I’ve just bought Hohner Special 20 in C harmonica at my local musical instruments store.
The box looked new and was sealed on two sides, just like in unboxing videos on YouTube. When I opened it, I saw a Marine Band case, but inside was a Special 20. The harmonica looks new, there are no fingerprints or scratches on its body. I also noticed that on the back of the paper with the code for lessons there is a picture of Golden Melody harmonica with QR code link which leads to Golden Melody page Golden Melody Progressive (I don’t know if its normal, I included the photo of the paper with code for lessins).
I called the store, where they told me that the Hohner factory allegedly made a batch where the cases were mixed up.
Could you tell me if there was a batch where the cases were mixed up? Has anyone encountered such a situation? Could the harmonica be a fake or cleaned and repackaged one?
I’ve not heard of this happening, but it’s possible that the cases got mixed up. If it contained a Special 20 then at least you got what you paid for. Could you post a photo of the case?
The insert with the link to the GM page has presumably been put in all boxes, they don’t print different inserts for different models.
That’s a regular Marine Band box. As it came in the standard cardboard outer packaging, it’s highly unlikely that the instrument is anything but a genuine Hohner Sp.20. I’ll enquire if Hohner Service knows anything about harps ending up in the wrong cases and let you know what they say.
Steve
Hohner Service says occasionally harmonicas have ended up in the wrong case, but it’s a very rare occurence. If you can give a postal address, they will send you the appropriate case for your Special 20. Email it with a brief explanation to CLenti@hohner.de,
cheers
Steve
Jaya, in over 50 years of playing Hohner harmonicas, this has never happened to me. And I have owned literally thousands of the things. So I guess you don’t really need to lower your expectations just yet. Not everything is broken
