[Lowboy]

Hi Alan,

Yes, maybe I exaggerated a bit about the Piano 26/27/32 being cheap. I feel for the money, they are reasonably well made and I personally really like the look and feel of these piano harmonicas. It is of course a product of German design and manufacture, and I don’t think the Germans are capable of making anything “cheap.” I am not crazy about the mouthpiece design, but soon I hope to hook up a sax, oboe, or clarinet mouthpiece to see what happens.

I probably prefer the 26s over the 27s too for the same reason you mentioned. I just happen to pick up the 27 for this recording. Of course, the low notes are the easy notes to bend, so if lots of bending is on the menu, the 27 is the right choice. The 26 stands out more in a mix, and you can still bend the lower notes.

The other thing a 27 does well is to respond to tube distortion. The lower harmonics of the lower notes are really brought out with a distortion pedal and they give up that Chicago blues harp sound readily.

Lowboy Bootay