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Short Takes: My Favorite Hohners
If you played guitar in the 70s through the 80s, one of the most popular low-cost brands was Hohner, which had an excellent reputation. I’m sure most of you have read about the famous Hohner Telecaster that Prince used but there were also plenty of other models by this company that were excellent also.
It also goes without saying that they were probably always the premier harmonica manufacturer.
2014 Hohner Echo Harmonica
In 2014, you could get these in guitar stores, particularly used guitar stores for around ten dollars. You don't see these around much anymore but at one time you could get them any day, all day.
I’ve always liked echo harmonicas, going back to maybe the late seventies or so. I've always kept some around and in the near future there's going to be a review on a German double reed I bought last year. I just haven't had time to write it up.
My first harp was a classic Hohner Marine Band and later the Golden Melody was a favorite. However the reeds on those didn't last very long considering the price so I moved on to double-reeded types (since blues harp wasn't exactly my focus).
These particular echoes were available for quite a while so it was easy to take for granted that they'd always be around. The one you see in the picture was from 2015 which is the last time I was able to get one at the old price. Basically any blues recording I did with a harp on the YouTube site and elsewhere was done with this particular wood body type, which I think had a certain edge to it, maybe because of the cheaper reeds or whatever. As far as playing blues, it was hard to beat these old wooden Chinese versions.
You don't see new ones around like this anymore at this price range, as harmonicas have become quite expensive but I kept this one around because it was my favorite. It still plays too.
Hohner Contessa 12 String (70s)
My two favorite inexpensive 12 strings would be the Yamaha, which I’ll profile someday because I kept that one for over 10 years (and from what I gather is still being played) and a Hohner, the Contessa model from the '70s that I got used in the '80s and I kept it around for a few years until the neck gave out.
It was made during a time when it was important to keep 12 strings tuned a half or full step lower; yet guitar stores, even though they knew better, kept these at concert pitch because that's how the customers expected to hear them when they tried them out in the store (and they probably got tired of explaining it everybody that it was supposed to be downtuned). As a result, a lot of new 12 strings in the 70s and '80s left the store with bad necks right from the start but in the case of this Hohner, it had a few more years of life left because whoever owned it prior did make sure that it was tuned to half step or a full step down.
So the neck was actually in pretty good shape but I often had to tune it back up in order to play with other people and as a result, shortened its life.
Later on, like with my Ovation Glen Campbell 12, I didn't care what anyone else thought or how they played, I kept my 12s a half or a full step down and if I didn't participate in any jams, so be it. The fact is even with today's 12 strings which are better built to handle concert pitch (at least more than the old days), this type of guitar still sounds better tuned down and the Hohner was one of my favorites from an era when the life span of a 12 was about three years.
In terms of sound it was actually pretty similar to the Yamaha, which in turn was probably similar to a Martin; it didn't have the power and depth of an old Guild. You can almost say it sounded a little more delicate and in the case of these German and Japanese guitars, I guess you could call them lighter toned with less bass, more mids and more highs. That's not an ideal 12 string sound but unless you're actually recording with them, for every day use that's not bad at all.
Hohner Jazz Guitars
The company had come out with a few of these but the one I'm going to profile in the future, and I'll just mention it here, was a small body type that was often characterized as being a Gibson Byrdland copy but it wasn't, it was just the same size. It featured Kent Armstrong designed pickups and was actually considered quite a good guitar and particularly at its price range. I enjoyed it and eventually a
changed the pickups out to a standard Gibson humbucker which, I wouldn't say improved it but another guitar player eagerly traded me another guitar plus cash for it.
Al Handa
July 26, 2026
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