[Harp-L] Re: Yellow Brass (was GM)

[Steve Baker <steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Stephen Schneider wrote:

<Amen to bringing back the last generation of yellow brass.  If I
understand Steve Baker correctly, the reason Hohner developed the
current alloy/profile/milling was to get reeds that never, ever break
off and expose the company to liability suits.  I understand their
concern; the result, however, is harmonicas that some people never,
ever want to buy again.

Hohner ought to bring back the last yellow brass reed type, and try
tuning it with something other than a diagonal slash at the base if
they want to cut down on catastrophic failures.  Easy for me to say, I
know, but I can spare two cents from what I spend to buy other brands
now>

Steve replies:

What catastrophic failures are you referring to? Though slashing the  
reed base with a tuning file is indeed not particularly elegant, I've  
yet to see much evidence that reeds subsequently break at that point,  
as SmoJo has rightly observed. Since the introduction of the current  
Hohner Classic reed profiles about 5 years ago, incidence of breakage  
has sunk and reed life has increased dramatically, but these reeds  
(diatonic and chromatic) are also great to play. They're certainly  
good enough for me and I use them on all my 100+ gigs a year plus  
studio sessions and my own CD recordings. Any problems are more often  
the result of the exceptionally tight tolerances than of poor quality  
components. I think it's pretty unlikely that anyone playing one of  
today's Classic reedplates would "never ever want to buy one again".  
Even devoted and prominent players and employees of other brands  
(whose names I'll be discreet enough not to mention here) praise  
Hohner's current reed plates in the highest terms.

In Hohner diatonics, the yellow brass you're referring to was  
replaced in 2000 by the red brass used today. The decision to do so  
was not connected with the reed profile / reed life topic, but was a  
consequence of that alloy no longer being commercially available.  
Before this, that same red brass had been used for years for chrom  
reeds as well as on the original Meisterklasse diatonics and was  
generally found very satisfactory in those models, so after  
conducting extensive tests Hohner adopted it for diatonic harps. I  
also liked the yellow brass and would be very curious to see how it  
performs with the new reed profiles, but it's not simple to find a  
foundry which will make small quantities of exotic alloys to  
extremely precise specifications and buying a commercial oven load of  
several tons ties up a lot of capital.

Rick Epping championed the technique of breaking the right angle at  
the point where the reed joins the rivet pad. This was introduced  
later than the change of reed material, at about the same time as the  
new profiles, and has contributed to the longer life of present day  
Hohner Classic reeds. It was definitely not a feature of late 1990s  
reeds which was subsequently discontinued, it was actually introduced  
considerably later and is here to stay. This is a case of the good  
new days rather than the good old days.

Steve Baker
www.stevebaker.de
www.bluesculture.com