Review : The Hetrick Harmonica Case

A few weeks ago I interviewed Matt and Scott from the Hetrick Harp Company. They sent me a sample of their flagship product, the Hetrick Harmonica Case for review, and having played with it for a couple of weeks and customised it to my needs, I'm ready to let you know my thoughts on the product.

What you get is a hard black and silver aluminium case with chrome steel corner protectors. The dimensions are 29x19x11 in centimeters, which is 11.5x7.5x4.5 in inches. In other words, it's fairly small compared to say, the photographer cases that harmonica players often use. Since I'm very bad at shooting photos, I nabbed some from Hetrick's website, but the size is the hardest thing to figure on these photos.

The inside is padded with high density foam and divided with hard plexiglas panes following a standard pattern that allows the packing of 4 rows of 6 diatonics (without their boxes) vertically and three larger compartments for bigger harmonicas, cables, microphones, etc. I've drawn a quick diagram of the standard configuration, as seen below.

The standard pattern doesn't allow you to insert a normal sized 12-hole or 16-hole chromatic in the case, since these harmonicas are too long. Hetrick, however, indicates that the plexiglas dividers are easy to saw in order to be customised to just the right size. After some reflexion, I decided to customise mine not with a single row to house the chromatic (as demonstrated on Hetrick's site) but as a double row in order to house a 12-hole low C diatonic as well. Furthermore, I wanted to be able to carry at least one bullet microphone, so I created a large square space at the top of the case to do that.

Truth be told, I had originally intended to keep that upper space divided in two horizontally, but I found out that the space thus created was too small by a few millimeters to actually house a bullet mic. I suppose it's not a huge deal, but I felt it was a little bit dissapointing that the dimensions hadn't been thought out to enable one bullet mic to fit into one of the large horizontal spaces. So I changed my plans and created a larger space in that upper area.

Another thing I found slightly annoying was that the space created for the 12-hole chromatic (by removing the last third of the last vertical divider and the last fourth of the corresponding intermediary horizontal divider) was large enough for the chromatic without the box but just a tad too small for the chromatic with the box. That's not such a big deal in the end because I actually packed more harmonicas in there than I would have if I'd put the chromatic there with the box. On the other hand, I'm less comfortable leaving a chromatic unboxed than I am a diatonic. I guess I worry about something happening to the slide, unlikely though that may be.

Anyway, once I'd worked out the right configuration for me, I took out my trusty metal saw and got rid of the bits I didn't want. I'd say it took me altogether about half an hour. I'd recommend sawing horizontally, and not vertically as I first attempted, since it's much harder to evaluate the accuracy of the cut that way. So I kind of messed one of the cuts, but I simply filed away the extra bit afterwards and it was all good. I'm really not a DIY guy, and it was honestly easy as pie.

Then it was all down to figuring out what to put where. In the end, my Hetrick case holds :

• a 12-set of standard diatonics
• 6 custom tuned or low tuned diatonics
• 4 diatonic spares for most used keys
• a 12-hole chromatic
• a 12-hole Low C diatonic
• a Shure SM-58 vocal mic
• an Astatic bullet mic
• an i-mic
• a little silver vocal mic with attached cord that sounds sweet through a valve amp
• a Smokey mini-amplifier
• a pocket knife
• a ventoline inhaler (yes, I'm asthmatic)

Admittedly, the right hand side of the case is a little crammed, but when I compare what this case now holds with what my old case held, well, it's pretty much the same at half the size ! The old case didn't have any efficient dividers, so I was forced to keep the harmonica boxes in to avoid the harps getting all mixed up. Now I can get rid of the boxes and the gain in terms of space is huge.

All in all, I find this is really a good quality product. The finish is great, it looks sober but solid. The concept is also great and although I was, at first, a little worried about sawing bits off by myself, it turned out to be a lot easier than expected and seems to me like it's really hard to mess up. The quantity of gear it contains and the added bonus of being able to set the case up more or less the way you want it depending on what gear you use works great in practice. Finally, the size and configuration of the case makes it very useable even during a gig provided you label your harps with the keys on one of the ends.

Hetrick sells the plexiglas dividers individually as well, if you want to do more funky customisation or have several sets of customisations depending on what gigs you have. I understand that they will soon put up videos on their website showing how to customise the case, and that they will sell a pre-configured standard layout for diatonics + a chromatic.

Now of course, comes the price. At $94, the case may not seem cheap, but what can we compare it to ? I checked the prices of aluminium photograph cases comparable to the one I currently have. On Gentech's site I find one at $99.95. It's larger in size, but again, the lack of solid dividers mean you have to keep the harmonicas in the boxes, and you can pack roughly the same amount of stuff without it being as practical or small. The Fender Harmonica Cases have a cool tweed look, but they cost $119.95 although I've often seen them go for $99.95. The way the diatonics are stacked is not as practical when you're looking for a specific key, and it holds a maximum of 18 diatonics.

So I'd say that the Hetrick case is pretty competitive when looking at alternatives available on the market. Since it's also a solid and intelligent product, I have nothing but praise for it. I would have liked the dividers to take into account the standard size of a bullet mic since that's a piece of equipment that nearly every harp player will want to carry in the case, but as I found out myself, it's not that complicated to either shift one of the horizontal dividers lower to create a larger space or saw off one of these dividers as I did.

An altogether great product which I heartily recommend. You can find more information and ordering details at http://www.harpcase.com.

Comments

[Eugene]

Thanks for putting up this review, and for the diagrams - very useful!

Eugene