Re: [Harp-L] Silk purse from sow's ear.



Some of the Chinese made harmonicas I've tried to work on have exhibited the following problems:

-- Poor quality reed brass that disintegrates when you ry to file it

-- Warped plastic combs that align with reedplate screws and screw holes only with application of brute force.

Some of these instruments bore the Hohner name; others were marketed under the panoply of Chinese brand names like Star, Butterfly, Golden Cup, Parrot, etc. Some are OK quality, some not.

Some of the Chinese made chromatics I have experience with seem to suffer from a minimalist approach to parts: Use the smallest reed that will produce the desired pitch, and make the tiniest windsaver attached with the weakest glue. Result of all this cost cutting is poor performance and short-lived physical integrity.

An exception would be the Hohner Chrometta, which is assemble in China from parts made in Germany. The Hohnica Educator 10, on the other hand, is rebranded junk (my take, not everyone agrees about this).

I've been hearing good reports of recent products from Swan, but I haven't yet tried any of their newer chromatics. Could be that things have improved in recent times.

Winslow
 
Winslow Yerxa
Author, Harmonica For Dummies, ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5
            Harmonica Basics For Dummies, ASIN B005KIYPFS
            Blues Harmonica For Dummies, ISBN 978-1-1182-5269-7
Resident Harmonica Expert, bluesharmonica.com
Instructor, Jazzschool for Music Study and Performance


________________________________
 From: "pneupco@xxxxxxxxxxxx" <pneupco@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx 
Sent: Saturday, September 8, 2012 3:35 PM
Subject: [Harp-L] Silk purse from sow's ear.
 
A couple of questions: First, has anyone out there taken one of the cheapest Chinese made Sp20 clones that are around and tried to do a complete customizing job on it - retuning, reed work, embossing, in short - everything? If so, how did it turn out? Next, are there any Chinese made harmonicas that right out of the box approach the overall quality of Seydel, German made Hohners or Suzukis?


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