Hohner Chrometta 12 Hole C

Advantages: Great to play
Disadvantages: None...except price perhaps.

...The Marine Band by Hohner is a classic harmonica, it was my first years ago, and was good to learn on. It also lookes very good, with polished metal with etchings offset by the wooden comb (the bit in between the metail parts, where the holes are). The only qualm I have on this harmonica is the fact that in the UK, in any music shop and also on the net, it'll cost you around £20, sometimes more. In fact, harmonicas in general seem to have inflated prices in the UK for some reason. Having done a bit of investigation on the net, you can get the same model for around $20 at some American online stores. Why such a difference in price?... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Cheap and Brilliant Investment
Disadvantages: Just a 1-piece

...! With this descant recorder, a novice player should be able to play from middle C to D or E in the next octave. Advanced players can get up to two and a half octaves (although heaven knows why they’d want to). To give you an idea of how easy it is, to play a tune like the start of “Three Blind Mice”, you need only index, middle and ring fingers of your left hand. My model is “Baroque”, which means that the bottom two holes are actually split into two smaller holes; this enables you to play semi-tones (like the black notes on a piano) more in tune than the alternative system, which is known as “German”. Hohner sells all its recorders in both systems. As far as I’m aware, all UK schools and nearly all recorder tutors use the Baroque fingerings, so I’d stick to that one if I were you, unless you are German of course. Some of the most common problems... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Great price and value, top quality instrument
Disadvantages: None

...I have been playing the harmonica for over thirty years. Of all the instruments I play this is the one that have done best at, probably because it is the least anti-social, most portable and most convenient. Being a lot quieter that most of my musical stable also helps. I've owned some terrible harmonicas over the years, usually the cheap ones but when I splashed out in 1984 on a Hohner C Blues Harp I found what I was looking for. It is a basic twelve hole harmonica that has stood the test of time. Before Christmas I looked at my old harp and decided that it might be time for it to go into partial retirement. Having spent about £24 on it and played it thousands of times it was looking a bit battered and scratched. It still plays beautifully, no dead reeds, fantastic tone so when I went looking for the next generation... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful