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

[Rick Epping <rickepping@xxxxxxxxx>]

I forgot to mention in my last post that during my test of the gold and the
black CX-12 samples, after the initial tests I swapped covers on the two
samples and tested them again.  All participants agreed that the brighter
tone followed the gold cover in the exchange of parts and not the
reedplate/comb assembly.

Best,
Rick

On Sun, Jul 18, 2010 at 10:15 AM, Rick Epping <rickepping@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> 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
>
>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> 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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