Important Announcement

September 9, 2024

Effective immediately, I will not be accepting orders for Built-to-Order Custom Harmonicas until further notice.   As of this moment, I have enough orders on my bench to keep me busy for at least the next 5-6 months.  Given how busy my personal life and schedule will be for the rest of the year, it makes little sense to continue taking orders which will only push me further behind schedule. 

This will not affect orders for Custom Combs, Custom Covers, Tools, Logo Wear or Sonny Terry Estate items.  All that will be business as usual.  Orders for those products will be shipped immediately.  In addition, as we speak, I am in the process of adding some new products to my offerings.  New comb materials.  Exciting new colors.  A line of tools for doing harmonica repair and customization.

After I am caught up, I to offer more Ready-to-Go Custom Harmonicas.  I am not opposed to doing Built-to-Order Harps in the future, but I do think it will be on a much more limited basis than what I have done in the past.

My apologies if this catches you by surprise.  I am at a point in my life when it is time for me to make some adjustments in the way I do business.  It is time for me to draw a line in the sand and move forward.

Thank you for your understanding and your support.

Tom

SUB-30 Custom Harmonicas 
and Customization Kits

The Suzuki SUB-30 is a revolutionary harmonica featuring 30 reeds on a chassis the same size as a standard 20-reed diatonic harmonica.  In addition to the standard 10 blow and 10 draw reeds, Suzuki has incorporated 6 additional blow and 4 additional draw “Sympathetic Reeds” which provide the “missing notes” not found on a Richter Tuned Harmonica. The extra reeds enable full chromatic playing via the use of draw bends and blow bends (no overblows or overdraws required).

The SUB-30 was introduced at the annual SPAH Convention in 2012.  Blue Moon Harmonicas has been involved in the efforts to customize and improve the performance of the SUB-30 since the very beginning.  At that SPAH Convention in 2012, we were commissioned by Brendan Power, the inventor of the SUB-30, to build a custom comb for it. Fast forward to today and we have upgraded and re-designed the Custom SUB-30 Comb and have developed a second custom component - the External Valve Plate.  The External Valve Plate (EVP) is simple to install and adds 10 valves to the SUB-30, making it a 30-Reed/20-Valve Harmonica.  Our Custom Comb and EVP make the SUB-30 far more airtight and responsive than the stock version.  In addition, we do an extensive amount of reed work to our Custom SUB-30s to further enhance the performance. Our precision components and expert reed work serve to unlock the potential of the SUB-30 and make it the harmonica its inventors dreamed of when they created it.

We offer Custom SUB-30s in the Keys of A, C and D built wtih our Custom Combs and External Valve Plate.  The Custom Combs and Valve Plates are also available as stand-alone components or as a complete SUB-30 Customization Kit.

PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE ORDERING

The SUB-30 was developed to enable diatonic harmonica players to play “Chromatically” without the use of Overblows or Overdraws, or Specialty Tuning, which would require you to learn a new breath pattern (as compared to the standard Richter Tuned layout).   It is an ingenious instrument.  However, it is not a panacea.  If you are a beginner and think that buying a SUB-30 will enable you to play the “extra notes” as easily as pushing the slide on a chromatic harmonica, you are mistaken.  If you have not mastered the skills of Draw Bending and Blow Bending on a standard 20-reed diatonic harmonica, the SUB-30 is not the harp for you.  You are better off developing those skills on a harp like a Marine Band, Special 20 or Manji.  If this has not scared you off, please carry on.  Tom Halchak - Owner.

Expected Delivery Date

Please note that the turnaround time on Custom Harmonicas is currently running about 6 months or perhaps longer. Unless a harmonica is listed as a “Ready-to-Go” harp, all custom harps are built to order, per the customer’s specifications. We keep an inventory of over 1,500 combs and about 400 new Hohner and/or Suzuki harmonicas on hand at all times. If it is listed on the website, we have it in stock. The wait time is not due to us making the combs or ordering the stock harp. It is simply that we are very, very busy and custom harps take time to build. Thank you in advance for your patience.

100 % Satisfaction Guarantee

Blue Moon Harmonicas LLC stands behind everything we offer with a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee.  If, for ANY REASON, you are not completely satisfied, please speak up.  We will do everything in our power to make things right.  That might include making adjustments to your custom harmonica, exchanging the product for something else or refunding your money.  That is your call.  We just want you to be happy.  So, please do not hesitate to communicate with us.

One Year Comprehensive Warranty

Every Custom Harmonica comes with a Top to Bottom One Year Warranty.  If ANYTHING goes wrong with your harp in the first year, we will fix it at NO CHARGE.  This includes blown out reeds or anything else that can go wrong with a harp.  After one year, we will service your harp for a flat rate of $25.00.  That would include cleaning, tuning, replacing any blown out reeds and in general, making the harp look and play like the day you got it.