{"id":2312,"date":"2017-07-08T05:56:07","date_gmt":"2017-07-08T08:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.dylanradio.com\/?p=2312"},"modified":"2017-07-08T05:56:07","modified_gmt":"2017-07-08T08:56:07","slug":"easttop-blues-harps-with-minor-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.dylanradio.com\/blog\/easttop-blues-harps-with-minor-update\/","title":{"rendered":"Easttop Blues Harps (with minor update)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Untitled-2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I don’t normally do product endorsements, but this recent find is worth sharing. I play Lee Oskar<\/a><\/strong> and Special 20<\/a><\/strong> harmonicas pretty exclusively, but at $60 a pop, I have to be a bit careful with them, so I’ve been on a lengthy, heartbreaking quest for a cheap alternative that I can beat up without going broke. Most of my cheap-experiments have been out of tune, losing air like crazy, or just plain miserable to play. Unsurprisingly, most of the cheapies are made in China, and every China-made harp has been utterly miserable…. until now.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Easttop 008K Blues Harmonica<\/a><\/strong> is not only cheap, but it’s well made. My only concern was that the reed-plate isn’t recessed into the comb (which affect air-tightness), but they’ve compensated with additional reed-plate screws so it’s still remarkably air-tight. I thought the reed plate would be rough on the lips, but turns out it’s not too bad.\u00a0 Moreover, this cheap China harp came out of the box in tune<\/strong>, the reeds bend nicely, and it includes little a nice belt holster and cleaning cloth.<\/p>\n

If you’re new to harmonica, and just want something cheap to try and play along with Bob, please don’t buy that low-end Hohner or Swan crap. They’re going to give you the wrong impression of how it’s supposed to play & sound. This Easttop harp<\/a> sound great, it’s a pleasure to honk on, and if you’re a seasoned harp player, it makes a great pocket-beater, or just a cheap alternative for a key you don’t regularly use in your spread.<\/p>\n

Easttop isn’t paying me to say this – I have no idea who they are anyway – but when I find a harp of this quality for $12, it’s my civic duty to share that info. I haven’t found it available at any of my usual online music-store haunts, but it’s available on Amazon <\/a><\/strong>and it shipped to me from China to Canada pretty darn fast.\u00a0 Here’s a link to their listing on Amazon.com: http:\/\/amzn.to\/2r1dmOd<\/a><\/p>\n

Minor Update:\u00a0<\/strong>After picking up a couple more of these harps in different keys and doing my darnedest to try blowing them out, etc, I’ve gotta say, these are rock-solid harps.\u00a0 In fact, I find myself reaching for then more & more frequently than my Lee Oskars.\u00a0 If PayPal is your preferred online payment method, I’ve found a seller on eBay<\/strong> who carries the complete key-range with very fast shipping<\/a>.\u00a0 However, if you’re an Amazon shopper, my previous link is still your best bet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Further, if you buy one and fall in love with it, like Easttop harmonicas on Facebook<\/a> and join our little Easttop Fan Club group<\/a>.\u00a0 Again, they’re not paying me for this endorsement, but these are are the best cheap harps I’ve ever found.\u00a0 Do yourself a favour and pick up one in the key of C<\/a> and honk along with the organ part on Like a Rolling Stone \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I don’t normally do product endorsements, but this recent find is worth sharing. I play Lee Oskar and Special 20 harmonicas pretty exclusively, but at $60 a pop, I have to be a bit careful with them, so I’ve been on a lengthy, heartbreaking quest for a cheap alternative that I can beat up without […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dylanradio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2312"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dylanradio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dylanradio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dylanradio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dylanradio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2312"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.dylanradio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2313,"href":"http:\/\/www.dylanradio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2312\/revisions\/2313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dylanradio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dylanradio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dylanradio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}