I just got two of the 6 Jambone harps I ordered from Musician's Friend yesterday - the rest are back ordered. They are a total copy of the Special 20 which is my favorite harp (or was until I got an SBS). The only difference is that the holes are smaller (the comb is exactly the same size) and they suck. I wasn't expecting much so I'm not disappointed - this gives me 6 harps on which to practice all kinds of Frankenstein experiments.
The reason I'm posting to the list is that I seem to remember a few beginners saying that they bought a bunch of these to learn with. DON'T try to learn to bend on one of these harps. I can bend every note on these harps but it is very hard and I've been bending notes for 17 years. I would say that it is about five times harder to control the distinct bends in holes two and three as any other harp I have ever played - and this is AFTER I tuned them and gapped the reeds. Both of them came badly out of tune and set up poorly - the offset was very inconsistent from hole to hole and blow 5 on the C was about a quarter tone flat. The rest of the harp was WAY sharp. My tuner can only be calibrated as high as A=445 and it was considerably sharper than that. I'm guessing maybe A=448.
When I tuned the C harp I noticed that they had massive amounts of material removed from the rivet end of the reed (apparently even more than necessary). I wonder if they use the same reeds for all the harps and just tune them up from reed-plates for a G harp. I know that sounds insane but these reeds had been ground about half way through with a grinding wheel. I wonder if that's why they are so hard to bend.
If you are just learning to play and you want to go cheap, I would strongly encourage you to spend the extra $3 per harp and order Huang Silvertones or Star Performers (also Huang) from Elderly Instruments (they sell them for about $6 - most other places sell them for about $10). I'm not usually one to pick on any brand of harp but I would hate to think that anyone gave up trying to learn to play just because they couldn't bend on these inferior harps. BTW, after careful tweaking I could get them to overblow (poor tone) but no matter what I did, I could not get any overdraws out of them. I think more experienced players could use them as practice harps after they re-tune them and gap the reeds but they are not a lot of fun to play.
