I like playing in E on an A harp. Just sounds bluesier. Seems though alot of the old blues songs were played in C, which means I have to play the F harp. Now that's a high pitch! That's why I bought a Low F harp.
They do make a Low C, but I think it would be hard to learn to play harmonica on one. I've never really needed one, But I have a Low D & F and am looking at getting a Low E.
I play alot of 3rd position, playing in a minor, and it plays mostly in the middle of the harp which is too high pitched, especially the F.
But, I also have a High G which I use a little. It helps when I'm sitting jammin' with a couple of guitars, all accoustic. It makes it easier to be heard with them, which a standard G harp is hard to do. Don't have to blow so hard. I blew out a G harp that way is why I bought the Hi G.

When I'm out jammin' we mostly play Blues and Classic Rock. Most of the minor songs seem to be Am or Em. Depending on the song, I'll either play my LO Natural Minor Am or my G harp in third position. Same with Em, either my LO Nat. Minor or my D or LowD in 3rd pos. I mostly play it in 3rd pos., especially Blues.
I'm just now learning 4th position which is playing a minor also. Play Em on a G harp. I use it to play the sax lead-in to "Turn the Page".
Also in 6th position, Em is very minor on an F harp.
I guess depending on what you are playing, you don't have to buy a Minor harp to play in a minor key.
I bought my LO minor harps (Am,Em) before I really learned to play 3rd position. I use them mostly at the beginning of some songs, then I switch harps and play 3rd position. I figured back in the day when these songs were first played those harp players didn't have "Minor" harps.

That harp looks exactly like the ones they passed out in Houston when we tried to break the record for most harmonicas played at one time. Hers doesn't have the writing on it about the record attempt, but looks the same. It's a Chinese made Hohner. They come in several colors, mine is green. Maybe that's why it doesn't sound like hers

According to Hohners site they do come with screws. Why the ones at Rons doesn't I don't know. Maybe he's hoarding screws to be ready for "The great screw famine".
I ran across a site from England I think that had them and also reeds for Marine Band and Golden Melody. They were like $28 for the 20's and I'm sure shipping wouldn't be cheap.

I just recieved an email from Ron, and yes it is free shipping in the US. The reeds come with no screws.

Hohner is finally selling replacement reeds for the 20! Rockin Rons Music 4 Less has them for $22.00. It doesn't list shipping charges. I hate it when they do that. Usually means they are probably high. Save a little I guess. I just bought a new 20 harp for $28.99 with free shipping. If shipping for reeds is $6-7, might as well buy the whole harp!

What kind of element is in it? I had a wooden one for awhile. The maker added a small dowell with a wood cap that slipped between the fingers. I liked the size and holder, but didn't like the element. Paid $40-50 for it. Sold it a few years ago.
That's a really nice lookin' one you made. Did you make that matching comb in the harp behind it? Those would probably sell too.

If you ever thought about a delay pedal I would suggest the Danelectro DE-1 Dan-Echo. I just bought one on ebay. Makes my 15 watt tube amp sound huge, like playing in a large empty room. Gives it that sound you hear on recodings of the greats playing harp.
Plus the echo stuff is fun to play around with too.

Fender has an accoustic guitar amp that's pretty nice. I know a guy that has one. One of these days I would like to hook up to it just to see how it does. I would think it would have some onboard stuff that would help reduce feed-back. It's a big amp though. Probably 50 watt all tube.
KONA makes a nice amp for to play harp on. I have a 20 watt that sounds good. It has an accual spring reverb and a clean-distortion switch that you can control with a foot-pedal. Feed-back is low and will play loud. They make smaller ones and I think they make one to hook i-pods and such to. I bought mine new at a benefit auction. They sell for about $125 I think. I've seen them on e-bay, new, But don't remember the price.

That's why the Fender Bassman is so popular with harp players Kat.
One of my amps is a 10 watt Matrix solid state that I bought at a garage sale for $5. Couldn't pass it up. Plays alright by itself, but if I hook my Boss AD-3 processer to it, it sounds amazing. It's my favorite for playing at home. Just not loud enough out in public. And I hate to mic them, specially at a jam because even though the crowd can hear it, I usually can't. If I can't hear it, I don't know what the hell I might be playin'. I could be a whole hole off and not know it.

Where else can you say "whole hole" and get away with it??

At least you have fireworks. Here in SE Texas because of the drought fireworks sales are banned and alot of the professional shows have been canceled. At least the dogs are probably happy about it.
Happy 4th Everybody!!!                         Keep on Harpin'            

Of course they do, they just don't celebrate it!

Have a GREAT 4th Everybody!!!

You can play Am on a G harp in 3rd position. Start on the 4 draw (I) 6 blow (IV) & 6 draw (V). You can do pretty much the same as a Minor harp will. Chords may be better on a Minor harp. I have an Am & Em Lee Oskar Natural Minor, but I use a G for Am and a D or LoD for Em more often. Sometimes I will use both playing chords at first on the Natural Minor then changing later to play more single notes in 3rd position.

I think the C is used as a standard because it is more in line with the piano. The blow and draw holes are the white keys on a piano and if you bend a hole you are going to a flat or sharp which is the black keys.

Where are you getting reed plates for $10???

I bought an Electro-Voice M43 /U mic on ebay for around $35. It's a dynamic low z mic. I found with this mic I can crank most amps up with little or no feed-back, which is really good on tube amps. You want to push a tube amp to get that tone. I liked it so much I bought another. I noticed they are getting more expensive though.

I've changed single reeds. It's not real easy, but not too bad. I use a drimmel to cut out the old reed and I take a reed, as close a match as I can get, out of an old reed plate. I bought some very small nuts and bolts from a local hardware store to install them with. The first one I did on a Special 20 Eb years ago and I am still using it. It's kind of satisfying after doing the work and then playing it.

Really cool pics. Good job.

That's cool! Two harps and all!!! Makin' them changes must've taken alot of work. Are you accually playing them upside down?

Looks like you are playing the harp upside down. Or am I just imagining it?

I just bought a Samson Q2 vocal mic on ebay for $23 total. It was cheap enough, so I took a chance. I like it. It even has a -10dB switch to give it a little boost and another switch to eliminate rumble. Sounds good in a stand or hand held. Another Low-Z mic I have is an Electro-Voice M-43/U. Playing thru an amp, I think the low-z mics feedback less. I sometimes use a low to high impedence transformer.
I like playing thru my own amp, that way I have better control. Using the PA you have to rely on someone else getting you set up and they don't like you messing with thier PA.

I drove down and picked up my new amp. Turns out it's 138 miles one way, but still better than shipping only days away from Christmas. Plus I wanted to meet the guy in person. Nice guy, really seems to know his way around amps. He builds them repairs them and modifies them.
This thirty watter really kicks ass. I put together a temporary cabinate for it. Gonna used some nice finish plywood for a cabinet later when I have more time to do a good job.
He has a couple of 12-15 watt amps he has already redone on his shelf. If you are interested email him for pricing. (mrharp@gt.rr.com) If you can put together a cabinet for it you can't go wrong. Really nice tone, feedback is greatly reduced. You can switch the pre-amp tubes for more punch or earlier break-up.
I believe my amp search is finally over!

Do you know Hoss's given name in the show. Not his real name, Dan Blocker, but his name on the show. Hoss was just a nickname.

A harp amp is usually based on a regular tube amp, like a Fender. The values for the capacitors are usuallly lowered to better work with a mic and harmonica. Pre-amp tubes are also usually changed to less hotter tubes. The whole idea is to set it up for good tone and less possibilaty of feed-back. Guitar players don't have to worry about feed-back with a regular amp, but you hook a microphone to that same amp and try to get some volume, it's probably gonna squeal!
With any amp you have to learn what works best. Try avoiding standing directly in front of the amps speaker. Unidirectional mics work best because they mostly pick up directly in front of the mic and block sounds from the sides and back which can cause feed-back.
There are thousands of amps and microphones to choose from. What works for one may not work for another. Some like clean sound, some like it dirty. One amp and three different mics can give you three different sounds.
I've bought and sold many amps lookin for the one. I'm get closer every time. Same with microphones. I've got an element out of a cheap mic I really like with certain amps.

I talked about a harp amp I purchased on ebay on another thread. Someone asked if he had others listed. I recently got in contact with him as I am having him make me another. The first one I bought is 12-15 watt and is really nice. Now I am going for a 25-30 watter.
Anyhow he said it would be ok to post his email:mrharp@gt.rr.com. His name is Dan Moser. He takes old tube PA amps and rebuilds them with new parts. His 15 watt is based on a Fender Tweed Delux and he uses different value capacitors to make them work better for harp. He sells just the amp. You would need to either build a combo cabinet or like I did and build it into just a head. It has 2 6v6 power tubes. A volume and tone, one input and one speaker out, both 1/4". Like I said, I liked mine so much I'm going for the big brother, a Fender Tweed Pro clone with 25-30 watts.
He's been playin' harp for years and experimented with building harp amps for years till he came up with what works best.
He also builds custom amps from scratch, but only if he has a buyer for it. He has a rebuilt PA amp ready to go. I paid $180 for mine with shipping of only $9, but I only live about a hundred miles from him. If you've ever priced amps built specially for harmonica you know $200 is a deal!