Re: [Harp-L] Golden Melody Customization

["Tim Moyer" <wmharps@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Matt Smart wrote:
> Golden Melodies are my favorite shaped harmonica. They are the most
> comfortable for me but,
> 
> 1) I don't like equal tempered tuning and
> 2) They don't make low,special tunings
> 
> Does anyone have suggestions? I can retune them to just...but 
> wondered if there is a way to get a low c golden melody for 
> example.

Because the Golden Melody is one of the Hohner "handmade" 
(now "classic", I believe) harmonicas, it shares reed and reedslot 
dimensions with the Marine Band and the Special 20, both of which 
are available in special tunings.  It would be fairly straight 
forward to use the reeds from one of those harps in Golden Melody 
reedplates.  

Likewise, it's possible to fit a set of reedplates from a Marine 
Band (or Special 20) into a Golden Melody by altering the plate 
dimensions and drilling new holes.  I won't restart the debate on 
the merits of either approach again.  I will say that I've done 
quite a bit of this with good success; I have low F and high G 
Golden Melodies in my gig kit.

Not even the handmade models are available down to low C, although 
there is a low D which could pretty easily be retuned down a 
wholetone.  

-tim