[Harp-L] Chromatic Maintenance - Treading Lightly

[Jeremy Uejio]

I just want to second the non-slider option.  I've never played Harmonica
until about a year and half ago.  I started on a diatonic and then bought a
non-slider from Greg and to be honest, at first I found it complicated and
heavy and wanted to return it, but after some months of playing (and taking
lessons), I really do enjoy playing it especially after I got Greg to lower
several of the double C's to a Bb to make it Bebop tuned and I found that
it fits perfectly in an old hard eyeglass case, so it's very portable.
 Just my two cents here for what it's worth from a newbie. (I'm still
playing my other diatonics, but not nearly as much).

jeremy

On Thu, Oct 5, 2023 at 10:06 AM Greg Jones <Greg at xxxxx>
wrote:

> Glad to see the discussion here on chromatic maintenance.
>
> Some thoughts of mine on the subject.
>
> 1. If you are a new chromatic player, note that you are trying to learn one
> of the hardest instruments in the world to play. Having the skill to reheat
> some Sonny T licks on diatonic is not the same as learning or mastering
> chromatic.  Mathematically speaking, the chromatic has 12 different
> patterns (12 keys) making it 12 times harder to learn.
>
> 2. The chromatic is a maintenance beast. It may not play out this way, but
> if you plan to learn you should expect to spend about 15 minutes of
> maintenance time for every couple hours of play.  They are made to modulate
> and made to maintain.  Saliva, moisture, dust & dirt, hot & cold, shock,
> and a host of other contributing factors mean you will have to effectively
> field strip your chromatic quite often. All the great players do and if you
> don't learn this, you will have trouble progressing.
>
> 3. There are many great chromatics out there. Far more than there were
> years ago. The modern designs are *really advanced.*  We've come a long
> way.  However, these less expensive chromatics which are outstanding have
> no back end support. The manufacturers do not provide parts or have
> established repair technicians. Your really nice chromatic that you paid
> $100 for will eventually be a paperweight unless you know how to repair it
> yourself and even then you won't find parts for it.
>
> 4. Take lessons.  Very very few players come even remotely close to mastery
> without a teacher and the ones who do are already established musicians who
> play piano, jazz/classical guitar, etc.
>
> 5. Consider a great alternative to the chromatic and that is the Seydel
> NonSlider.  It is fully chromatic but with no slide and very few or no
> valves, the maintenance headaches are virtually eliminated.  Buy it from me
> and if you don't like it, I'll refund your money.
>
> Onward..
>
> Greg Jones
> Seydel Tech & Customer Support
> Seydel Service Partner
>
>
>
>
> *Greg Jones*
> *Seydel Sales & Service*
>
> Web Site <http://1623customharmonicas.com>
> Repairs
> <https://www.1623customharmonicas.com/seydel-diatonic--chromatic-repair>
>