I have been playing the diatonic harp (as an amateur) for about 8 years and as wanted an instrument that allows me to play jazz tunes without having to go thru a delicate tuning of the harp and learning overblow notes that rarely sound like the other notes. I have decided to invest into a chromatic harp. The choice of the Hohner Hard Bopper is a decision based on high quality assumptions. OK, there is a chromed plate instead of brass on the other 'chromonica' models, but as I also bought a 'chromonica II M270' (Low C tuning) at the same time, I can say there is not much of a difference in terms of construction quality. Which means the Chromonica II M270 is also of good quality. The Toots Hard Bopper has thicker reeds (1.2 mm), the Toots Mellow Tone uses 1.05 mm reeds, as the standard chromonica II M270 does. I was thinking of buying a Toots Mellow Tone for a smoother sound, but I think I will stick to the chromonica II M270 for the moment. I love it as I prefer the low register over the very high notes of the normal tuning in C.
