Forerunner Chromatic Harmonica

I bought this as a gift and it arrives in a card box. Within there’s a plastic case for the instrument along with a cleaning cloth. It’s nicely presented and looks professional.I don’t play harmonica, but I’m told by the recipient that the chromatic button is very easy to use and changes the sound with ease. It’s smooth against the lips and the quality of sound is crisp and clear. It’s lightweight and whilst it’s suitable for beginners, the quality is such that it’s also a great buy for a professional or expert player. Very pleased with this purchase.

Just to clarify: this is review about the Easttop T1040 chromatic harmonica.I needed a chromatic harmonica to play Tango music, and this appeared to fit the bill. As soon as I unpacked it, I could play it with no warming up of the reeds. Low notes are resonant and easy to play. The harmonica has a warm rich sound and the rounded mouthpiece makes it easy to move from low notes to high notes.I would recommend this harmonica to anyone wishing to move from diatonic to chromatic harmonica or for serious players. It is not concert standard, but for the money it is exceptional.

The reviews listings here are meant to be for the Easttop KING DREAM harmonica but these reviews seem also to cover reviews of the Easttop FORERUNNER. They are in fact two quite different instruments so I am going to review each in turn.The King Dream is a 12 hole VALVED harmonica. This means that theoretically when you blow or draw a note, nearby notes are blocked by a strip or double strip of thin plastic. This makes the note you are playing less prone to leakage and therefore the note is easier to play, requiring less "wasted" breath.The King Dream is a good sounding instrument and is decently in tune, but like nearly all valved harmonicas some notes get "stuck" when the plastic valves do not lift due to excessive moisture. The King Dream is TWICE as expensive as the Easttop Forerunner because it has valves.I give the King Dream 4 stars, but if you are unlucky enough to get multiple stuck valves you will need patience in adjusting them, in which case this instrument maybe worth only 3 stars. But apart from any valve problems this instrument, though not quite up to semi-pro Hohner standards, is pretty good.The Easttop FORERUNNER is also a 12 hole chromatic harmonica but it does not have valves, which explains why it is half the price of the other instrument. However this is the only valveless harmonica I have tried that performs as though it did have valves. In other words there is almost no leakage even without the windsavers/valves closing and opening according to which note you play. It is just about the most leak-free valveless harmonica available at its very affordable price.But - and you might be more lucky in this regard, my iForerunner is quite badly out of tune on 3 notes: 1st Octave A (flat), 2nd Octave C (very sharp) and the next blown C (slightly flat). This means you have to constantly adjust your technique as you play, which is a pain. You can adjust tuning of each reed if you know what you are doing, either by playing differently, or shaving material from the reed, but nevertheless it is a pity that this particular instrument was not thoroughly checked by Easttop's quality control department before shipping. It is likely that other examples are perfectly in tune in which case I was unlucky.So in summary, the reviews in this section refer to 2 different instruments. Many of the reviews here clearly refer to the valveless Easttop Forerunner and others refer to the Easttop King dream WITH valves.

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Not sure how they do it but East Top have produced an amazing instrument - all in tune right out of the box, smooth slide action, phosphor bronze reeds - even the plastic storage case looks and feels great and for less than £40! I am very pleased with my purchase. Making the switch from harps I now need to get down practising in all the different keys.

Could not be better great sound good looking harmonica this is brilliant instrument very pleased with it

Chromatic without valves can be difficult, and 'airy' taking more breath. This is a beautiful harmonica, well made with everything fitting as it should. It feels chunky in the hand and the slide works really well. The mouthpiece is sublime, really comfortable and rounded. The ingredients are all as they should be so I had high expectations, and had already bought the Swan, which was cheaper.....in every way. The price and build quality were all much cheaper than this....but, the playability was massively different. I have a number of Easttop harps and they are an eye opener at the quality, great sounding, easy to play and airtight. This one just wasn't. So in every way it was better than the Swan, except the important bit, when you play it. Sounded good too, but way too leaky for me, but I couldn't get over how nicely it was made....but not so easy to play.

3rd time lucky for me, the first two went back because some notes wouldnt work properly. Thanks to Amazon for their excellent returns policy