The Mouth Harps Page

   I have to admit to having 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 tortured years later I bought one from a guy at Woodford Folk Festival and thereby found out they come from Vietnam. When a friend went there recently on a cultural exchange I gave him $200 and begged him to bring back a stash and so he rode about the countryside on a motorbike making twanging noises at the locals and finally tracked them down. I have been getting them ever since.

I sell most of them at festivals and markets from my market stall and they appeal to all ages and walks of life. They seem to be hard to find elsewhere and usually only one type is available. I thought I should give them their very own page so here are photos and descriptions and sound samples of the various models I try to keep in stock:

  Very small Fans of mouth harps 3-way $12 and 4-way $15. They are around 55mm in

length and pitched around an Fm7 chord. They sound strangely evocative and with 

breath they kind of ring and distort and get louder, totally unique. Medium difficulty to

play and low intensity (you need a mike in noisy places to busk.) They come in wooden 

cases and look like this and sound like this; 4-way fan

   Treble Vietnamese brass mouth harp in bamboo case $10. Pitched around B, 75mm 

long, efficient size for intensity & volume, easy to play and comfortable and you can get 

all the sounds easily. This is how they sound; mini dan moi

   Mid sized Vietnamese brass mouth harp in bamboo case $10. Efficient, loud, easy to 

play etc. as above but bigger, pitched around F#, 105mm. Sound sample; dan moi

   Bass Vietnamese brass mouth harp in bamboo case $12. Growlier and deeper, more 

sustain, 115mm, pitched around Eb. Click this to hear it; bass dan moi

   PNG style string activated mouth harp in wooden case $15. Hardest to play but unusual 

didgeridoo-like soft attack, deep tone, and low pitched, around Ab. 

Here is a sample; png style

   Fish style bass vietnamese brass mouth harp for extra sustain (thicker metal) in a 

wooden case $15 or new swivel case $17. Around B in pitch, deep tone with good tops.

To hear a short sample click here; fish

   Large Vietnamese brass mouth harp on handle with wooden case $15 posted. Sounds the same as the Fish model but with handle to help with sustain and ease of playing. 

   Large Vietnamese brass double tined mouth harp; $17. My favourite all rounder which 

has great tone, a little more volume, more clarity and just a bigger sound. It also comes 

in a bamboo case in tribal fabric. 102mm, pitched around Eb and still easy to use. Here is

a sound sample; double tined dan moi

   Here is a picture of the new triple tined version of the double tined mouth harp which

sounds awesome. It comes in a plain bamboo case with rosewood cap. $20. It is pitched 

around B and is 115mm long. To hear click here;  triple tined dan moi

    There is also a thicker, more sustaining triple tined model in a swivel case which does 

great vowels and is super loud. A little more difficult being quite wide but truly amazing 

sound $20. It is pitched around B and measures 120mm. Sound; thicker triple tined dan moi

   There is a slightly smaller and narrower triple tongue model made from thicker brass 

and therefore much bassier with loads of sustain, tops and mids too. Also comes in a 

swivel case for $20 and is pitched around E, 130mm. Click this to hear it; 

   Vietnamese traditional bamboo mouth harp $12. Medium difficulty

but nice mellower organic sound with less sustain that records nicely, not as

efficient as brass but decently audible acoustically. Varied pitch and colours.

Here is what one sounds like; small bamboo

Large bass Vietnamese traditional bamboo mouth harp $20.

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. A huge 41cm long and

quite varied pitch around low E on a bass or lower.

Traditional Jaw/Jew's harp, brass and spring-steel, in inlaid case $35. The following 

are the best quality traditional jaw harps I have played due to the tight tolerance 

between the tine and the body. Beatifully made and great sound. This one is around F# 

and measures 80mm.

   The Flower model is bassy and classy and nice to hold and very comfortable on the teeth

being so heavy, $65. Best sounding jaw-harp, nice and deep. 115mm, around E.

There is also a small flower jaw harp which measures 98mm and is pitched around 

E, $55. 

   The small jaw harp has the loudest sound being more intense at a higher pitch, $35. 

Here is a sample; small jaw harp

   The new ovoid shaped jaw harp is a beauty, nice tone, 75mm long, pitched around G

Plain bamboo case and rosewood cap; $35. Sound sample; small ovoid

   There is a bass jaw harp as well, pitched around D  $55. 

Here is a short sample; bass jaw harp

   There is another bass model which is chunky and very fat sounding and is my favourite 

fat sounding jaw harp. It comes in a swivel type case, is pitched around E, is 90mm 

long and has a real twang with good top end response, $60. Check out the sound;

super bass jaw harp

   A double brass jaw-harp with bass and treble tines on the same base, nicely in tune 

with eachother around D and low G. Comes in a great swivel top pine and rosewood 

magnetic case. $75. Hear it here; double jaw harp

   There is a triple jawharp which sounds amazing and is in tune too which means you can 

have three notes in one; low D, E and G. The bass note is the lowest I have heard. $85 in 

a pine swivel top case. 4"x5"

   The following two photos are of jaw harps made from rosewood, ebony and there is a 

plexi-glass one too and they come in very swanky cases and sound great; nicely woody 

yet still bright, the plexi-glass being the brightest. They are the most comfortable to play 

too. $50. These are tuned to various notes and are different sizes.

Plexiglass in C; plexiglass jaw harp

Ebony in F;        ebony jaw harp

Rosewood in E; rosewood jaw harp

   There is a double version in rosewood or ebony for $70 and these are about D and a low G, measure about 10 x 15cm and a dream to use and to hear and it now comes in a swivel top case with a magnetic latch. 

   Click this to hear it; rosewood double jaw harp

   The nose flute is the woodwind version and is held under the nose and the mouth cavity

shape determines the pitch. They come as a rosewood deluxe version and unfortunately

no longer with the bag $12 or a plain wood one for $5. Here is the sound; noseflute

   The Mo Nhip; $5. This is the percussionists version, placed over the mouth and tapped 

with the fingers. It sounds like this; mo nhip

   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 WW1 and 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! Didge bazooka? Gun lyre?