Hohner rant
Hohner is such a weird company. You go to the USA website and find descriptions of harps and videos of people talking more than playing, but the company doesn't even sell its harps on their own site. Their plastic-like harp case, available at a leading commercial site, looks like total junk. They don't sell any kind of mic anymore. Their good diatonic harps, like Crossovers, are abusrdly priced at around $80. Great, I'll run right out and buy three in every key. The company is faced with increasing pressure and competition from other harmonica manufacturers, some of whom have made great strides in the quality of their harps. And this is the company that has supposedly gotten a lot better? How can they survive like this? End rant.
Hohner may be behind the times when it comes to its reluctance to sell instruments on its own website. Seydel does it, so does Suzuki. And as I'm sure you know, Fender sells its guitars and other instruments now on its website. Yes, it would likely offend some of the dealers. Them's the breaks. I'm not suggesting most people would buy their harps off a manuafacturer's site. But if you have a product and you have a visitor to your site, why not make your product available to them, then and there?
Though I've only been playing a few years, and haven't been a student on Dave's site for all that long, I have tried some other harps, aside from Hohner. I like the Seydel Silver and I like the Suzuki Manji. They feel and play differently, but they both seem like fine OOTB harps to me. Maybe I just got lucky, but both play great on every hole. My point being there is increased competition for the harp player's dollar.
Hi John, Hohner prices are high, I have been playing the marine band deluxe which cost me around $83 Australian Dollars, but I also have a suzuki manji which was only $76, I also have some suzuki promaster harps which are $67 each. I have a couple of hohner special 20s which for some reason I cannot play well at all and I recently bought a marine band crossover for $96.
I do like the manji and the proharps, and they all sound great, (except the special 20s lol)but I always come back to the marine bands and I guess it is only because it feels right in my hands and mouth. Kinda like a comfortable pair of sneakers feels good on your feet even when they start falling apart.
So for me price doesn't really factor apart from having to save up a bit more. Funnily enough though I am still undecided as to whether I prefer the feel of the MB deluxe or the crossover, once I have made the choice that's what I'll stick with.
Yeah, if the Deluxe was available in the States, I would probably go with it. But I believe Hohner removed it from the sales channel here. Maybe the company didn't want it to siphon sales away from the Crossover? Not sure, but we can't really get the Deluxe here anymore.
As for the Manji, I was blown away by the instrument. I paid about $56.95 or something like that for an A harp. It exceeded my expectations. It was very responsive and played very well out of the box. I will not hesitate to buy other Manjis in different keys when the time comes. I kind of like the composite comb on the Manji, too. I read that the company tried to simulate the porous nature of wood with their composite comb, and as a result they hold up very well.
Don't get me wrong, I do like Hohner. But they are overpriced now, especially when you compare them to other manufacturers. That being said, there seems to be a price war going on among the manufacturers right now on the A harps! The Crossover price for an A harp is $71.99. down from $79.99. Suzuki is selling it's C- and A-key Manjis for an astounding $49.99 here in the States! No, I don't expect good harps to sell for $3 anymore, but if I can save $25 to $30 per harp by using Manji as opposed to the Crossover -- well, let's just say the choice is not something I'll have to think about for long. YMMV.
I'm wondering how you came to the conclusion that Hohner harmonicas are over priced. It seems to me that all the manufacturers have different levels of harmonicas at different price points. Personally I'd be surprised if Hohner was gouging anyone. We don't have a clue what it's costs/overhead are. Hohner has been and will be the biggest manufacturer of harmonicas. However the harmonica is just a small portion of their overall sales. Without a doubt it's hard to get Hohner and Suzuki parts. Much harder than Seydel. I've always told customers to play what they like to play. I know Hohner handmade harps seem expensive. One reason Suzuki Manjis might be priced the way they are is the reeds are welded automatically by machine. Hohner MB reeds are riveted individually by a tech, one reed at a time with a rivet machine. Suzuki tunes by machine Hohner tunes with a file one reed at a time. I agree that the Suzuki harps are great. My philosophy is play what you like. Just play a lot and have fun. You just can't have too many harps. We won't even talk about the prices of chromatics. No offense meant. I'm not defending anybody. Juat a different perspective. I've never liked the evil empire route.
Hohner does not sell harmonicas directly, because it would put them in competition with their dealers. That's always been true. And they have a bigger dealer network than anyone.
Prices are high, though, yeah. They're at least 3 times what they were 20 years ago, and 15 times what they were when I started playing back in the dark ages, when an hour and a half at minimum wage would buy a Marine Band.
Mics were a temporary thing. Their Blues Blaster bullet mic at one time was a repackaged JT-30, but since the mnufacturer stopped making the element, the only choice was inferior substitute product, and they may have decided to get out of that sideline – after all, they make harmonicas, not mics.
The little Hohner harp case is OK. I usaed to have one and sold it to a student. A working harp player needs a bigger, sturdier case with more room, but again, that's not Hohner's main business and there are folks out there making great custom cases.