hello.

i'm living in china for a year, and on a whim bought a harmonica i saw at a store here. i don't think i had ever even picked up a harmonica before that, and i'm totally clueless about pretty much everything concerning them.

i've been playing around with it for a couple days now, and am having a lot of fun. i played oboe for about 8 years, which is arguably the most god-awful, ridiculously difficult instrument to learn. so being able to play a nearly passable 'hey jude' after such a short time is a delightful change of pace.

so, i really like my instrument, but, after learning a bit about harmonicas, i've realized that i have no idea what i bought. it looks nothing like any of the pictures i seen so far. and the only thing that came up when i search the brand name--Kain.Z-- where websites in chinese for musical instrument production companies.

i have pictures of the top, front, side, and back, here: [www.flickr.com]
(well, hopefully i do. flickr doesn't work all the time here. if that link doesn't work i'd be more than happy to e-mail pictures to anyone who wants.)

it's much longer than most harmonicas. and it's wedge-shaped, not rectangular. it doesn't have holes. but instead there's a 2x24 grid. it's definitely in C. it seems to play 24 notes-- inhaling and exhaling on 12 sets of 2x2 squares.

any thoughts on what this is or how to play it best? i'm enjoying it, but i've never played any other harmonica, so i can't compare quality or features. i'm thinking i will try to find a more "normal" harmonica to buy and see what i like best.

in the meantime, thanks so much for any help.

I wonder if you didn't find a tremolo harmonica. A site like Coast to Coast may very well have a lay-out. Is it a diatonic or chromatic instrument? How many octaves?

Here is a site that sells your harmonica, unfortunatly it gives no information on it, other than it is a 24 hole deluxe.
[www.harmonica.hk]

It does look identical to the Hohner Echo Celeste, which is a tremolo harmonica, this is possible as some of Kain Z's other harmonicas are tuned and designed the same as Hohner's.

The twenty four sets of holes contain 48 reeds, there are 12 blow holes and 12 draw holes, the reeds in the vertical holes are tuned just off key one a sharp and one is flat, thus giving it a tremolo effect, if it is an octave harmonica then the notes are tuned an octave apart.

If it is tuned the same as a Hohner then the 2,5,8,11 blow holes will all be C. If it is tuned the same then I can get you the rest of the layout if you need it.

The tremolo harmonica is popular in China and Ireland along with several other countries. So anyway if it is a tremolo harmonica and tuned the same as the Echo Celeste then if you click on my profile and scroll down the songs I have posted (this is the easiest way to search for the tremolo songs, if you use the regular search engine it will take you a long time to find everything you are looking for, besides I have posted almost all of the tremolo tabs here ), you will find songs with the word tremolo in parenthesis, these were all done for the tremolo harmonica. Also you can find any song you like on this site made for a diatonic and if it is played between the 4 and 8 hole you can play it on yours by playing one hole higher than what is posted, or if you find one outside this range let me know and I can help you figure it out if you need it.

Hope this helps you out some.

thanks for your help. i'll continue tinkering with it.