Is this brand new Hohner Special 20 defective?
Hi,
I am the newbiest of newbies and I have seen very few harmonicas before. Just bought the Hohner Special 20, brand new from amazon, the box came sealed, but there are some areas of the metal that are dented and I am not sure if that is normal. I seems sonehow as if somebody had assembled the harmonica using excesive force somehow and would have bent the metal.Can anybody tell me if it is normal that in the areas that I’ve marked with red circles, the metal is dented? In the photos, due to the reflection, the dents are not that visible. See two following photos. I didn't know how to attach them so wrote links to them:
https://i.ibb.co/nj3qYM7/IMG-6434.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/6H35ZDr/IMG-6435.jpg
Thank you for your feedback and also about the encouragement words!
I don't live in USA. In my small city there aren't better options, so I went with what's more practical, amazon.
Thank you!
tatelev: Glad Amazon can help. Sadly, there isn't a harmonica dealer around every corner of the world. (And Ron Hobdy no longer ships outside the USA due to his experiences with shipping and customs problems.) If the price you see on Amazon is close to what you'd pay in a store (or not that much less than the Hohner "suggested price" on their website), you're probably in good shape. But if the price looks too low to be true ... there's probabably an issue.
And thanks for asking the question! When I saw the photos I went "hmmmm," and checked out all of my harmonicas. Hadn't ever noticed the pressing dimples before. But again, perfectly normal due to the manufacturing process.
Best regards.
tatelev:
Just looked at each of the three Special 20s in my kit, as well as other Hohner and Seydel models with similar cover plate construction, and each has similar "dimples" as your new harp. Doesn't affect playability or sound at all, and I suspect that it's because the covers are stamped from flat sheets of metal. So I wouldn't worry about it.
If you're curious about just how the metal-stamping causes these dimples, the person to ask is Kinya Pollard in his "Ask Harp Tech Expert Kinya Pollard" section of the Forum.
But I do worry about one other matter: Why are you buying harmonicas on Amazon? If you don't live in the USA, I can understand, except that it's always best to find a local authorized Hohner dealer. If you're in the USA, be sure to order your harps from www.rockinronsmusicsd.com Ron Hobdy is endorsed by David; is an authorized USA dealer for many brands; has fair prices, free shipping, and a large stock of harps; and is in addition one of the nicest people on the planet.
(An issue with Amazon is that non-Amazon sellers who sell through an Amazon website can sometimes be dicey. E.g., if they're based offshore, you may not have warranty coverage as you would were you to buy your harmonica from an authorized dealer in your country. And even worse, there are sleazy sellers who use Amazon to sell counterfeit harmonicas, or used harmonicas [yuck] that have been repackaged without being sanitized or serviced.)
I hope you're enjoying the harmonica. There's a ton more to playing the harmonica than meets the eye (or ear) of someone who is new to the instrument, so be prepared to take a very long ride. But don't ever become discouraged. There's always something new to learn, and whenever you feel challenged, compare what you're doing to where you were when you started. You'll be amazed.