[Harp-L] Suzuki tremolo chromatic

[Pat Missin <pat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Over the past few weeks, I've been having fun playing the new Suzuki
SCT-128. I was particularly interested in this harmonica as I once
tried to build my own double reed chromatic. Mine was octave tuned,
rather than tremolo tuned and although it was not entirely successful,
it did convince me that I would like to have a good double reed
chromatic. My prototype used two sets of standard Hohner 270
reedplates mounted on a comb that was double the usual distance front
to back. This meant that the chambers were considerably longer than
usual - not a great problem in the lower range of the instrument, but
not at all good in the upper range. I wished at the time that I were
able to manufacture my own special reedplates so I could use a shorter
chamber for the high reeds. This is what Suzuki have done.

Of course, there is a tremolo chromatic already available as a custom
order instrument, John Infande's Musette. John has taken two regular
chromatics, placed one above the other and made a special mouthpiece
that allows the player to sound both instruments at once. A very
creative solution, although I am willing to bet that if Mr Infande
owned his own reedplate making machinery, he would build something
like the new Suzuki.

So, is it any good? Yes - it is very good.

Despite the old saying about not being able to judge a book from its
cover, as soon as you see the heavy duty leather holster that contains
the SCT-128, you can't help but suspect that the contents are going to
be special. The holster is very substantial with air holes to allow
the harmonica to air out after use whilst still safely protected and
has a very solid clip for fastening it to your belt. One word of
caution - you probably don't want to wear it like a gun when you are
going through airport security!

The harmonica itself has a black ABS comb with tastefully engraved
chrome-plated brass covers held in place by three interscrews. Its
shape is sort of reminiscent of a grand piano, its front to back
measurement being greater at the lower end of the harmonica. As with
most Suzuki instruments, the finishing work is superb and the
harmonica feels very nice to hold. Considering that it has twice as
many reeds as a normal 16-hole chromatic, it also feels surprisingly
light in weight - about 15oz (428g). 

The mouthpiece/slide assembly is a typical 3-piece design like the
modern Hohner 64. The backing plate and slide are made of chromed
brass, the mouthpiece is gold plated brass (personally, I would have
preferred silver, but that's just my personal taste) and it doubles as
the U-channel for the slide as well as clamping the front edges of the
reedplates firmly to the comb. The mouthpiece has round holes with
very smooth edges and is held in place by a pair of Phillips head
screws that are carefully recessed, everything feeling very
comfortable to both lips and tongue. The slide button is nicely matte
finished to reduce finger slippage and the whole assembly fits
together with good tolerances and the slide worked very smoothly right
out of the box. The reeds are cross positioned and the slide movement
is about 1/4" (6mm). The hole spacing is the same as a Hohner 64 and
the instrument measures a little over 7" (180mm) end to end, not
including the slide button.

The reedplates are very substantial at about .05" (1.3mm) thick,
nickel plated and held in place with no less than 19 screws. There are
valves on all but the two highest reeds in each set, with double layer
valves being used for the first three octaves and some of the valves
deliberately cut a little short. The reeds themselves seem to be
Suzuki's favorite phosphor bronze, reed lengths being fairly typical
for a 4-octave instrument ranging from about 22mm to 7mm. The reeds
are tuned by very neat scratching along the length of the reed and the
reed adjustment is very even. Not too surprisingly, the reeds are spot
welded and replacement reedplates will be available.

The tuning is quite accurately done, especially considering how tricky
it is to set up something like this. The main reeds are tuned to
around A=444/445, with the secondary reeds tuned a fraction lower
giving a fairly wet sound with the speed of the tremolo effect about
4Hz in the lower range and 14Hz at the top of the instrument. 

You might expect it to feel somewhat "windy" to play, given that there
are twice the usual number of reeds, but it is surprisingly
responsive. It takes considerably less breath to play than a typical
tremolo harmonica and is only very slightly less responsive than a
typical chromatic. Of course, note bending is out of the question, but
you can alter the speed of the tremolo effect by slight changes in
embouchure. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the covers are closed
at the rear for half the length of the instrument, only opening at the
lower end of the harmonica. This allows for some nice tonal shading.

Obviously the sound of the instrument would lend itself perfectly to
musical styles typically associated with the accordion - tango, bal
musette, zydeco, etc. It would also be a nice addition to the tonal
palette of chromatic harmonica players in jazz, blues and folk styles,
as well as for players of diatonic tremolo harmonicas who find
themselves hunting for missing notes on their instruments. They are
currently being sold in Japan for the equivalent of about US$500. The
European and US retail prices have yet to be set, but they are
expected to be somewhat higher.

It's great to see more innovative harmonicas from Suzuki and I
sincerely hope this instrument is successful. If it is, I hope they
will consider such things as 12-hole version for those who find the
16-hole instruments a little unwieldy and perhaps even an octave tuned
double-reed chromatic.

To give some idea of how it sounds, I've uploaded a lo-fi .mp3 clip
(about 250k) to my website:

www.patmissin.com/sct-128.mp3

 -- Pat.


 -- Pat.