Ask Harmonica Expert Winslow Yerxa

Hey Winslow (and Forum)

  continue reading...

G'day Winslow,

Im wanting to buy my first Chromatic Harmonica. I've never played one before and have only been playing Harmonica of any sort (diatonic) for a year or so.

What are your thoughts on the 10 hole Chromonica? I like the small size of it. I understand that i'd be missing out on half an octave, but I suspect it won't make that much of a difference to me. Thoughts? continue reading...

Hi,

this is my first post in this forum. I am planning to buy all the common harmonicas we need for blues.

Could you please list them here ? Also can I buy those from our website here ?

Regards,Sai

Hi Winslow,

While touring around a collectibles store I came across a 1957 Hohner Centennial in C. It was in its original box and in excellent shape so I bought it for $10.  I'm not sure about the claimed date of it but perhaps you know something about this Harp? It does play fine although very low volume and holes 9-10 won't blow bend. What are your thoughts on this harp??

John

Hello Winslow, and everybody who reads this.

I've been playing a few years  Seydel Saxony, Hohner CX12, Chromatix series from Suzuki.

After cleaning all the harmonicas, the saxony still feels really smooth on the slide action, as the cx12, they feel like butter.

On the other hard, SCX's ... after the maintenence and cleaning the slide feels a little different, more raspy, i guess is because when is new it comes with a little bit of oil in the slide. Do I need to oil the slide again for the smooth feeling? And what kind of oil? 

thanks

Hi,

I'm working on a tune by Howlin Wolf:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVNJfI7o7_0 continue reading...

Hi,

I was given an unused YAMAHA CHROMATIC HARMONICA NO.-1200 recently and was wondering if anyone had an opinion on the model. A google search brings up quite little except they haven't been made for a while (decade or more) and any reviews were vaguely negative.

Being completely new to chromatic I'm wondering if it is worth using or if, despite the freebee, I should invest in a 270 or CX12 to do my learning on.

  continue reading...

Hi,

I was given an unused YAMAHA CHROMATIC HARMONICA NO.-1200 recently and was wondering if anyone had an opinion on the model. A google search brings up quite little except they haven't been made for a while (decade or more) and any reviews were vaguely negative.

Being completely new to chromatic I'm wondering if it is worth using or if, despite the freebee, I should invest in a 270 or CX12 to do my learning on.

  continue reading...

I just dug out a Hohner harmonica I bought when I was a kid. It is called The Hohnerband (in G) and has 40 holes with a curved shape to it. It looks like it was rather good quality once upon a time.  The comb is wooden and very thin walled. Some of the notes down the bottom end seem frozen and won't play. But it isn't at all rusty or gunky though I haven't seen inside yet. continue reading...

Hi Winslow,

So a lot of blues players were at least playing harmonicas in the 40's.  Where were they getting the harps from since we were at war with Germany, and also, do you know how long it took before Germany started sending them here again.  I guess what I basically asking is, how did WWII affect American Harp Players?

-Taylor