Slidemeister (Chromatic & related only - no Diatonic discussion) > Maintenance & Repair 101

Square Hohner mouthpiece screw nut

(1/7) > >>

Ed McCullough:
I was extremely embarrassed two weeks ago to have lost a square mouthpiece nut when I had one of my newest harmonicas apart. When I opened an old harmonica to scavenge a nut, I found that I had glued the nut in place in my older harmonicas. I just glued all the nuts in my three most recent harmonicas.
-. That older harmonica also had a set of reedplate gaskets made by that guy in Erie, Pennsylvania. It also had a set of Power Plugs made by Brandon Power. They sweeten the sounds of the reeds in the highest pitched octave. I put those power plugs into one of my pre2018 Super 64X. harmonicas.
I am going to use kitchen and bathtub caulk to copy the shape of the power plugs in my most recent harmonicas. My Performance Super 64X had a half-hearted imitation of the power plugs as it left the factory. The highest octave notes in that harmonica do not sound sweet enough, so I'm going to build up the power plugs in my Performance 64X.
-. Jeepers. This work goes on forever. I haven't mentioned that I'm tuning three 16-holers to A 440.

Age:
Busy busy!  ;D

A-440?
In all my life, I had had somehow managed to buy a Hohner 270 that was tuned to A-440. I could never play that thing with anything. It had great sounding reeds, but it always sounded flat, or something. I didn't realize at the time (that was about forty years ago) what was going on. Now that I think of it, I may even still have that old bugger around here somewhere. :-\

Ed McCullough:
Pianos in churches are generally tuned to A440. Classical style musicians in this country generally use A440. I'm willing to be told I'm wrong, that is what I think.

John Broecker:
My Swan 1248 chromatic was tuned to A=440
(the pitch A, in the treble clef, vibrates at 440
cycles per second).

A=440 is an international tuning, set to make musical
groups world-wide, in tune collectively. In the past 50
years or so, that standard has been changed by individual
performers and small groups.

On the harmonica, the manufacturers have stated that
when a performer plays, the pitch is brought down a
few "cents". If the pitch starts at A=440, it will drop
to A=438, etc.

So, the manufacturers have set the standard tuning to
A=442 or 443, and the pitch goes down to A=440.
That doesn't always work, but that's the reason the
harp makers use to boost the cps (cycles per second).

Whenever I used it at rehearsals, other harp players
commented that it was "out of tune". We checked the
tuning, and my Swan was the only slide harp in the
room, with A=440 tuning. The other brands were at
442 or 443, in general.

The Swan sounded good to me, but my hearing is
suspect, especially in the upper octave range. So,
I sold it to another slider.

Best Regards, Stay Healthy

JB

Ed McCullough:
I know that other harmonica players use the 442 tuning that comes out of the factory, but I do not get together with other harmonica players.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page