I’m aching to replace the Bb Special 20 that I have. The bad news is that there isn’t a Bb GM for sale and I don’t want to sacrifice my soul to the corporate overlords over at Hohner to get a GMP. So I’ve been looking for a harmonica that is comfortable to hold and has Equal Temperment-style intonation. I want an ET harp because of my playing style specifically. I have that 90s Terry McMillan “rip n’ snort” thing going on in my sound and I use a lot of double stops and chords when I play. I talked to Todd Parrott about this and he suggests tuning up the Special 20 to ET like he does on his used non-GM harps, but I’m saving it as an absolute last resort as I’m not a DIY kind of person like he is
I’m currently looking at a Suzuki Bluesmaster for the next harp I’m looking to buy. I feel like it would be a good choice for me, but I’m not sure. I tried the Lee Oskar and hated how hard it is to reassemble the harp and the squeal on the 2 draw whole step bend, tried the DaBell Story and hated how sharp it sounded, and tried the Kongsheng Bluebird and hated how it squealled on the blow bends, especially on hole 10 which I use often. I like the tone of the Bluesmaster from the videos I watched of it and I like its cover plate design, but I don’t know how it compares to the GM. Does anybody have any experience with the Bluesmaster and how does it compare to an original Golden Melody?
Hi @KeroroRinChou ,
The Suzi BluesMaster that I have is probably in the same overall category as the Seydel Blues Session (which has brass reeds), but IMHO it is definitely a step below the Hohner GM models.
I use these as my “experimental” harps. They don’t cost too much and you can practice harp customization techniques on them knowing that if you mess up then you have not lost too much money, while if your handy work is a success then you now have a harp that is pretty damn good 
That’s just my approach to this and perhaps it will help you.
Regards,
– Slim 
Thanks for your straight out description on the various harps. Hope you get more responses.
Hey @KeroroRinChou - I’m not really a big Suzuki fan in general, so consider that, but I’m with @Slim the Golden Melody is better. Hear them here:
Can you try it with the original GM. I don’t play the new one.
It doesn’t matter which GM you use – the Suzuki Bluesmaster just cannot keep pace with the GM. Don’t think that I mean to totally dismiss the Bluemaster: I have several and like the bang for the buck. It’s simply a level below what you get with a GM.
Regards,
– Slim
@Slim Yes my point exactly. No sure where my old GM is. Couldn’t find it before leaving town. But I’d steer clear of the Bluesmaster @KeroroRinChou. I don’t think you’ll be happy with it.
Now if you are still interested in getting a good harp, for a good price, I have something for you: Conjurer harps. They are made in China, I believe. You can get them via Amazon. I have the top of the line model (according to their own listing) which is model WH1006. It is really impressive and cost me about U$ 28 (since I bought it via Amazon in Germany I paid 26.99 €). It is black with the covers open at the back for good projection, plays bends easily without any reed tweaking, and sounds sweet.
I also bought one two steps down in their own listing, model WH1002. It has a blue ABS comb with chromed coverplates, looks almost identical to a Seydel Blues Session or Seydel Session Steel, but it plays more easily and bends more easily without tweaking, and cost about U$ 21 (for me 19.99 €). I really find that to be a super buy for the buck!!
They also apparently (according to the little printed page that came with the harps) make them in the following keys (from low to high pitch):
Low F, G Ab, A, Bb, B, C, Db, D, Eb, E, F and F#
They also make these harps in regular/standard Richter tuning, Country tuning, Paddy tuning, minor tuning and natural minor tuning (although I do not know how the minor and natural minor tuned harp are labelled).
Best regards and happy harping,
– Slim
I don’t play extremely cheap harps from China. Most of them, except for Kongsheng’s, don’t even work with the style I’m going towards.
My Conjurer harps seem to me (especially the WH1006) to be every bit as good as the Kongsheng Mars harps that I have.
– Slim
WOW!!! @Slim 
I"m shocked. I have added this to my list of harps to check out. Thank you for sharing. I’ve been praying that you are in good health, my friend.
@KeroroRinChou I’ve heard our good friend Todd Parrott make an East Top sound pretty dang amazing! 
Aloha,
Luke
I am always up for a bargain. I ordered the wh1006 in G as I needed a G harmonica and I ordered the wh1005BS which is their blues harmonica in Db as I needed one of those. I probably won’t be able to tell you much about the quality since I really do not know that much about harmonica’s. I will compare it to what I have which are lee oskars in C,D,E, and A. I am trying to learn the feel of keys as I don’t think that was ever developed in high school band and playing a song in all these keys I hope will help me learn to pick keys more quickly to choose how I play songs.
You should note there is some sore of sale on amazon on the wh1006 in G for 50% off it is 12 dollars US. The the wh1005BS is 19.99. The website is confusing. I cannot tell the difference between the wh1006 and wh1005bs on their description other than the 05bs comes in more keys. The construction looks the same with a different color and the word blues being printed on it.
The only other variant I see on their add is a ‘beginner’ one for 7.50 US. I did not order one of those in spite of being a beginner.
Hi @nmilender
The Conjurer model wh1006 seems to the top model in their ten-hole diatonic harp offerings. I have that and also a wh1002 model (in their own "quality"ranking system the wh1002 is in 3rd place, while the wh1005 is in 2nd place).
The more I play the wh1006 the more I like it. In fact, I am considering buying another wh1006, but I need to decide on a key.
The wh1002 is OK, but seems to perhaps need some reed adjustments beyond what I initially did to it. When I have the time and energy to devote to it, I will see what I can do.
I would not consider anything below the wh1002 unless you just want a cheap harp to use as an “experimental” harp to try out various customizing techniques (reed shape and gap adjustments, embossing, etc). Sort of a “throw-away” harp in case you ruin it while learning the methods.
Regards,
– Slim
Those conjurers showed up. Definite difference between between the wh1006 and 5bs. The 5 bs has a plates on the comb instead of the comb being one piece. I can definitely feel it with tight puckers and changing the mouth shape to oo to work on bends. Besides that they seem similar to oscars. The 1006 seems like a knock off with the only difference being the lack of holes on the outside of the comb and I don’t even know what those do. Both are easy to play and seem to have less resistance than the oskars when blowing. The oskars do seem louder per breathing effort but the conjurerors are very easy to bend. It was like using a slide whistle. I don’t seem to lose as much sound when really pulling down like I do on the oskars. Tone seems warmer as well. I don’t know enough to say if this is the harmonica or the fact that I am not comparing the same keys. Conjurers are g, Db, oskars are C, A, E, D. And obviously I cannot say anything about durability as they are all pretty new.
So fellas, I have good news. I made my final decision and I’m going for the Suzuki. I’m getting one in Bb for a little test drive.
Have fun with your Bluesmaster and be sure to keep us informed about your impressions with it. 
Hello @Slim,
last week I treated myself to the WH1006 in the key of D. What can I say? My surprise was big because it is “different” in design. It feels very comfortable on the lips, somehow softer. This made me think directly about the 
bearded people, which of course I can’t test for biological reasons 
. If you haven’t played a harp with small spaces and comb holes before, you might have problems at the beginning. They are similar to the old Golden Melody. The Conjurer is very easy to play. I may have to look further into +10. I treated myself to the harp for my first 
subscribers on YouTube because I’m very happy about it 
. Almost two years ago I would never have thought I would be able to do this! Thanks to the BTB course and your numerous tips, I was able to learn a lot! 
- Thanks to @Luke and you, @Slim 
!
Lots of Regards from Astrid 
My amateur opinion suggests that these wh1006 have softer reeds then the oscars. They seem to just move easier. As I try to tune my bends a bit, especially trying to hit specific notes on the holes that do 3 I noticed some lacking properties compared to the oscar. The most notable is on the 3 draw hole. It is easy to bend to the second note, but it seems to bend almost too easily and just stops before hitting the third. Where I am at in this game I confident this is a technique issue that I need to correct, but it does not happen on the oscar. I think the extra stiffness makes it drop a little slower and with better control. On any of the holes that have just a single bend this is not an issue. Again, this could be a key issue, I am not exactly comparing apples to apples. For the money though they seem good. Still works for the blues when the kids complain.