Harmonica reeds are a complete rip off. Firstly the cost. They cost almost as much as a harmonica. One company wanted £28 for a set of reeds for a Hohner SP20! I bought a replacement harp to for £30, I mean really what’s the point? For a start I only wanted the draw reeds the blow reeds are fine. But no, I have to buy both plates for £28 I personally hate the fact that these companies rip us off. They really don’t give a crap about their customers
I’ve watched harmonica prices go up over the years, like everything else. I like Lee Oskars partly for the readily available reed plates. Some harps don’t offer replacement plates, while some claim they do but never seem to have them. Usually, it’s one reed on the draw plate that goes bad, so in a perfect world we’d only need to replace that one reed, though I’ve never explored that option. Here in the U.S.A. I’ll pay $50 for a new LO while a set of plates is $33. That savings adds up. Hohner prices may differ. Sure, it’d be nice to be able to buy a half set, or even a single reed, but I’m happy to get the replacements I can. with no ill will towards the makers.
It probably doesn’t cost the company less to sell you reedplates as opposed to a whole harmonica.
Reason is the bulk of the costs in harps is in tooling, production (which is set up for full harps), distribution, and shipping.
So I imagine the cost difference between a full harp and a set of reedplates, from the maker’s perspective, is so small.
Also, they have to keep part prices high, otherwise people will buy parts to assemble their own harps and then sell them under their own “brand.”
I agree it sucks. But probably not much to be done about it. I did see a video where someone made a reed out of a razor blade though!