[Harp-L] Re: Re: THE COMB DEBATE REVISITED: SPAH Test (Vern)

[Rick Epping <rickepping@xxxxxxxxx>]

I was the one who contributed the claim in the first Hohner CX-12
advertisements that the gold covers produced a brighter tone than the black
covers.  To support this claim I assembled two instruments from stock with
reedplates of the same thickness (the gold CX-12s came with thicker
reedplates than the black models), checked that the reeds were adjusted
similarly, and gave  one a gold cover and one a black cover.  I assembled
three technicians from the harmonica and accordion departments, musicians
all, and stood them about six feet away from me with their backs facing me
so they could not see which instrument I would be playing.  I closed my eyes
and shuffled the two CX-12s until I no longer knew which was which and then
played them.  All three technicians agreed (along with me) that the sample
with the gold covers was significantly brighter in tone than the one with
black covers.  I repeated the test a few times and each time the result was
the same.

I believe that the effective difference between the two covers is not the
material, but the reflective inner surface provided by the gold plating; the
matt finish on the inside of the black covers seems to absorb some of the
higher partials of the tone.  I played one of Siegfried Nahrun's brass
covered CX models and agree with Vern that there seemed to be no difference
in tone from the standard black model, but the inner surfaces of Siegfried's
covers were not, as I recall, polished to as high a degree as are the gold
CX-12 covers.

Rick


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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Thu, 15 Jul 2010 14:57:08 -0700
> From: Vern <jevern@xxxxxxx>
> Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Re: THE COMB DEBATE REVISITED: SPAH Test
> To: JohnnieHarp <johnnieharp@xxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: harp-l <Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Message-ID: <1DA1A63C-1D65-4F07-97BD-B26800942A59@xxxxxxx>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
>
> On Jul 13, 2010, at 9:57 PM, JohnnieHarp wrote:
>
> > Coverplate design and mods is one that comes to mind given current
> > claims made by customizers and manufactures as to volume increases,
> > etc, resulting from different coverplate forms (Suzuki Manji for
> > instance) ... personally, I have my doubts in the validity of these
> > claims based on my experiences ...
>
>
> The cover materials have no effect at all.  Siegfried Nahrun made brass
> CX12 covers that sounded no different from black plastic ones.  The notion
> that a shiny gold coating on CX12 covers will affect the sound is laughable.
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