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Chrom question
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Stevelegh
598 posts
Oct 06, 2012
11:48 AM
Hello everyone!

I'd put this question to Diggs (or on Harp L if I knew how to work the damned thing), but he's not around anymore.

I've been buying some 270 Super Chromonicas on Ebay for next to nothing. Of course they need a clean, but for the most part are fine instruments, particularly the older ones.

I've got a 270 Deluxe that I bought new and I love the round holed mouthpiece and would like to buy some from Hohner to put on the standard 270's I've acquired.

My question is will they fit? Everything looks mechanically fine, but as I've freely admitted here, I'm a complete doofus a customising harps and I'm not going to start sticking things in places they shouldn't go.

Any help or advice would be welcome.

Regards

Steve
jbone
1068 posts
Oct 06, 2012
11:57 AM
i don't know if the different mouthpieces will fit or not. i DO know the 270 is a much lesser chromatic in my book. Hering makes good ones and Suzuki does as well. if you get a better chromatic the 270's will show their true colors.
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Last Edited by on Oct 06, 2012 5:12 PM
Stevelegh
599 posts
Oct 06, 2012
12:07 PM
Thanks for the post Jbone.

The thing that interests me with the 270's is that they come in different keys. My band does some Stevie stuff and I'm being asked to do do the solos, but in different keys to Stevie's.

For example, the band are doing Sunny in B. Stevie's version is in F# which is 7th position (sorry chrom people for talking positions and thanks Winslow for the correction). Playing in B on a chrom is a nightmare at the best of times and you can't get Stevie's ornaments, so I'm looking to invest in a F 270 for this song.

I don't know of any other chroms that offer a range of keys apart from the CX12.
chromaticblues
1375 posts
Oct 06, 2012
12:57 PM
Steve I would stop buying Ebay chroms and buy CX12's!
If you want to play the song in "B" I would buy a "B" and an "A" chrom. Then learn it on both harps and see which one you like better.
Stevelegh
600 posts
Oct 06, 2012
1:32 PM
Hey Chrom,

Funnily enough, I've found a CX12 in F on Thomann for £115.00 GBP.

I'm getting it. I've got a C and I love it.

I can't play chrom apart from the Stevie stuff and it's pure mimicry. I've got to do the solo as per the record, but in the required key. That puts B on a F with the button in, in 7th position (using diatonic reference, sorry.).

If you hear about a harmonica player killing every member of his band because they suggested a key change, that will be me. Apologies in advance.

Edit: Thank you for your advice sir.

Last Edited by on Oct 06, 2012 1:51 PM
jbone
1070 posts
Oct 06, 2012
5:15 PM
Look at Suzuki and Heiring. scx models and 5148 respectively. i know the Suzukis come in at least G as well as C and the Hering makes or has made a very nice baritone C.

i am not a very learned chrom player but do pretty well in 3rd.
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dougharps
278 posts
Oct 07, 2012
7:53 AM
In recent years I have had difficulty finding Hering chroms and replacement parts for my Herings (combo = comb and plates). I like Herings and have used them for years, but the reeds are not as durable as in the 270.

If given a choice, I would prefer a comb not made of wood, as I have had 270 combs split in the past. Maybe Suzuki?

Hering mouthpieces fit 270s.
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Doug S.
clyde
287 posts
Oct 07, 2012
2:56 PM
I have found 270's to be nice harps.


Jbone.......what don't you like about them?
dougharps
279 posts
Oct 07, 2012
4:51 PM
I like the darker tone of the 270 very much. It is the standard for chromatics, but an old design.

I don't like the mouthpiece that is like a cheese grater, the wood comb that can split, or the fact that nails hold it together instead of bolts.

My 270 with a Hering mouthpiece I installed plays well, but I dread taking it apart if the pitch of a reed starts to go flat. When I have to, I will try to tune with a draw scraper without taking it apart before I consider prying off the plate.

I am tempted by the 270 Deluxe, despite the wood comb. The Suzuki SCX sounds good, too.
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Doug S.
Thievin' Heathen
46 posts
Oct 07, 2012
5:06 PM
I've get a couple of 270's with cracked combs. I wish one of those acrylic guys would start carving out some combs for 270's.

I have a CX-12 in F, but something about it just does not seem to work for me. Sound, tone, note layout.., just does not feel or sound right. A 10 hole diatonic F is one of my favorites. I don't know what to think, but I keep working with it.

A psychiatrist gave me a Huang 1248 in C. I'm not exactly sure why?

What was the question? Oh yea, will the mouth piece from your 270 delux fit the 270 you bought on EBAY? Doofus factor aside, you are in the best position to let us know.
jbone
1072 posts
Oct 07, 2012
8:51 PM
clyde, they have seemed to take more effort to get the job done than either the Herings- which are seemingly losing ground in the USA- and the suz scx models. in fact the SCX i have in A takes actually very little wind before it stalls so i have to balance between enough to get the sound out and not too much where a reed stalls. i admit my experience is not very broad, and in fact i liked the Hohner Chromettas some years ago and learned a lot with them. but the 270's i have had and do have just seem much harder to play. i once even tried to do a beeswax seal on a 270 comb to get better airtightness- which I do NOT recommend. i warped the comb so badly it was abstract art.

all of that became moot when i discovered the lucite combs of Hering and Suzuki, and the ease of play those harps offer.
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ElkRiverHarmonicas
1319 posts
Oct 07, 2012
9:11 PM
Note: round-hole Hering mouthpieces will fit Hohner 270s.
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David

____________________
At the time of his birth, it was widely accepted that no one man could play that much music so well or raise that much hell. He proved them all wrong.
R.I.P. H. Cecil Payne

Joey Anchors
9 posts
Oct 08, 2012
5:04 AM
"I wish one of those acrylic guys would start carving out some combs for 270's."

Chris over at blow-your-brass-off makes combs for 270. I own a white acrylic comb for a 270 "Tenor" he made for me a while ago.

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"The dirtier the better"

~Joey
clyde
288 posts
Oct 08, 2012
7:08 AM
Stevelegh,
I like the 270 and the fact it comes in many keys, the square holes don't bother me.

The 12 hole Suzuki and seydel also come in various keys. My seydel plays and sounds much like my 270's did. My 14 hole Suzuki is a different animal altogether .
Call me crazy but if the chrometta came in several keys I would buy them all
Frank
1279 posts
Oct 08, 2012
11:16 AM

Here is Paul Delay playin Chrome, not sure which one?
barbequebob
2044 posts
Oct 09, 2012
10:10 AM
The mouthpieces from a 270 Deluxe will fit quite easily on a 270 without a problem. From a number of the old time chromatic players I've met who were also harp techs/customizers, what they often did to get a round holed mouthpiece for a 270 was to get a mouthpiece from the 280's made prior to the mid 60's, which were straight tuned rather than the cross tuned setup they presently use, cut part of the mouthpiece, fill in part of the hole area so that a screw hole could be tapped into the mouthpiece and it would work without a problem. You can easily get the 270 Deluxe mouthpiece directly from Hohner and if memory serves me correct, they mention that the two are easily interchangeable.

Just like with diatonics, certain years 270's aren't made as well as others. I have a few made in the early 50's that easily outplayed anything made during the 80's and 90's with little or no effort to play, but they've recently changed the reed profile and tightened the slot tolerances so that they play more like Herings doout of the box, which for years, often played easier than Hohners did.

The difference between the 270 and 270 Deluxe, outside of the fact that 270's come in more keys is that the 270's have tended to have short slot reeds wheras the 270 Deluxes uses a thicker reed plate, tighter slot tolerances and long slot reeds.

Many players who are used to playing really hard on a diatonic, they have to unlearn that bad habit in a HURRY because chormatics do not respond well to being played really hard regardless of who makes them.
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
Stevelegh
603 posts
Oct 09, 2012
10:19 AM
Hey Bob,

Thanks to all for the replies, but Bob got the answer I was looking for.

I'll be ordering a number of these to retro fit onto 270's as standard.

On your last comment Bob, have you tried the CX12? A lot of people have grips about them, but I really like them. You can play them a little harder than the 270's.

Cheers

Steve
barbequebob
2046 posts
Oct 10, 2012
8:18 AM
I haven't as yet tried the CX12 Jazz, which has a differently shaped mouthpiece and the first version of the CX12, I absolutely hated the mouthpiece and wasn't fond of the cross tuning setup, which tends to have a longer, slower slide throw, tho on these, the speed is faster than what's on the 64/Super 64/Super 64X setups they're using, and the somewhat faster slide throw is sort of reminiscent of the long discontinued CBH chromatics. I still DON'T recommend smacking a chromatic as hard as a diatonic because the windsavers, which are there so that more air is directed to reed (chromatics have many more places for air to leak than a diatonic), but when played too hard, the note will blank out, and a similar thing happens with a valved diatonic. When you play an ET chord with the valves on them, it mellows out the inherint harshness of an ET tuned chord by dampening many of the odd numbered upper harmonic overtones that make ET tuned chords sound harsh.
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte


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