Hohner Progressive Series 560 Special 20 Harmonica F#/Gb

Comments about Hohner Progressive Series 560 Special 20 Harmonica:

Hate to write about this problem, but its what happened: This was My favorite harmonica-- (The Spec 20)-- until I bought 2 new ones, an E & G at Guitar Center & they were both defective-out of tune. Hohner replaced the E but refused to fix the other one saying I had taken it apart. This G harp was to be a back up as my 3 year old G was getting weak. It was a few days out of warranty but they said that was not the problem. It was brand new--just taken out of the box---I had played it about 5 minutes & did NOT take it apart. The harmonica they returned appears NOT to be the one I sent in as it looks old, worn, & scratched. Probably will NOT buy another Hohner even though I "did" like the playability and sound, I now question the dependability, & Customer service. I don't know what happened with this ordeal but it was NOT something I did to this defective harmonica. Real sad situation, as I "only" have about 70 Hohner harmonicas of all types, (I switch around when playing.) Several are out of tune but I never returned them--they are basically junk now)

Comments about Hohner Progressive Series 560 Special 20 Harmonica:

I have been playing harp for twenty years and his new model of the special 20 has the slowest response time I have ever encountered. It's in the key of D so there is no excuse or reason for that. Unless caveat is that the harp lasts for five years of heavy playing. So that is yet to be seen. There has also been a steady decline in overall harmonica quality over the past 20 years. It's a shame. No pride in craftsmanship anymore.

Comments about Hohner Progressive Series 560 Special 20 Harmonica:

Hohner sent me a "New" harp to replace the bad one. I guess someone finally decided I got the run-around & corrected the problem. My new Special 20 G is playing great!

Comments about Hohner Progressive Series 560 Special 20 Harmonica:

no comment

Comments about Hohner Progressive Series 560 Special 20 Harmonica:

I would absolutely recommend this (mid-range) harmonica to anyone that wants to pick up a quality instrument that will give you much better sound compared to the cheap models ($5-15). This model is used by many professional players. It has a good crisp sound and is responsive enough for beginners and advanced players. Hohner have been making quality harps for quite some time and their precision engineering shows. They are visually beautiful harps too!

Leaving a bad review because of low skill level should not be attributed to the overall score of this instrument either. I actually wish Guitar Center would remove a couple of the reviews for this model. This is NOT a 2 1/2 star harp. This is a 4.5-5 star harp on most other sites. Every single harp that leaves the factory is tuned and ready to play. I have not received one that is not. Of course they can be tuned and "fixed" to your needs but be careful! I have compared the single notes and chords to a chromatic tuner set to 144Hz. They all come back right on the mark.

I am by no means an expert level player but I know good sound and the tuning for this harp is a great introductory and advanced harp that is a "Just Intonation" temperament. Which means good sounding chords. Not as good for single note melodies but that certainly does not mean that you will not sound good at single notes. Needs more finesse and practice. A Golden Melody for example is great for melodies and not quite as smooth sounding for chords. Overall, this is a fantastic quality instrument for someone that knows they are serious about getting a good quality harp that will last them many years. You could easily find something for $10 and frankly it will sound like it. Spend the extra $30-40 and get yourself something of quality and precision.

Comments about Hohner Progressive Series 560 Special 20 Harmonica:

Use it in a band.

Comments about Hohner Progressive Series 560 Special 20 Harmonica:

These new special 20s are junk. Don't waste your money.

Comments about Hohner Progressive Series 560 Special 20 Harmonica:

This is my first Special 20. I bought it to compare with a Seydel 1847 Silver that I played a couple of times. Both sound great right out of the box. The holes in both are sized so that it doesn't take a huge volume of air to play/bend notes, etc. The Seydel has an advantage in that the reeds can be changed out without buying a new harmonica. The Special 20 has an advantage in that you can buy almost two of them for the price of one Seydel, at today's (2018) prices. That said, I'll be buying the Special 20s from now on due to one reason that has nothing to do with the sound or bang for the buck! The cover plates on the Hohner Special 20 don't pull out the hairs of my walrus (so far)! Their design is such that my mustache slides over the ends of the cover plates (and don't get caught), whereas the Seydel cover plates have V shaped slots on either side almost guarantee that I'll be randomly annoyed by painful tug within a the first few minutes of play time. (None of my Marine Bands pull my mustache, either, by the way.) Don't get me wrong, they both sound great, and YMMV!

Comments about Hohner Progressive Series 560 Special 20 Harmonica:

I'm a Fingerstyle Guitar player, Singer and I play some songs with Harmonica Melody's to spice up the evening.
I've tried and played different harmonica's...
3 Pro Harps from Hohner, a Hot Metal, a Fender Blues Deluxe, A Hohner Blues Bender, a Hohner Old Standby, a Suzuki Folkmaster, a Lee Oskar and a Hohner Golden Melody and a Hohner Special 20.

The Pro Harp was my First Favorite for a number of years until 2 of them broke reeds, I replaced one and was pretty happy with it, Sound is Great but it got harder to play after a while...
The Golden Melody is okay, but doesn't sound so very good.
All the other ones are just No Good in my opinion, they just don't sound good to my ears with my playing style and through my equipment.
I do I need to mention that I only test On Stage, I don't care how they sound at home.
I think everyone should try out a least a couple of different ones to figure out what Fit's them.

My new favorite since about 2 years is the Special 20, it's the Best Sounding, Most Reliable Harmonica I currently play, it's practically the only one I want to play at the moment.
When I start smiling when I test/play a Harmonica on stage the first time, it's good... and I'm still smiling :)

It does need a nice Soapy Very Hot bath now and then, but that's all I do, other than play it every weekend.
Love it!

Comments about Hohner Progressive Series 560 Special 20 Harmonica:

As all harp players know...harmonicas have a life expectancy and then you buy another...and another. Reed plates are a good way to extend the life of an exhausted Eb...but for practice purposes only.

Comments about Hohner Progressive Series 560 Special 20 Harmonica:

in a nutshell: the SOUND of spec. 20 (mostly up in the "middle" ranges -- the F and G take a while longer to break in, etc.) is possibly the best-sounding harp I have played -- and though I'm not a "real" expert, I've only been playing > 50 years and this harp consistently has the response, the air-tightness helps, somewhat durable (if you don't play it right after eating granola, or jamming outside when it's 20-below temps, etc.).

Comments about Hohner Progressive Series 560 Special 20 Harmonica:

I have to admit, I did purchase the harmonica over a year ago. I suppose that might have something to do with my experience. It pretty much sat in the box unused until the other day when I decided to break it out and try to learn to play it. I finally got to the point where I could play a single note. And that's when I discovered that the #2 draw hole was badly out of tune (and it was hard to draw air out of). I suspected a bad reed. It looks like the replacement reed is almost as expensive as the harmonica would be. For that money, I'd rather buy a replacement harmonica from another manufacturer (or just give up on the harmonica entirely...after all I had one and didn't use it for over a year).