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
____________________________________________________________
Click here to find the perfect picture with our powerful photo search
features.
http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2131/fc/PnY6rbtzji7YfdUQ0V7cMORGSdv38wVJcCM6C6a9YMPHBfd9UvP1m/
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