I have a bit of a thing for the mouth harp and owned one years ago which I loved. I showed it to a little kid (kids are fascinated by them) who promptly broke it in two. Some 8 years later I bought one at Woodford Folk Festival and found out they come from Vietnam. When a friend went there recently I gave him $200 and begged him to bring back a stash and have been getting them ever since. We sell loads of them at our market stall and they appeal to all ages and walks of life. They seem to be hard to find and usually only one type is available. I thought I should give them their own page so here are photos and descriptions:
Very small Fans of mouth harps 3-way $10 and 4-way $15.
They are 55mm in length and pitched around Fm7, sound
strangely evocative, medium difficulty to play and low intensity (need
mike in noisy place.) They come in wooden cases and look like this;
Mini Vietnamese brass mouth harp in bamboo or wood case $9 posted.
Pitched around B, 75mm long, efficient size for intensity & volume, easy
to play and all sounds available easily.
Small Vietnamese brass mouth harp in bamboo case $12 posted. Efficient,
loud, easy to play etc as above.
Medium Vietnamese brass mouth harp in bamboo case $14 posted.
Large Vietnamese brass double tined mouth harp in wooden or bamboo case $17 posted. 102mm,
more sustain, louder, most comfortable and easy, great very efficient sounds+, my
favourite all rounder, lasts longer, pitched around C but varies more.
Large double tined in bamboo case $16 posted.
PNG style string activated mouth harp in wooden case $15 posted.
Hardest to play but unusual soft attack, deep tone, and low pitch.
Fish style bass vietnamese brass mouth harp for extra sustain (thicker metal)
in wooden case $15 posted. Around B in pitch deep tone.
Large Vietnamese brass mouth harp on handle with wooden case $15 posted.
As per Fish model but with handle to help with sound and easyness.
There is also a thicker, more loud, more sustaining triple tined model in a swivel case which does amazing vowels. $20
Vietnamese traditional bamboo mouth harp $15 posted. Medium difficulty
but nice mellower organic sound with less sustain that records nicely, not as
efficient as brass but decently audible acoustically.
Large bass Vietnamese
traditional bamboo mouth harp $20 posted. The pre knobs
forest techno 303 of bass sound,
very low, strange, difficult, needs mic and a bass amp to fully be felt but has a very rewarding sound.
Traditional Jaw/Jew's harp, brass and spring-steel, in inlaid case $35 posted.
Best quality traditional jaw harp I have played due to the tight tolerance between the tine and the body.
The Flower model is bassy and classy and nice to hold. $60
The small jaw harp has , I think, the best sound being more intense at a higher pitch..
There is a bass jaw harp as well $50
There is a triple jawharp which sounds amazing and is in tune too which means you can have three notes in one. $65 (no case).
The following two photos are of jaw harps made from rosewood, ebony and there is a plexiglass one too and they come in very swanky cases and sound great, nicely woody yet still bright. They are the most comfortable to play too. $50
Brass for the above came from recycling old U.S. ordinances (of which more were dropped on Vietnam than were dropped by both sides combined in WW1and WW2!) so you too can be a part of what should be a growing industry of turning armaments into instruments. I want my missile warhead timpani now!
These mouth harps have the best sound and the longest sustain of any I have seen. Top quality professional sound. They can be ordered wholesale too just email me at ron(at)unheardofinstruments.com for enquiries.
These ($Aus) prices are for postage within Australia. O.S. is extra.
Mo Nhip $5 This is the percussionists version, placed over the mouth and tapped with the fingers.
There are also cute kazoos made from bamboo which hang around your neck for $3 which work well.
I usually have a good selection at the Nimbin, Channon and Byron Bay markets and they sell really well.