Re: [Harp-L] Fwd: New deluxe version of the Hohner 270




----- Original Message ----- From: "Bobbie Giordano" <bogio@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2006 5:52 PM
Subject: [Harp-L] Fwd: New deluxe version of the Hohner 270



Over on SlideMeister, the harmonica forum confined to chromatic harmonica discussions, Winslow Yerxa broke news about a new version of Hohner's chromatic, the Chromonica 270.

A round-holed mouthpiece, thicker reedplates and the elimination of nails are worthwhile but marginal improvements. Two things would have made IMPORTANT improvements:


1. Accurate machining of the "U" channel to minimize and standardize slide clearance and air leakage. Apparently, Hohner depends on the width of the sheet metal blank to control the height of the flanges and does not accurately machine them after stamping. This could have a major effect on air tightness.

2. Use of a plastic instead of a wooden comb. Farrell and Hering proved that it can be done. The owner of a new "deluxe" 270 will still be stuck with moisture-sensitive wood that swells, shrinks, warps, splits, peels and sounds exactly the same as any other comb material. A wooden-combed harmonica might have "made sense" 60 years ago, but not in 2006. Hohner loses their credibility as harmonica experts by continuing to promulgate the old myth that wood (or any other material) perceptibly affects tone.

My $1000 wager still stands that no one can tell the difference between any two comb materials in a blind test. After about 6 years, there have been no takers. I have some stainless steel 270 combs that would make a comparison very easy to arrange. How sweet would it be to take Vern's $1000 and force him to publicly admit that he is mistaken?

Vern






This archive was generated by a fusion of Pipermail 0.09 (Mailman edition) and MHonArc 2.6.8.