Harmonica Dimensions

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I’ve been poking around on the forum a bit the last week or so. Somewhere in here I read some things about the size of the holes in various harmonicas. That was something I had thought about some in the past, but I decided to get a definitive answer and stop guessing. So I grabbed my harp case and my calipers and started measuring.

Here are my disclaimers: I don’t know anything about anything, so no one should take this to mean I think I’m an expert. This is a very limited data set, so it’s subject to the pitfalls thereof.
I only measured the harps I had in this particular case. I had multiples of nearly all of them, in different keys, and I measured on more than one to make sure it was consistent.

I’m sharing this here simply because I took the time to collect the data and thought that some other harmonica enthusiast might find it interesting.

I was surprised by the results, I must admit. Things like the Lee Oskar being half a centimeter longer than the Speical 20. I guess I also didn’t expect there to be so much variation in the size of the holes and how they were spaced.

When looking at the dimensions I contemplated what difference the variances would or would not make. When I thought, “That’s a pretty small difference” it was followed by thinking about how large a chip in your tooth feels when you poke it with your tongue. Seems like it’s possible that small differences might feel plenty big when you’re playing.

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@savagecreature As I type this, I’m poking a chip in one of my teeth with my tongue. Thanks for reminding me, grrrrrr, but I agree with your analogy. Thanks for doing this and sharing it, I find it interesting. I’d like to know the rocket dimensions also, but if you don’t have one, I guess you can’t help. The weights would be interesting too. I don’t have a lot of trouble switching back and forth between different models, but you would think our brain would remember better if all harmonica sizes were the same. If we play chords, I suppose it multiplies the difference.

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I have a L Oskar and the holes are bigger and the harp great for playing single notes. It is tough for me to get comfortable with the size of the harp so it does not get much playing time. All thinks considered a Crossover is the favored harp for me.

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I have easttops and seydel sessions, the seydel is physically bigger, and I find it takes me a bit of playing in when I swap over to be comfortable, but the adjustment is fairly straightforward to do.

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My rocket is approx 4 inches overall, .095 inches in between holes and .204 inch hole width. Thats at the outer edge

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