Re: [Harp-L] Chromonica II De Luxe

["Rick Dempster" <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I would imagine there might be some corrosion taking place with brass and aluminium in contact; with the accordion the reeds would be steel I suppose, but the copper content in  the brass would react with the aluminium. It produces an electrical charge as I understand it, and there is some decomposition or transference due to electrolysis. Joe or Vern might be able to de-bug this acquired layman's lore; but I wonder if the reed/slot tolerance is affected by this.
RD

>>> Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx> 2/12/2008 2:26 >>>
I don't think the caulk-like stuff is stock - I think you're right that someone was experimenting with ways to seal it.

By the way, the thick plates are the aluminum ones; the normal brass ones are thinner. The story I've heard about aluminum plates is that they date from the immediate (up to ?? years after 1945?) when brass was scarce and therefore used only for reeds. I'm not sure when the II Deluxe was introduced, but Hohner could have been using leftover reedplates from that period well into the 1950s, which would add to the poor response characteristic of the Deluxe. While aluminum reedplates are standard in accordions, all of the aluminum postwar Hohner harmonicas I've run across have been leaky - perhaps due to poor slot tolerances.

I suspect that some slot tightening and some attention to comb-to-reedplate seal ( with attention to flatness of surfaces as opposed to caulking, gaskets, etc.) might improve the airtightness of the DeLuxe, though the slide assembly may also be a significant source of leakage, as it is on most chromatics.

I know that Pat Missin has done some work on these beasts, but as I recall he was not overjoyed with the results.

Winslow

Winslow Yerxa

Author, Harmonica For Dummies ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5

--- On Sun, 11/30/08, jcolbyspell@xxxxxxxx <jcolbyspell@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
From: jcolbyspell@xxxxxxxx <jcolbyspell@xxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Harp-L] Chromonica II De Luxe
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx 
Date: Sunday, November 30, 2008, 9:23 PM

Are the Chromonica II De Luxes supposed to have some sort of weird caulk-like
stuff on the inside or did someone do an experiment with mine?  If you are not
familiar with this harp, it is like the one on the cover of Man Bites Harmonica
by Toots.  There not supposed to be the best harps in the world but I fell in
love with the way it looks.  It plays OK but I am a little worried about the
goo.  This is one that has the thick brass reedplates instead of the aluminum. 
Has anyone worked on these.  Is there anything I should know before I open it
up?  Here is a link to a picture.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/B000000Z5Y/ref=dp_image_text_0?ie=UTF8&n=5174&s=music 

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