A few people have asked about the Hohner Rocket Harmonica, so I have bowed to demand and added a few of the most popular keys - if they create interest I will add more in the future.
So what is the Rocket?
It is a standard Diatonic harmonica, with a brass reed plate and reeds (0.9mm), an ABS comb and stainless steel plates, with 'Just' tuning (so chords and single notes will play fine).
It is not the most beautiful of harmonicas, with the grey ABS comb looking a bit dull, but it is nice to play, with smooth rounded edges - a slight improvement on Hohner's Special 20, which it is otherwise very similar to. It does feature wide open vents at the rear, but with a central support to stop that squeeze that some of us are prone to!
Sound-wise, the first thing you notice is that it is loud (due to that open back), but that doesn't come at the expense of tone, with a great raspy sound, which somehow manages to sound slightly warmer - or woody - than most harps with an ABS comb. And it bends well, even for a novice like me, which Hohner claim is due to the fractionally larger holes.
We all have our favourites, and at the moment this is mine!
As with other Hohner models at the moment, I have a mix of new style and old style, in this case the G is in the old style, larger box, while the C, A and Bb are new versions. The pictures below show the differences, which are in the packaging, the case and a different screw type (torx has replaced 'philips'). There is no change to harmonica itself.
