Grover Blue Grass Jaw Harp, No. 8037

Ah, the Grover Jaw Harp – the delightful instrument that promised to unlock the music within me! Little did I know it was less "Mozart" and more "trying to communicate with extraterrestrial life using twangs and boings." Right out of the box, this little gem gleamed with potential. I mean, how hard could it be? Spoiler alert: Think Rubik's Cube, but for your mouth. For the first few days, I sounded like a confused frog with hiccups. Day 7? I think I accidentally summoned the spirit of an ancient jaw harp master who, I must say, seemed rather disappointed in my efforts. By day 14? Well, let's just say the local wildlife seems to have new opinions about my musical prowess. But amidst the sonic chaos, the jaw harp stayed strong, resilient, and ever so patient as I tested the boundaries of audible sound (and my neighbors' patience). It's built to last, and let's be honest, it's pretty forgiving for an instrument that has to put up with my, shall we say, "unique" playing style. In conclusion, if you're looking for an instrument that doubles as a party trick, conversation starter, and potential alien communication device, the Grover Jaw Harp has got your back. Just maybe keep a two-week buffer before any public performances (or longer, in my case). Would recommend? Heck yes! Especially for those eager to find out if their inner musician is more "maestro" or "may-stow that thing away." Either way, it's a twang-tastic time!

It barely functions, and it's incredibly hard to get any sort of tone with it. It's so large that it's almost painful to use (I am concerned I will eventually hurt myself if I continue to use this) Between the difficulty to use and the almost nonexistent tone, I wouldn't recommend this even for a beginner. On top of all that, it was pretty bent and out of shape when it arrived. It doesn't appear to have been damaged, but rather it seems like quality control is not even an afterthought for this company. I genuinely wouldn't recommend this product to anyone, and I'm rather upset that there are people/companies out there that would even attempt to sell this garbage to a customer. I really wonder how people sleep at night when they make their living ripping people off with inferior products. If any person saw this product before it was shipped, they'd have known right away that it wasn't functional. I'm thoroughly disgusted with the prevalence of these literal garbage products getting in the way of anyone being able to find something with reasonable quality. Even if you're a beginner, I would recommend to keep looking, this product is depressing, sad, and will suck all of the initiative and willpower to try something new right out of you. You'll be better off imagining your potential with no product than trying to learn or perform with this.

The only thing that should be taken note of is hand placement. If you have your fingers placed closer to the mouth area, it will make a metallic clanging sound; that being said, try to place fingers further back. If you're a beginner, be sure to have your lips covering your teeth because there is a chance of the metal bar hitting and chipping your teeth.

I'll admit to indulging a bit of nostalgia when I purchased this. My grandpa use to have and play one almost exactly like this when I was a kid. I wanted to have something to bring back memories, and this does. As far as jaw harps go, this is pretty basic, but then again, all jaw harps are pretty basic. It's one of the oldest musical instruments there is, barely a step above banging rocks together. There is no reason to break the bank on one. It only takes a minute to learn how to play a simple rhythm, too.

For the price, it's not a surprise that it would be of low quality. The feel of the instrument feels overall very studery and heavy-duty, however in terms of sound quality, it can't produce that much noise, even from a professional perspective. If you want a professional sounding jaw harp, invest on something of higher quality. This instrument would be better recommended as a practice tool rather than a quality product

This costs 54 cents more than the Scharz sh-8 harp and plays way worst. You can barely hear the jaw-harp sound, it's the worst I've ever played. The gap between the vibrating center Reed and the two side bars has to be as small as possible to make a loud long lasting sound-vibration. The better sounding(hence expensive) harps have very small even gaps, while cheap weak sounding harps have large uneven gaps. So, I clamped this harp in a table vise and bent the side bars inwards with hand tools, till the gaps were smaller and more even (see before and after photos). And, now this harp plays like a $45+ harp.

It was pretty fun to use and practice no complaints

2 stars because this harp never claimed to be anything more than a toy. You get what you pay for. Stiff reed sends all the vibration into your head and causes headaches. Tone leaves much to be desired. Bought this as a beginner harp but took about an hour to figure out about everything I could do with it. Doesn't pick up many tones from mouth and throat shapes, not very loud. Tone doesn't have great resonance. It'll get you started but may turn you off to harps. Would be better off investing in a better one to grow with.