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16  All Things Harmonica / The chord board / Re: Different ways to get started on: October 08, 2009, 10:53:13 am
Hello, Chord Kings.

The Compact 48 Chord harmonica (Huang, Swan, Victory, etc.) has 4 reeds per chord, no separate bass notes, it's valveless, and has plastic combs, and screws holding the reed plates to the combs.

On the blow reed plates (top plate on each harmonica) we have the major keys, top harp, and minor keys, bottom harp. On the draw reed plates (bottom plate on each harmonica), we have the dominant 7th chords, top harp, and augmenteds and diminished 7ths on the bottom harp.  

Source: "The Huang Compact 48 Chord Harmonica," by Cham-Ber Huang, Fall 1996 issue, The Harmonica Educator, Richard Martin, Editor-Publisher. Cham-Ber Huang is credited as the designer of the Compact 48 Chord harmonica.

The Richter system note placement has a blow and a draw reed in each hole. On the Richter system tremolo/octave harps, one hole is two pair of vertical cells.

The most popular tremolos in the USA use Richter note placement. On the 21-, 23- and 26-hole "Japan-Korea" manufactured tremolo harmonicas:

The 21-hole may start on "do, or "mi," of the major scale. Both add one hole on the right, from the 20-hole variety. Both 21 hole Japanese-Korean tremolos use the Richter system note placement.  Hole #8 (E blow and d draw notes on a C tremolo/octave harp) is missing on the 21-hole harp. Source: Mel Bay's Tremolo & Octave Harmonica Method, by Phil Duncan, Mel Bay Pub., (2003).

In the time of the Mel Bay publication listed above (2003), there was only one manufacturer using the Solo (Hausler) system on the tremolo and octave harps: the Huang Musette and Huang Cathedral Concert. Since then, it's believed that Seydel also has manufactured solo system tremolos/octave harps.

The Vienna system note placement has one blow or draw reed in one chamber, like the valveless slide chromatics; or two like reeds, either tremolo or octave tuned, in one chamber (two pair of vertical cells).

Solo system note placement was invented by William Hausler, General Manager of Hohner, New York, USA, in 1930. It was initially called "Hausler Tuning," for a few years, as compared  to "Regular Tuning," (Richter system).

John Broecker
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17  All Things Harmonica / The chord board / Re: Chord patents on: October 05, 2009, 03:27:51 pm
Hello, Dave.

The Hohner 36-chord harp is blow-only, single reed per note. It has 3 decks with hinges in between, and the chords are on each harmonica's top reed plate, with the separate bass note on the bottom reed plate of each harmonica.

Presently, my Poly 36 chord has the minor harp on the top, then the major harp, then the sevenths harp on the bottom. I'm not sure if this is the manufacturer's setup. I took the Poly 36 apart many years ago to clean it, and may have re-assembled it incorrectly.

Each of the 3 hinged harps is 12" long, from the mouthpiece left to right.

The Yamaha Butterfly Chord Harmonica measures approximately 14 and 5/8ths inches left to right. It is one harp, no hinges. The 7 major chords are blow, and the 7 seventh chords are draw.

John Broecker
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18  All Things Harmonica / The chord board / Re: Chord patents on: October 05, 2009, 09:54:33 am
Hello, Dave and the Chordomatics.

Thanks for the interesting chord harmonica patents papers.

I didn't know that chord harmonicas were patented before the 1900s.

The initial reason for the 3-, 4-, and 6-tremolo or octave harps on a "paddlewheel" setup was to allow the player to produce more chords. "Paddlewheel" harps were first listed in product catalogs circa 1880. Providing extra chords was usually the reason for double-sided harps, also.

I own chord harps of many sizes:

Hohner 48 Chord; Hohner Polyphonia #8, 36 Chord; Suzuki SCH-24 Chord harp; Huang Chordet 20; Yamaha Butterfly Chord Harmonica (14 chords); Tombo Pocket Chord (8 chords);  Hohner Chordomonica II slide chord-diatonic harp (7chords); Hohner Polyphonia #4--Vineta, 6 chords.

Of all the models, the Suzuki SCH-24 is the one I use most often. The ones with fewer than 20 chords are not very useful, except the Tombo Pocket Chord (2 major chords, 2 minor chords, 4 seventh chords), about 5 and 3/4ths inches long.

I'm a "student" chord player, with about 12 years chord playing experience.

Richter system diatonic harps also make good chord harps, but the chords are limited to about 6 chords. A chord is a set of 3 or more notes played together.

John Broecker
 
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19  All Things Harmonica / Elk River Main Forum / Re: Bullcrap! on: September 08, 2009, 10:00:56 am
Hello, Harp Heroes.

Just think what a Marine Band, Army Band, Navy Band or American Ace could do to the Pansies and Gleekers.

Quite unsightly.

I shudder at the thought.

John "Billiken" Broecker
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20  All Things Harmonica / The Double Reed (tremolo and octave) / Re: Anybody know what to do with a Polyphonia No. 7 on: August 16, 2009, 09:39:04 am
Hello, Dave.

Thanks for the offer to trade your Poly #7 for my Poly #8.

But, I'll be keeping the Poly #8 at this time.

John Broecker
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21  All Things Harmonica / The Double Reed (tremolo and octave) / Re: Anybody know what to do with a Polyphonia No. 7 on: August 13, 2009, 08:49:00 pm
Hello, Dave.

The Hohner Polyphonia #4 (Vineta) pre-1937  had the identical chord setup as today's Vineta setup (left to right): F,C,G  blow, C7,G7, D7 draw. In the 1937 booklet, "The Art of Playing Hohner Chromatic Harmonicas," published by Hohner, New York, 1937, The Vineta's chords are illustrated as: G, C, F blow, D7,G7, C7 draw.

The Poly #5 actual pitch was D in the treble clef to triple high D (two octaves above the treble clef). It has double holes, vertically tuned to the same pitch, the first hole pair on the left is blow, the second pair is draw, etc. It's 8.25" long.

The Poly #6 starts at G below middle C, going to the G above the treble clef. It has double vertical holes, octave tuned, and is 8.5" long.

The Poly #8 is a chord harp, wiith 36 chords, 3 decks with two pairs of hinges: top deck, minor (12 chords); middle deck majors (12); and lower deck dominant 7ths (12). each chord has a separate bass note under the chord. It's a blow only instrumant, 12" long.

John Broecker


 
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22  All Things Harmonica / The Double Reed (tremolo and octave) / Re: Anybody know what to do with a Polyphonia No. 7 on: August 13, 2009, 10:00:25 am
Hello, Dave.

I truly respect the harp players who played the Hohner Polyphonias & Chromaticas with great mastery.  Thanks for the great video.

They must have done a lot of practicing on these effects instruments, just as any other professional harmonica player would do.

I have the Poly #4, 5, 6 and 8, but no #7.  Hohner didn't make a Poly #1,2,3 or 9.

The Chromaticas included the 261,262 and 263 glissando harps (almost 3 octaves each, compared to the two octave Poly gliss harps). The Hohner double basses #265 and #268 are also in the Chromatica series, but aren't gliss harps.

The only 2 survivors of Hohner's gliss harps include the Chromatica #263, and the TrueTone Pitch Pipe #P3, a 13-reed, one octave, chromatic glissando pitch pipe harmonica, one reed plate on the wood comb.

The True-Tone isn't a circular-shaped pitch pipe. It looks like a 10-hole diatonic, with 3 more holes, and is smaller (5" long) than a 12-hole Hohner #364 Marine Band.

The only melody I can play successfully on the glissando harps is the Russian ballad, "Dark Eyes," otherwise known as "Oh Chechornia," composer unknown, arrangement by Nick Manoloff, copyrighted 1935, Calumet Music Co., Chicago, Illlinois. It's easy on the gliss harps, because the melody is chromatic, mostly up and down on the adjacent (chromatic) holes of the harp.

Changing keys is easy on the gliss harps. Once you learn the scales on the gliss harp, you can start anywhere you want. The note spacing pattern will be identical for each key of the same type (major, minor, etc.), and all music scales based on the 12-tone chromatic scale are available on the gliss harps. The gliss harps may be used for any style of music,with bending possible.

A gliss harp playing friend said he learned to play the gliss harp by playing along with recordings, and sitting in with bands, trying to find the correct key on the harp.

John Broecker
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23  All Things Harmonica / The Double Reed (tremolo and octave) / Re: Anybody know what to do with a Polyphonia No. 7 on: August 12, 2009, 02:04:54 pm
Hello, Dave.

A Polyphonia #7 by Hohner is an antique slideless chromatic harmonica. It's a very useful "glissando" harp, and is blow only, with a range starting at D below the bass clef, and ending at the D above middle C. It measures approx. 10-3/8ths inches from low note to high note.

Production of the Polyphonias (#5, 6 and 7) was stopped sometime in the early-mid 1970s. The Polyphonia #4 (Vineta) is still sold today, but it's a 6-chord harp, not a glissando harp. The Polyphonia #8 was a 3-deck chord harp, blow only, with 12 major, 12 minor and 12 dominant 7th chords, discontinued around 1950 (?) a guess.

It's super easy to play glissandi on a glissando harp. A glissando is a rapid chromatic note progression, up or down on the harmonica or other musical instrument (C-C#-D-D#, etc.).

Playing melodies on the Poly #7 are also possible with practice. So are arpeggios, but it takes a lot of practice.

"Cluster" chords are easy. If you play a slide chromatic, try pressing the slide button half way in, then blow or draw multi-tones together. That is a "cluster"chord," not very practical in most music. That's the same effect if you play multi-tones on the Poly #7.

John Broecker
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24  All Things Harmonica / The Double Reed (tremolo and octave) / Re: The truth about the Mountain Harp 64 on: August 11, 2009, 09:23:41 am
Hello, DDDeon and DDDave.

I have a 96-reed Seydel Mountain Harp, solo-system note placement, with a plastic double-sided comb, in C and G major.

The rest of this post is an opinion.

It's used often, but not every day. This is a solo instrument, very versatile, designed for melodic playing, with a few chords.

Transferring from a slide chromatic solo system harp to this one is easy. The note placement is identical between harps.

I bought it because of the plastic comb, thinking that it would be the Richter System note placement.

But the Mountain Harp is better than the confusing note layouts of the Hohner Richter tremolos. I've always had problems finding "do" on the Hohners. The plastic comb will probably be more durable than a wood-combed harmonica.

But, you'll sacrifice the available chords of the Richter system tremolos for the Mountain Harp's greater durability and easier play.  If you play tremolos with chords, a Richter system tremolo would fit your needs better.

John "Mountains of Harps" Broecker
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25  All Things Harmonica / Ebay, etc. finds / Re: My ~1937 Hohner Piccolo on: August 04, 2009, 10:52:05 am
Hello, Piccolo Jim.

I'm not a harp restoration or customizer expert, but I'd recommend any oil that would be safe for human ingestion, odor-free, tasteless, and light weight, so as to avoid collecting dust and other particles.

Just wipe it lightly over the metal parts with your index finger, wipe off the excess. Don't apply anything to the reeds or reed slots.

Beyond that statement, the experts will give much better advice: Dave, Smojoe, and the un-named harmonica greats of this chat group.

John Broecker

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26  All Things Harmonica / Harmonica History and Harmonica Collectors International / Re: Silver (?) Reeds on: August 04, 2009, 10:39:32 am
Hello, Old Dog (Paul M)..

The advertised and labeled "silver reeds" of the separate Essbach and Ludwig harmonica companies and a few other companies probably meant "German silver reeds."

Smojoe and other metallurgic experts, please correct this if it's wrong: "German silver"  is a brass alloy, not silver. It's a formula or formulae of copper and nickel, if I remember correctly.

"Bell metal reeds" are listed on the covers of the Hohner Echo harps, but they are brass reeds, not "bell metal" . Again, please correct this if it's wrong: "Bell metal" is the bronze alloy, used in church bells, cymbals, etc. The Echo harps don't really use bell metal reeds, just brass. Bronze is a formula or formulae of copper and tin.

John Broecker
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27  All Things Harmonica / Ebay, etc. finds / Re: My ~1937 Hohner Piccolo on: August 04, 2009, 10:14:25 am
Hello, Jim and the Piccolo Pirates.


The history of lead harmonica reed plates was short.

Lead reed plates were used on the first harmonicas, circa 1822-'32, until it was discovered that lead is poisonous to humans. The first harmonicas had no cover plates, so transmission of lead to mouth was probable.

In the Napoleonic Wars, lead was used to seal food bottles carried by Napoleon's troops, until the lead poisoning of Nappy's troops was discovered by his field doctors.  Tin cans were used later.

From circa 1832, reed plate materials including  brass, aluminum. brass-colored aluminum, chrome-plated brass, steel, and plastic have been used at one time or another. Today's harmonicas use mostly brass reed plates.

I had an early 1930s vintage Hohner 64 Chromonica with brass-colored aluminum reed plates. The plates were thicker than today's brass plates, and had the powdery corrosion mentioned in your posts. I thought the reed plates were home-made at that time in my harmonica education, and gave the harp to one of my students, for  practicing maintenance and repairs.

The Paris Grand Prix medallion listed on the bottom cover of your Piccolo would mean that the covers were made after the Paris Exhibition of 1937 (with the 6-pointed star). The other harmonica parts could have been made, as Smojoe has said, before or after that date. Hohner may have used the 6-pointed star logo on its harmonicas well into the 1940s, using up its stockpile of covers. After 1937, no new covers had the 6-pointed star on the logo.

In the mid-1930s (date unknown)Hohner German market 10-page booklet, your piccolo harp is illustrated in black and white, catalog # 214-1/2, with the cardboard box shown in color in your photo above. It''s listed (in German),as "20 reeds, Richter System, 8 cm. long, "schalldecken und klappetui(?)," keys of B,C,D,E,F,G, and A. Your Piccolo model is made today, but only in the key of C.

The German-language booklet is titled, "Die Hohner Mundharmonika, das instrumente desans pruchs vollen Spieler." ("The Hohner Harmonica, the instrument designed for folk musicians(the translation is a guess)." The booklet was published by Matth. Hohner A.G., Trossingen, Wurtenburg, Germany.

Your vintage Hohner Piccolo, after cleaning, disinfecting, de-burring and oiling of the reed plates, retuning (if needed), and several rinses in water (metal parts only), will be playable and very enjoyable.

John Broecker
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28  All Things Harmonica / The Double Reed (tremolo and octave) / Re: Seydel Star 6 Concerto (Wheel Hoss) modification on: August 01, 2009, 10:38:17 am
Hello, Dave.

Thanks for the information on the Seydel Concerto comb.

You wrote that the Concerto's comb is about 1/2 inch longer (left to right on the mouthpiece) than the Hohner Auto-Valve Harp.

I won't try changing the Hohner comb to the Seydel comb in my Hohner Trumpet Call re-issue at this time.

John Broecker
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29  All Things Harmonica / The Double Reed (tremolo and octave) / Re: Seydel Star 6 Concerto (Wheel Hoss) modification on: July 28, 2009, 07:52:19 pm
Hello, Octave Oglers.

This isn't about the Star 6 Concerto, but individual Concerto harps.

If I didn't already have too many Auto-Valve Harps, I'd buy a few Concertos in different keys. It's a guess that the Concertos, available in 8 different major keys, would fit my preferences better than the Auto-Valve Harp.

The Concerto is assembled with screws and has a plastic comb. I prefer screws instead of the Auto-Valve's nails, and the Concerto's plastic comb avoids moisture and humidity problems of the wood comb Auto-Valve.

Dave, are the combs of the Auto-Valve and Concerto of the same measurements (length, width, height)?

My Auto-valve harps measure 4-5/8ths inches long (left to right on the mouthpiece); 1-1/8th inch deep (player side to audience side); and approximately 1/2 inch wide (top to bottom, with covers removed , keeping the reed  plates intact) on the audience side, tapering down to 3/8ths of an inch on the player's side, including the reed plates.
 
I have a Hohner "Trumpet Call" harp (an Auto-Valve with gold- or brass-plated horns), a re-issue of the one made from about 1925-1940 (?) by Hohner. I'd like to try to insert the Seydel Concerto into the Trumpet Call sound box.

The covers of the Auto-Valve Harp have been removed at the factory and replaced with narrower covers to fit inside the Trumpet Call sound box.

Would it be possible to fit a Concerto with covers removed into a Trumpet Call box, without much serious custom work?

Thanks

John Broecker
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30  All Things Harmonica / Elk River Main Forum / Re: Again: Session vs. Favorite on: July 28, 2009, 10:15:51 am
Hello, Rich-ard-harp, Dave and Jim.

Dave, your post encouraged me to take apart the Favorite Black and Blues Session Zirkular. That's the only time they've been opened since I received them about 5 years ago. They are free of any problems so far.

I'm the type of harmonica player who takes what is given by the manufacturers, and tries to do my best on whatever brand and model harp I play. I have no practical knowledge of more than basic maintenance.

In general, my harps are only dis-assembled when cleaning and/or maintenance are needed. If there is anything seriously wrong, I let the manufacturer or a harp technician repair it, or buy a replacement.

After closer inspection, I noticed that there were more physical differences in the two models than previously known:

Black Favorite                                                                Blues Session
Marine Band-type cvovers                                             "ergonomic" covers
no hole #s on upper cover                                            no hole #s on upper cover
cover is stainless steel                                                  cover is bronze(?) plated over brass (over steel?)
cover groove on reed plates                                         no cover groove on reed plates
5 reed plate screws + 2 cover screws                           3 reed plate screws + 2 cover screws
reed plates rest on top of comb                                    reed plates recessed into comb
mouthpiece holes smaller, beveled                               mouthpiece holes larger, comb walls thinner
reeds narrower (left to right), longer                            reeds wider, shorter

I don't know if any of the above differences affect the sound of the harps, as Richard asked. As stated earlier, I heard no difference in sound when comparing like pitches with a sustained easy breath of at least 16 foot taps.

To my "drummer's ears," the materials used in the physically different harps had no effect.

Thanks again, Dave. You are a true expert and champion of the harmonica.

John Broecker
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