Suzuki SUB-30-C Harmonica Other Unisex sku-26940193

The Suzuki SUB-30-C UltraBend is a C harmonica listed under Woodwind Instruments & Accessories, with color Other, gender Unisex and SKU sku-26940193. On a normal 10-hole harmonica, playing a chromatic scale calls for overblow and overdraw techniques and a delicate reed setup. The UltraBend instead allows chromatic playing through bending.

It offers 18 bends of a semitone or more, compared with the usual 8, and the bends can be held at pitch, moved up or down, or given vibrato. A standard 10-hole harmonica has 20 reeds, with a blow and draw reed in each hole. The UltraBend has 30: an additional sympathetic reed in each hole, tuned one tone below the lowest note and normally passive.

It becomes active when bending the low note in holes 1-6 or the draw note in holes 7-10. On a C harmonica, hole 4 normally allows a C# bend between C and D but cannot bend C downward. The UltraBend's 3rd reed in that hole is tuned to Bb, allowing C to bend to B. Its 10 added sympathetic reeds extend that semitone bend to every low note.

Suzuki redesigned the reed plates and comb to fit 3 reeds rather than 2 in each chamber while keeping a normal-sized mouthpiece. The upper reed plate uses precision slot cutting and reed welding to fit 10 reeds in the available space.