Equipped To Survive Equipped To Survive® Presents
The Survival Forum
Where do you want to go on ETS?

Page 3 of 8 < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >
Topic Options
#281434 - 07/21/16 08:15 PM Re: Musical Instruments and Survival Situations? [Re: Russ]
M_a_x Offline
Veteran

Registered: 08/16/02
Posts: 1203
Loc: Germany
For bug-out I might prefer one of the plastic models. The are much less sensitive to moisture, usually cheap and probably good enough for most of us.
For use in non-emergency scenarios I got a Hohner Marine Band. It makes a difference.
_________________________
If it isn´t broken, it doesn´t have enough features yet.

Top
#281435 - 07/21/16 08:26 PM Re: Musical Instruments and Survival Situations? [Re: M_a_x]
Russ Offline
Geezer

Registered: 06/02/06
Posts: 5357
Loc: SOCAL
+1 on the Hohner Marine Band harmonica. The Marine Band 1896 is a classic and the price is not out of reach to even a beginner. No affiliation, I'm a beginner and I'm not even big on blues.

Top
#281436 - 07/21/16 09:09 PM Re: Musical Instruments and Survival Situations? [Re: dougwalkabout]
wildman800 Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 11/09/06
Posts: 2846
Loc: La-USA
I sometimes bring an Irish Whistle. I don't know how to play it but I enjoy playing with it.
_________________________
QMC, USCG (Ret)
The best luck is what you make yourself!

Top
#281437 - 07/21/16 10:33 PM Re: Musical Instruments and Survival Situations? [Re: Russ]
Mark_R Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 05/29/10
Posts: 863
Loc: Southern California
I'm partial to the Lee Oskar diatonic. They're a bit cheaper then the Hohner's, completely synthetic (stainless, brass, and plastic) and have a bright sound that projects a good distance.
_________________________
Hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane

Top
#281438 - 07/21/16 10:53 PM Re: Musical Instruments and Survival Situations? [Re: Mark_R]
Russ Offline
Geezer

Registered: 06/02/06
Posts: 5357
Loc: SOCAL
Is that brighter sound true across all 13(?) keys? If it is that would be a good signaling tool in a survival situation. Maybe not as good as some of the louder whistles, but dual purpose is often a compromise.
_________________________
Better is the Enemy of Good Enough.
Okay, what’s your point??

Top
#281439 - 07/21/16 11:25 PM Re: Musical Instruments and Survival Situations? [Re: dougwalkabout]
Mark_R Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 05/29/10
Posts: 863
Loc: Southern California
You're not going to match a whistle with a harmonica. If I had to guess, I'd put the max volume in the mid 80's Db.

The bottom range (below middle C) can be a little muzzy unless you have a good air column. Keep in mind that there is no such think as a "melodic" harmonica. They all sound like jazz saxophones. The L/O just tend to be brighter than most.

EDIT: Depending on how bad you are, it just might work for critter protection. A bad harpist sounds like a goose in the washing marching.


Edited by Mark_R (07/21/16 11:30 PM)
_________________________
Hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane

Top
#281441 - 07/22/16 02:56 PM Re: Musical Instruments and Survival Situations? [Re: Mark_R]
M_a_x Offline
Veteran

Registered: 08/16/02
Posts: 1203
Loc: Germany
Around here the Hohners and the Lee Oskar are about in the same price range. I prefer the Hohner because I like the touch and feel better and I like their sound.
I have a Hohner Echo for 40 years now and it still plays fine. That kind of makes a small price difference less relevant anyway.
_________________________
If it isn´t broken, it doesn´t have enough features yet.

Top
#281442 - 07/22/16 03:10 PM Re: Musical Instruments and Survival Situations? [Re: Russ]
M_a_x Offline
Veteran

Registered: 08/16/02
Posts: 1203
Loc: Germany
I got some good advice for buying instruments from a music teacher. He advocated buying a decent instrument especially for beginners.
A "beginner level" one is harder to play nicely and frequently destroys interest. A decent one keeps a higher resale value. Once you reached advanced level (and sometimes beyond)you got a decent instrument you are used to.
The only reason I have a Hohner Happy Color harp is because it came in a set with book and DVD. The instructor on the DVD plays a decent blues harp. Good luck trying to match the "it should sound like this".
_________________________
If it isn´t broken, it doesn´t have enough features yet.

Top
#281443 - 07/23/16 12:42 AM Re: Musical Instruments and Survival Situations? [Re: M_a_x]
haertig Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 03/13/05
Posts: 2322
Loc: Colorado
After reading this thread, I went and checked out some harmonicas on Amazon. And went to Youtube to hear a few played (by people who know how to play well!)

I have to say,the harmonica is just not for me. Everyone has personal preferences, but I just don't care for the way they sound.

Mark_R mentioned an ocarina. Those sound much more pleasing to my ear (not the high pitched ones, I think "tenor" or lower sounds better).

Now I think I may have to go investigate buying an ocarina. I was thinking of learning the pan flute a while back, but an ocarina would be much smaller and easier to carry around.

Top
#281444 - 07/23/16 01:22 AM Re: Musical Instruments and Survival Situations? [Re: haertig]
Russ Offline
Geezer

Registered: 06/02/06
Posts: 5357
Loc: SOCAL
Learning the harmonica will be a journey and it may be interesting. From what I heard on youtube there are different techniques and sounds, but it may result in my gifting it to someone who can appreciate those tonals.

OTOH, I like the sound of the alto recorder I recently purchased, the problem is while it is supposedly sized for adult hands, maybe there's a fingering technique I'm missing because it does not fit my hands (and I don't have small hands). I'm going to try a soprano recorder and see how the higher tones sound compared to the alto. An alto recorder typically covers 349-2093 Hz and the soprano covers 523-3136 Hz; that's a significant shift. There's a chart at Recorder Frequency Ranges that may be useful. Per that chart, age related hearing loss starts around 2000 Hz. As I recall my hearing starts to significantly fail around 4000 Hz, so we'll see where this all ends.

Top
Page 3 of 8 < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >



Moderator:  Alan_Romania, Blast, chaosmagnet, cliff 
March
Su M Tu W Th F Sa
1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31
Who's Online
0 registered (), 287 Guests and 46 Spiders online.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Newest Members
GallenR, Jeebo, NicholasMarshall, Yadav, BenFoakes
5367 Registered Users
Newest Posts
What did you do today to prepare?
by dougwalkabout
Yesterday at 11:21 PM
Zippo Butane Inserts
by dougwalkabout
Yesterday at 11:11 PM
Question about a "Backyard Mutitool"
by Ren
03/17/24 01:00 AM
Problem in my WhatsApp configuration
by Chisel
03/09/24 01:55 PM
New Madrid Seismic Zone
by Jeanette_Isabelle
03/04/24 02:44 PM
EDC Reduction
by EchoingLaugh
03/02/24 04:12 PM
Using a Compass Without a Map
by KenK
02/28/24 12:22 AM
Newest Images
Tiny knife / wrench
Handmade knives
2"x2" Glass Signal Mirror, Retroreflective Mesh
Trade School Tool Kit
My Pocket Kit
Glossary
Test

WARNING & DISCLAIMER: SELECT AND USE OUTDOORS AND SURVIVAL EQUIPMENT, SUPPLIES AND TECHNIQUES AT YOUR OWN RISK. Information posted on this forum is not reviewed for accuracy and may not be reliable, use at your own risk. Please review the full WARNING & DISCLAIMER about information on this site.