I got a Hering Master Blues harmonica tonight. It's a pretty nice harp, and it's moderately priced (more on that at the end of this post).
The original Master Blues had a plastic comb. I don't like plastic combs much, but it was one of the few that worked for me (the only other one I like is the Hohner Big River).
This one has a wood comb, and it feels and plays a lot like a Marine Band to me. But it's like a Marine Band that's much tighter and put together much better. It has screws instead of nails on the cover plates and reed plates. Hohner really should stop using those little nails and go to screws on their Marine Bands.
It plays really nice out of the box (actually not a box, but a faux leather pouch). I'm not a player who takes new harps apart and tweaks them (I really should be, but I'm lazy). I think it might be one of those harps that could be easily regapped to play better, especially since it's easy to take apart.
I haven't gigged with it yet, but I will next week.
The last new Hering I was excited about was the Vintage 1923. Great harp, but it went flat quicker than any other one I've played. Hopefully this one will have more life in it.
Getting back to the price - My regular vendor doesn't stock Hering, so I had to order it from one of their competitors. It was around $17.00 when I ordered it last week (and I see now that the price has gone up to $20.99), plus a $7.00 shipping charge. It would be nice to get them cheaper, but I guess they're close to the price of a Marine Band.
I'll post more about this harp when I get a chance to play it live.