I love music, I wouldn't consider myself musically talented. I remember some of the very basics of my piano lessons, and I can sing well enough, but I usually just lack the patience to learn an instrument well. So it should come as no surprise that I tend to gravitate towards "easier" instruments, and learn to tap out a few simple tunes on them, a couple of jams, etc. I consider myself more of a musical hobbyist (TM) than a musician. One of my favorite instruments, though, is the harmonica.
So there I was in the dollar store, looking around. I had noticed the other harmonica they had there, but had dismissed it. I had my bag of Cowboys and Indians, and my silly red dinosaur, and I was ready to leave, when something caught my eye. A harmonica, below the first one I saw, branded with Disney-Pixar's Cars. A fine enough film, but easily, in my mind, Pixar's weakest (until it's sequel, I hear). A Cars harmonica (a... Carmonica, if you will) is just such a silly, inane piece of marketing that at $2.50, I couldn't help myself.
I thought it was a bootleg. It was made by a company apparently called 'What Kids Want!' which I'd never heard of before and I just can't see Disney or Pixar endorsing something this crappy. But according to this press release, they actually work with Disney. Well, way to freakin' go.
The harmonica comes with a case, so let's get that out of the way. It's made of transparent yellow plastis and has a very odd latch design that doesn't close very well. The right end is emblazoned with a small, shoddy looking Cars logo. Whoops! My bad. It's a sticker. Oh, the excitement's building now.
On to the harmonica itself. Both sides feature the same image- Lightning McQueen driving on... um, something red and black, with a yellow sky (or wall?) behind him. Also written there is the rather cool-but-meaningless phrase 'Thunder After Lightning'. Well okay. Maybe there's a character called Thunder McKing and we just can't see him because he's behind Lightning. I've got no idea what the phrase means, but it's a good name for a band. A small, blurry logo reading 'The World of Cars' is visible in the lower right corner of the image.
The harmonica's construction is apparently all cheap plastic and stickers. There appear to be fingerprints in the glue carelessly smudged across the front of the instrument. But how, you all wonder, does it sound? HAHAHA! It barely sounds at all! Yes folks, you have to blow WAY too hard to get any kind of sound out of this thing, and even then all you get is a half-assed, discordant wheeze. Even better, upon closer inspection, it appears that each of the ten holes has only one reed. One hole you can only blow, one you can only draw, and so on.
Bottom line? This was a waste of $2.50. With this money I could have bought 2 1/5 dinosaurs much nicer than the one I actually got. I could have saved it for something else. Instead I got a piece of crap that will probably kill me if I play it too much and sounds like a dying cat dragging his teeth on a blackboard. It just goes to show- if you need a harmonica, don't go to a dollar store. Even if it's just for a kid, get a cheap but good. A lot of companies that make harmonicas make cheaper models designed for children. If you have to by from a toy company for whatever reason, get one from a good company like Schylling. THIS. SUCKS.
And for a harmonica, it barely even does that.
What Kids Want's site can be found here.
So there I was in the dollar store, looking around. I had noticed the other harmonica they had there, but had dismissed it. I had my bag of Cowboys and Indians, and my silly red dinosaur, and I was ready to leave, when something caught my eye. A harmonica, below the first one I saw, branded with Disney-Pixar's Cars. A fine enough film, but easily, in my mind, Pixar's weakest (until it's sequel, I hear). A Cars harmonica (a... Carmonica, if you will) is just such a silly, inane piece of marketing that at $2.50, I couldn't help myself.
I thought it was a bootleg. It was made by a company apparently called 'What Kids Want!' which I'd never heard of before and I just can't see Disney or Pixar endorsing something this crappy. But according to this press release, they actually work with Disney. Well, way to freakin' go.
The harmonica comes with a case, so let's get that out of the way. It's made of transparent yellow plastis and has a very odd latch design that doesn't close very well. The right end is emblazoned with a small, shoddy looking Cars logo. Whoops! My bad. It's a sticker. Oh, the excitement's building now.
On to the harmonica itself. Both sides feature the same image- Lightning McQueen driving on... um, something red and black, with a yellow sky (or wall?) behind him. Also written there is the rather cool-but-meaningless phrase 'Thunder After Lightning'. Well okay. Maybe there's a character called Thunder McKing and we just can't see him because he's behind Lightning. I've got no idea what the phrase means, but it's a good name for a band. A small, blurry logo reading 'The World of Cars' is visible in the lower right corner of the image.
The harmonica's construction is apparently all cheap plastic and stickers. There appear to be fingerprints in the glue carelessly smudged across the front of the instrument. But how, you all wonder, does it sound? HAHAHA! It barely sounds at all! Yes folks, you have to blow WAY too hard to get any kind of sound out of this thing, and even then all you get is a half-assed, discordant wheeze. Even better, upon closer inspection, it appears that each of the ten holes has only one reed. One hole you can only blow, one you can only draw, and so on.
Bottom line? This was a waste of $2.50. With this money I could have bought 2 1/5 dinosaurs much nicer than the one I actually got. I could have saved it for something else. Instead I got a piece of crap that will probably kill me if I play it too much and sounds like a dying cat dragging his teeth on a blackboard. It just goes to show- if you need a harmonica, don't go to a dollar store. Even if it's just for a kid, get a cheap but good. A lot of companies that make harmonicas make cheaper models designed for children. If you have to by from a toy company for whatever reason, get one from a good company like Schylling. THIS. SUCKS.
And for a harmonica, it barely even does that.
What Kids Want's site can be found here.
I thought it was a Cars 2 harmonica? Also, you never told me about a silly dinosaur. I feel jipped off now.
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