[Harp-L] New Hohner Golden Melody

[Blunt White]

Were any changes made to the internal comb design?  Consider acoustic enhancement, such as one comb design for Long Slot reed plates and another for Short Slot reed plates?

The comb molds for the new GM most certainly were an expensive part of the updated design due to machining tolerances and highly polished tool steel.    With the investment in molds, it would be wonderful to think Hohner brought something new to the table with the comb design.

I recently purchased some acoustically optimized combs from Joel Andersson, beautiful things.

Regards,
Blunt White



________________________________
From: Harp-L <harp-l-bounces at xxxxx> on behalf of Tim Moyer <wmharps at xxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, February 26, 2023 10:13 AM
To: harp-l at xxxxx <harp-l at xxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] New Hohner Golden Melody

I too was disappointed in the new Golden Melody Progressive. I like the look, the construction. I was struck by how many of the modifications I used to do to my own old-style GMs (long my harp of choice) are incorporated into the new styling (the open back covers the front mouthpiece screw) still it does not overblow easily out of the box which means reed work is still required to make them a suitable replacement for my aging gig set. I am not in any way Hohner bashing. I still love and play Hohner harmonicas but I don't understand why Hohner would make such a significant investment in re-tooling the line without addressing the thing that gives the harp such a significant advantages over its peers
-tim

    On Saturday, February 25, 2023 at 03:15:12 PM CST, Hellerman, Steven L. <shellerman at xxxxx> wrote:

 The Golden Melody has been my instrument for over fifteen years. I will withhold judgement until I try the new one, but..... If it ain't broke, why fix it?

Btw: I won't post his youtube review, but Jason Ricci gave the new model a thumbs down.  Apparently doing overblows/bends on it out of the box didn't work on some holes which means one has to adjust the reeds. And the new design blocks the 5 and 6 hole reeds, making it harder and more of a hassle to get in there to do so.

I don't ever take them apart and/or adjust the reeds, so this likely doesn't apply to me. Again, I will withhold judgement until I try one. But I was perfectly happy with the "old" GM.

Best,
SLH


Message: 4
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2023 15:19:56 +0000
From: Michael Peloquin <peloquinharp at xxxxx>
To: Steve Baker <booking at xxxxx>
Cc: Harp-L <harp-l at xxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] New Golden Melody
Message-ID:
        <DM4PR10MB611031474A2C95B0970A7981D1AA9 at xxxxx>

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252"

Steve,
Please accept my apology for posting unbased, suspected conclusions about the new Golden Melody. When I saw the notification about the unveiling in my email yesterday, it sparked a lot of feelings, mostly joy. The GM was my overwhelmingly my instrument of choice for the first 10 years of my harmonica journey. I loved the ergonomics, the equal temperament tuning and even the nails that held the covers down. I immediately made plans to be there for the launch on Thursday. You are correct that Hohner has upped their game in the last 15 years; thanks to caring, experts like you and Joe Filisko.
The MS series always has been a sore spot for me because it has often seemed to be purely a business decision in the past, not taking the needs of serious players into account.

I probably should refrain from commenting (ask my wife) on out of the box harmonicas anyway, as I have played custom diatonics exclusively for more than 25 years.
?Time for a Joe Spiers shout-out.

?2 ears/1 mouth

Michael Peloquin
________________________________
From: Steve Baker <booking at xxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2023 2:52 AM
To: Michael Peloquin <peloquinharp at xxxxx>
Cc: Harp-L <harp-l at xxxxx>
Subject: Re: New Golden Melody

Michael,

what exactly do you mean by a ?typical Hohner cosmetic makeover?? Like the developments of the MB Deluxe, Crossover, Thunderbird or Rocket for example? And what is the basis for your suspicion that ?the reedplates might now be MS series, made in Asia??

These snide remarks are typical Hohner bashing, malicious speculation without foundation.

The new GM is in my opinion an improvement on the original, as Chad Nordstrom also seems to think. The reed plates are top quality Hohner classic reed plates, there would be little point in putting MS plates on a Golden Melody.

Steve Baker
www.stevebaker.de<http://www.stevebaker.de>
[http://www.harmonica-masters.de<http://www.harmonica-masters.de>]www.harmonica-masters.de<http://www.harmonica-masters.de>