Harmonicaster - The Electric Harmonica Company

"Love the sound, I think the concept is great.

I do think that you've got the fundamentals down with this. I spent a while jamming on it today, and it's pretty impressive.

Playing this thing with a cranked volume and a metal guitar amp with some effects laid on almost felt like playing a different instrument. You just can't get that same level of grit out of a standard harmonica mic. Much more like a driven guitar sound, but with the thickness and body of a harmonica, and all of the great natural acoustic sounds that usually get lost on other electric systems.

The harmonicas function just fine, I find the swapping system to be very functional and well thought out. I like having the different controls on the device.

 I think the most exciting part about it for me is the fact that you can get all of these different and more aggressive sounds out of it that are ultimately more controlled than a standard harmonica.

I can tell it would be a game changer with pedals that would normally feedback on a standard mic. As a guitarist with a collection of pedals, this is something that’s very interesting to me. It’s also a big stress reliever not having to worry about feedback. "
Harmonica Revolution, Jonah Fox



Note: Please excuse the rudimentary website and rather primitive ordering system. It does what it needs to do and it keeps prices down because I don't have to pay someone to design and maintain a pretty website.

If you're interested in the Harmonicaster or have any questions about it, please drop me an email.

If you'd like to order a Harmonicaster, click here to send in an order form.

UPDATE: Based on input from customers and reviewers of the initial production run I've made a couple of small, but significant changes. The output jack has been relocated from the left side of the control/pickup housing to the bottom of the housing. That keeps the cable from getting in the way of players who prefer to use a left-handed grip. Also, with the old design I recommended using a cable with a 90 degree plug but now you can easily use the more easily available cables with straight plugs. I've also changed the treble-bleed  on the volume control to a more sophisticated circuit that uses a dual-gang potentiometer for a much smoother taper as the volume control comes off of zero.

After more than ten  years of continuous development based on feedback (no pun intended) from many of the world's greatest harmonica players, I'm  happy to announce the all-new, completely reimagined Harmonicaster electric harmonica. A true electric instrument, with steel reeds and inductive magnetic pickups, it has a vibrant and exciting native tone, you can play as loudly as you want without feedback, and it's compatible with any effects device or pedal, greatly expanding your tonal palette. Most importantly, you can take the harmonica to musical places where it hasn't been before. Imagine being one of the first musicians to get to play one of Leo Fender's electric guitars or one of Laurens Hammond's innovative new organs. I can't imagine what you can do with the Harmonicaster any more than Leo Fender could imagine Jimi Hendrix but I'm not imagining the fact that you have to go back to the first bluesman who cupped his harp to a cheesy PA mic and plugged in to find as groundbreaking technological development for harmonica players as the Harmonicaster represents.


Working with Lace Music Products I've developed a purpose-built version of their revolutionary Alumitone pickup. At just 1/16" thick the Harmonicaster pickupt may be the thinnest pickup ever made, thin enough to slide into our harmonicas, out of your  way, so you can play them just like any other harp with your favorite technique, pucker or tongue blocking, all bends and overblows included.

Before you ask, no, you can't use other brands of harmonicas. The Harmonicaster electric harmonica is a system made up of two main components that are designed to work together, the control & pickup housing, and our purpose-built Harmonicaster harmonicas.  Our reedplates are custom made by Seydel specifically for the Harmonicaster system and the coverplates on our harmonicas are designed to accommodate the pickups and also mate to the housing, secured by small but powerful neodymium magnets embedded in the housing and coverplates.

The two pickups (one for each reedplate) are mounted in a compact, lightweight housing that contains volume, treble, and bass controls located at your fingertips, a premium multi-contact PureTone 1/4" output jack for connecting to an amplifier, and a switch to toggle between humbucker and single coil pickup tones.

Our harmonica specific components are custom fabricated for The Electric Harmonica Company in Klingenthal, Germany, by Seydel,the oldest harmonica company in the world (established in 1847, ten years before Matthais Hohner set up shop in Trossingen), using the same durable and great sounding stainless steel reeds as they use in their Session Steel harmonicas, highly regarded by harp players around the world, along with Seydel reedplates and combs. While we think our harmonicas sound best as part of the Harmonicaster system, they're fully functional harmonicas that can be played with a cupped mic or acoustically. The coverplates are 3D printed with durable and food-safe ABS plastic, the same material used to make most plastic harmonica combs.After printing, the are sanded and polished in a ten step process to achieve a mirror smooth playing surface and then clear coated with a food-safe and durable high-gloss 2K automotive clear coat. In addition to being designed to match the Harmonicaster control housing, when playing acoustically, the open, parabolic coverplates project a rich tone.

The Harmonicaster is  lightweight and compact. The Harmonicaster system weighs just 204 grams with one of our Harmonicaster harmonicas. Compare that to 348 grams for a JT30 with a Marine Band  and 424 grams for a Green Bullet with a Marine Band.

At just 33mm tall, the Harmonicaster is about half of the height of a bullet mic, and the housing is just a few millimeters wider than a stock harmonica, making the Harmonicaster ergonomically easy to hold. With a harmonica, the Harmonicaster system is 78mm deep, compared to a bullet mic alone at 79mm. The overall package can fit in your pocket, about the size of a Sony Walkman cassette player. Remember those? 

While size and weight are important, the most important thing about the Harmonicaster is how great it sounds and what you can do with it. You can hear some samples below.

Changing keys is simple and takes just seconds. Just remove the harmonica from the housing and replace it with another. The pickups slide into the harmonica and it snaps securely into place, thanks to powerful, embedded rare earth neodymium magnets, and you're ready to go. The basic package comes with one Harmonicaster harmonica in the key of A (standard Richter compromised tuning), but we'll be offering additional Harmonicaster harmonicas in keys from Low F to High G. Special and custom tunings will also be available on special order. Harmonicaster harmonica coverplates and combs are color coded and labeled with key signatures so you can identify keys immediately, even on a poorly lit stage.

Speaking of colors, the Harmonicaster control housing comes standard in black with your choice of a black, silver, or gold colored grille. Avaiable for a slight extra charge are dozens of premium colors as well as our Custom Shop Metallics. You can see the color choices here.

The Harmonicaster is a high quality, professional grade musical instrument, made with the best components we can source. They are proudly "Made in the Motor City", assembled in southeastern Michigan using domestic and imported components.

Price: $325 plus $15 for domestic shipping and handling. International shipping charges available upon request.

Premium Colors: $25

Custom Shop Metallic Colors: $35

Additional Harmonicaster Harmonicas (Low F to High G): $85

The Harmonicaster is proudly "Made in the Motor City" from domestic and imported components. As mentioned, our harmonica components are made in Germany by Seydel. The pickups start out as aluminum blanks laser cut in Reno, Nevada. We form them into shape, laser cut and install the magnets at our own shop here in the Detroit area, and then send them out to Lace in southern California, for them to add their Alumitone magic. Our circuit boards are made in China by JLCPCB, one of the world's largest PCB makers with surface mount operations done in Asia and through-hole components added here in our location in Michigan. Final assembly of the Harmonicaster is done in our shop where we 3D print and finish the other parts.

The Harmonicaster is now available for order.  Click here to send in an order form. Once I receive your order, I'll send you an invoice via PayPal. Your Harmonicaster will be made to order and once funds are sent assembly will begin. Funds will remain in my PayPal account until your order will be shipped and at that time I'll transfer funds to my bank.