Romelized

["Scorcher" <s_c_o_r_c_h_e_r@xxxxxxx>]

Yeah, baby, I've been ROMELIZED!

As I've mentioned recently, I was very lucky to obtain a really nice,
REALLY OLD Hohner 64 (Chromonika III) from Germany a while back. To
give you some idea of it's age, the box still has the original
pricetag on it: "RM 8.-" (8 ReichMarks) -so apparently it was sold
during the Nazi regime, although it bears the Star of David of a
pre-Nazi instrument.

Anyway, it seemed to be in pretty good condition, save a cracked comb
(aren't they ALL cracked?) - the slide had even been worked on to
improve it's fit. Needless to say, I was pretty happy to finally
receive it, even after a 6-week wait for shipping from Germany. Plus,
I suspect the price was a STEAL (don't ask!).

I decided to send it to Bill Romel for his magic.
http://home.earthlink.net/~romel/

Mr. Romel not only manufactures superb Customs, he will also customise
YOUR chromatic, and I understand he specializes in old, straight-tuned
64s.

I've got to say: I got my harmonica back MUCH BETTER than new.

The Lucite comb is incredible. It's really nice looking, and it also
adds a little "heft" to the instrument. Mr Romel drills, taps & uses a
countersunk-head phillips to exactly index the plates to the comb.
VERY nice comb - the nicest on any of my chromatics (It's a tiny
collection...). I was amazed that you can clearly see RIGHT THROUGH
the instrument - all surfaces are polished CLEAR after machining!

I like the new mylar/micropore valves - they don't seem to have as
much "slap" as the Hohner valves on most of my other harmonicas.

I also opted (at Bill's suggestion) to have the reedplates silver
plated. In his words: " It protects from tarnish, reed failure and
closes the area between the reed and reed slot a fraction."

I'm not making any claims, but they LOOK beautiful, sound beautiful,
and seem tighter, more responsive.

There was recently a thread on this list about $200.00-$3,000.00 range
harmonicas, and what we would expect. Well, this harmonica is all I
could ever want, and even more than I expected. It is louder, more
responsive, and easier to sound GOOD on than any other harmonica I
own. It's my first custom...But it sure won't be my last.

The other point I want to make is that for the results I got, this
work was an absolute BARGAIN. I'm on a VERY tight budget (I'm raising
a family), and even though it's sometimes a squeeze to come up with a
little cash for "recreational use", this is really VERY little to
spend to have a really first rate instrument.

I've played $5,000.00 guitars & once played a $23,000.00 contra-bass.

The nuance, response, feel, appearance, heft, quality, sound, and
"ju-ju" of a customized instrument can't be beat, folks. I highly
recommend you send your FAVORITE harmonica to a customizer (especially
Bill Romel) soon.

Thank you, Bill for the finest harmonica I've ever played.

- -Scorcher