Comparison between the Seydel Sailor and the Hohner Golden Melody tremolo harmonicas

Portability: Golden Melody 1
Design: Golden Melody 2
Tuning: Sailor 1
Ergonomics: Sailor 2
Playability (airtightness): Sailor 3
Construction: Sailor 4
Size: Golden Melody 3
Summary
Sailor 4 points vs Golden Melody 3 points.

[@TremoloHarmonica]

Excellent review. Thank you. The Golden Melody Tremolo has looked interesting to me for a while. I have several Echo Harps that provide the wet Hohner sound. They are good for some tunes. The slightly drier (yet still wet) Seydels are good for other tunes. The even drier Suzukis are nice for some other tunes. Depends on the music. The Echo Harps and the Sailors are tuned to just intonation for better sounding chords. As for the 24 notes on the Seydel, I talked to a Seydel Rep once who told me they made the 24 note "Skydiver" model first for the Asian market (it probably wasn't called the Skydiver then). Asian tuning puts more notes in the low octave. The Seydel Skydiver in C goes only as high as the Golden Melody C (but it does include the high B that is missing in Richter tuning). When you make it into a Richter, like the Sailor, then there are extra holes at the high end. Those extra notes can be useful on a Richter harp like the Sailor. If you are missing notes on the low end, you can move the tune up an octave. Works better on a G, but can be done on a C.

[@weltsauerstoff]

The Sailor is not really tuned to "just intonation", but has a compromise intonation.

[@TremoloHarmonica]

@@weltsauerstoff Thanks for the clarification. I knew it wasn't equal temperament like the Suzuki.

[@kapellmeister70]

Thank you for the interesting review! 👍🎶 I have got both of them. I prefer the Hohner for its warmer sound and the S.
Sailor for all the other things. Bye!

[@ricardocortezsr2651]

Very good video. Do you know what year the Seydel sailor came out ?

[@Hild1]

This Seydel Tremolo harmonica used to come in three different sizes. The biggest one was this very 48 reed size, but it had "solo" instead of regular Vienna style note placement, so it wasn't intended for that simple chord accompaniment but rather for extended melody playing with full three octaves of range. The smaller versions came in the normal Viennese style. I think that made a lot of sense. I'd say the quality/air tightness has improved. It used to be less constant when those harmonicas were much cheaper.
My experience with Hohner is that they actually do a nicer tuning job when it comes to lessen the dissonant clash on the last draw notes. I really like both Hohner and Seydel. While my favourites are all Hohners, I love the fact that Seydel directly offers you the freedom of customization.

[@nothomelessonyoutube]

So this is how I sound like SpongeBob on harmonica

[@stuffnuns]

Never put a harp in your pocket without some kind of cover. The little pieces of lint will end up in the comb otherwise. from Howard Levy’s rules of harmonica.

[@woelneberg]

Solid advice,but I still do it. I am comfortable with opening my harmonicas to clean them should anything happen.

[@emma-d7534]

Interesting but I as an absolute novice am still confused. I play a D G melodeon, but now I want something light and portable that I can play the same tunes on, just for my own amusement. I have a Diatonic but would love Tremelo. What key do I need to buy? Would that be D? Where to purchase, don't want to spend too much 😊

[@woelneberg]

I would love to try a melodeon one day! They look very cool 😎 To be able to play tunes in both D and G you would need two tremolos. The difference between these two keys are also pretty significant. G is very low and sounds super nice, but can be challenging to play. D is very high and can be harsh on the ears. I would personally go for one in G and just play the D tunes on this one as well.
I recommend Seydel Sailor, or go for an octave harmonica like the Seydel Concerto Steel (probably better in D since the extra octave is lower).

[@tomek-munnspill]

Hei Per. Jeg kom til å slette kommentaren din på min side, beklager det. Skulle rette på svaret mitt, så klarte jeg å slette din kommentar.

[@woelneberg]

Ikke noe stress 🙂

[@abhijitroychoudhury386]

Hohner is 100
Others one to ten

[@nicolaepricop5432]

Ca aspect E mai arătoasă SEYDEL decat castravetele nemtesc HOHNER .

[@Harmonica-Rudi]

Die Seydel Skydiver ist besser. 😃