity, I've just opened up the G harp, and am comparing it to an older Special 20 from my main set. Here's how they line up: 1) Covers: Other than what's stamped on them, the covers appear identical to the older version. Same profile, same placement of the screw holes (slightly forward of center), and same coverplate screws (slotted head with the little square nuts). The last is a bit of disappointment, as I was hoping that they would have upgraded the coverplate screws to at least those that are used on the MB deluxe. 2) Reedplates: The reedplates differ in that the new ones have two extra holes at each end, apparently for mounting on a different comb. The two additional holes seem to match the spacing of my MB deluxe. Otherwise, the screw hole patterns and other cutouts are identical to the older model Spec 20. 3) Reedplate screws: This seems like a bit of a negative. The new screws are thinner and have smaller heads. This could be bad, as the smaller heads would tend to put more focused pressure on the reedplate, which could warp the plate a bit if they are tightened too far. It also means that you won't be able to mix and match reedplates from the old Spec 20 line with the new ones. Here's the screw measurements (using calipers): Old reedplate screw dimensions: Screw head diameter: 4mm Screw shaft diameter: 2mm Screw length: 10mm New reedplate screw dimensions: Screw head diameter: 3.1mm Screw shaft diameter: 1.2mm Screw length: 10mm 4) Reeds: As I said, most of the reeds were gapped too wide for my preferences OOTB. The low harps were gapped especially wide. For example, it looks like the 1 draw reed on my new G harp is gapped approximate 2.5 the thickness of the reed tip. Reed dimensions appear identical to the old Spec 20's, and tuning marks seem comparable to the way they were done before. Looks to me like they were tuned with a hand file, and not a rotary tool or a draw-scraper. Reed tips have cross-hatched file marks, and only one reed was filed at the base. This was done diagonally, and over a very narrow swath. Tuning: a quick check with a tuner app on my phone suggests it's tuned to A=442 with the 4 blow dead on the money, the 1 blow a little flat, and the 7 blow a little sharp. The rest is definitely tuned to a compromise of some kind. For example, 2 draw comes up 15 cents flat, and 2 blow is 25 cents flat... Chords sound pretty smooth, and single notes are generally in okay tuning. Seems similar to the way the Special 20 has always been tuned. 5) Comb: Externally, the comb appears absolutely identical to the old Spec 20 comb. The only perceptible difference may be the color, which seems slightly "bluer" on the new harps than the old, but that could simply be a matter of age. Internally, it appears that the comb has some extra holes at each end. Perhaps to accommodate other cover plates (e.g., MB deluxe/crossover)? These seem not to have any effect on airtightness or ergonomics, however. I spent about 15 minutes working on the G harp, doing basic gapping and shaping of how the reeds lay. That small work makes it play so much better than straight out of the box. The tone is rich, but clear. The draw bends are all smooth and very present. Chords are nice and full, and the tuning seems very accurate. The 6 overblow was there, and easy to get and sustain with minimal squeal, although I could not bend it up. Probably some embossing would help that. Couldn't get the 5 or 4 overblow to sustain, so those holes would need some work (although I tend not to use those OB's much). Blow bends were easy, and sounded good. Couldn't get the 10 half-step, however, which means I need to do some more adjustment on those reeds. In general, I think these will all be very good harps once gapped to my playing style. The only reservation I have is the change to the reedplate screws, which I think could be a significant issue if overtightened. One should be very careful when reassembling these harps. The screws should be barely tightened, just so that they are not loose, and one should be very careful not to over-torque them. Probably, they should also be tightened slowly, one at a time, in a cross-pattern (like tightening the bolts on a care tire).

Best all-around harmonica for any reasonable money? I did a ridiculous amount of research on this before I bought. I looked at Lee Oskar Harmonicas, at the Suzuki, and other brands. Some guy named Ian Chadwick, for example, provides extensive coverage of his own experience with an amazing spectrum of brands and models within those [http://www.ianchadwick.com/essays/harmonicas.htm] which is worth checking out, as of course are the reviews you'll find here on Amazon. And yes, within Hohner there are other options besides the Special 20, the most notable perhaps being the Hohner Blues Harp. The difference between the Special 20 and the Blues Harp is mainly--so the story goes--in the comb, the part your mouth actually rests on and glides over. The Blues Harp is wood, the Special 20 plastic. Despite what you first might think, lots of players go for the plastic because it doesn't swell and warp with the large volume of--let's face it--spit that gets driven through a harp. I grew up playing cross-harp along with one of my best high school buddies as he strummed his guitar, and it's fun. Do check out the basic mapping from the key of the song to the so-called "2nd position" (aka cross-harp) key. For the likely songs you encounter in popular music, blues, etc, they seem to be as follows: KEY OF SONG / HARP KEY E / A F / B-flat G / C A / D B / E C / F D / G This set gives you keys C, G, A, D, & E. There seems to be a consensus that if you buy F and B-flat you're pretty much set, though the Special 20 comes in 14 keys, maybe in case you want to play Mozart. These are so much better than the cheap Hohners I grew up playing, real musical instruments that produce sound effortlessly, bend notes with considerable expressiveness, and work very well on both the blow and the draw--if those are the right terms. I remember my cheap set being a trial for note-production on the draw notes. These are made in Germany, as printed on the harmonicas, and as stated on the Hohner website. Don't panic, the case of course is made in China, and that sticker is the first thing you see, of standard Case Logic type quality, but very nicely fitted for the harps plus space for a couple more, which in due course, for me, will be that F and that B-flat. Btw I also checked the price all over the 'verse (as they call it on Firefly), and every place has the same price, so you can just stop looking and get it here. Great way to enjoy playing music. I own a pretty complete set of tools for that job--nice Yamaha stage piano, Gibson Les Paul electric, Martin dreadnought acoustic, and recently a cool Yamaha electronic drum kit, which is the bee's knees, let me tell you. But this is the ultimate portable, entry-level musical instrument, very unpretentious, and honestly you can sound pretty passable on them soon enough that you won't toss them aside with a snarl of frustration. Also a great gift. But folks, don't play like Bob Dylan. I just bought the mono recordings box set of his first eight albums, and the guy, genius though he is, sounds like he's signaling ships at sea when he blasts that harp. I'm not the only one who seems to think his headache-inducing harmonica work renders many tracks unlistenable. Bobbie, think of the neighbors! I mean, am I missing something or is Mr. Robert Zimmerman truly bad at playing the harmonica? OK, you're a bard, but stick to the lute, will you?

I'm just a novice, but I'm old and have been around harmonicas since the 60's. I decided to really dive in, and I wanted Hohner's from Germany. These are excellent quality, and they are nicely designed. They are perfect even for beginners because professionals use Special 20's. They sound great and fit for all hand styles or holders. The case is really nice as well and holds 2 more. I added the F and for fun the mini. Bb is something that might happen someday if the price is right. There is a downside, but not for losing a star. Be cautious if you have whiskers. I nicknamed my G "Gillette". Sometimes it's how it's being held and positioned. I am working on several songs in different keys, and I recommend that if you really want to get into this then buy as many keys as you can because until you get to try several harps in one sitting you can't imagine the differences and the fun you'll have. It's cheaper to get more at once but watch for extra discounts. I got a sale price, extra discount and flipped my rewards and these ended up being a fantastic deal for me. $47 more than if I bought the 3-piece. These run over $50, so it was like getting the 5th free, not including my rewards as the extra savings because the same money would have come off the 3-piece as well. The holidays are coming, and these would make a great gift.

No he podido probarla porque venia abierta y con el pestillito del estuche roto. Podía haberla cambiado por otra pero he preferido devolverla, ya la comprare en el futuro

Great harmonica for beginners! Sounds really good and feels comfortable to play. Excellent value for the price.

I am a novice player due to lack of commitment however I have been picking up the harp more and more lately and my skills are improving constantly. The Special 20 makes this an incredibly simple and satisfying journey.

Non c'è nulla da fare... ne ho provate molte di armoniche diatoniche. La qualità della Hohner Special 20 è ineguagliabile in base a quello che costa. Funzionano da subito tutti i fori al 95% quel 5% che rimane è normale di ogni armonica che va comunque in qualche modo regolata in base alle proprie esigenze. Hohner con la Special 20 fa un lavoro egregio ad un prezzo accessibile. Anche il fatto di aver cambiato le due viti ai lati delle cover per poter meglio e più rapidamente aprirle e fare sia pulizia e sia manutenzione alle ance, è un plus! Già prima c'erano le viti, ma con una sorta di riparella a vite, quindi abbastanza comoda, ma adesso con le viti nuove (tipo torx) che si auto avvitano e stringono sia la parte inferiore che superiore è davvero un plus! La Marine Band Classic ancora non ha nemmeno le viti, il che diventa difficilissimo aprirle e per niente pratico! Se devo consigliare un armonica su questa fascia di prezzo è sicuramente la Special 20! Non ti abbandona mai, pratica, comoda, con un suono dolce e potente e i bending si fanno senza troppa fatica!

Très satisfaisant et bonne qualité