florida-trader
646 posts
Feb 25, 2015
5:31 AM
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Some of you might be tired of the endless conversation comparing the “Old” Special 20 vs. the “New” Progressive model, but I thought I would pass along this tidbit of information.
I was building some harps last night – mostly to take some pictures for my website. I opened a brand new Pro-Pack of 5 Special 20’s and proceeded to dismantle them. All five harps have the Progressive cover plates. However of the five, three have reed plates that take 2.0mm screws and two have reed plates that take the 1.6mm screws. In theory, they should all be using 1.6mm screws if indeed they were assembled with “new” parts. It is obvious that the three with the 2.0mm screws were built with new old stock reed plates from back in the “old days”. Personally I don’t think it is a big deal. But it does tell me that if the Progressive Special 20 was a completely new harp Hohner would be consistent in its use of the “new” reed plates. Many have speculated that the changes Hohner made to the Special 20 has somehow made it worse. Giving Hohner the benefit of the doubt and assuming that they are simply using up the new old stock reed plates (who wouldn’t?) it seems to me that the only difference between the Progressive reed plates and the old style reed plates is the size of screw used.
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Tom Halchak
www.BlueMoonHarmonicas.com
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SuperBee
2419 posts
Feb 25, 2015
12:38 PM
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i just got through repairing 3 old sp20s. i noticed they all played really well, and while checking the reed action and shape i noticed they were all very similiar and much like i had seen on some customs i've worked on, and somewhat like i set them up myself, after Richard Sleigh's example. i asked the owner if they'd had other work done. he said no, but did mention he'd chosen to have these 3 repaired because they were the best-playing sp20s he'd ever had. to me this highlighted the variability which has always been part of buying a new hohner harp. we all get used to it and don't worry about it too much, but then there is a small but obvious change to the product and now any bad-playing characteristic is attributed to the 'changes'. in fact, in the lengthy thread with a similiar title to this one, the worst-playing example cited was a harp just as Tom describes here - "old" plates with new covers...so it must be the new covers which have affected the harps, not the plates after all...
or just the inevitable inconsistency in hand-assembly and mass-production.
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arnenym
343 posts
Feb 26, 2015
3:05 AM
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I got this confirmed from Hohner.
They gonna change to one size fits all diatonic harmonicas.
If you want to have some old screws you have to order them fast and save some old harps to take spare parts from.
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florida-trader
647 posts
Feb 26, 2015
3:54 AM
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arnenym - it's not about the screws. You can buy 100 2.0mm screws for about $4.00. Not a big deal. My point is that the reed plates on the new Progrsssive version of the Special 20 are, in fact, plain old Special 20 plates. If the Progressive Special 20 was an entirely new harmonica - not just re-designed covers, then I doubt they would use "old" reed plates on them. There has been much discussion about the differences and some people were even concerned that their beloved Special 20 had been ruined by the "upgrade". So far as I can tell, the only differences are the covers and the size of the screws used to secure the reed plates to the comb. The comb is the same. The reed plates are the same. Only the screws and covers are different.
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Tom Halchak
www.BlueMoonHarmonicas.com
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arzajac
1604 posts
Feb 26, 2015
4:00 AM
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I offer both M1.6 and M2 screws for 8 cents each (Canadian dollar; that's about 7 cents US).
http://harp.andrewzajac.ca/Tools
I've been working on both new and old stock. I'm seeing lots of really well-shaped reeds. I'm also seeing about two reeds per harp that are not well shaped - and that's pretty consistent harp-to-harp.
About the same number of reeds are well-shaped but slightly off-center. By that I mean not mis-aligned but that the reed pad is more to one side than the other and the reed is slightly diagonal in the slot. Not a worry for folks who only gap but it's an issue if you want to squeeze peak performance out of the harp. You need to take the reed off and put it back on straight.
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Custom overblow harps. Harmonica service and repair.
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HarpNinja
4047 posts
Feb 26, 2015
5:37 AM
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Someone on Facebook mentioned an email regarding Hohner price increases coming in March. Anyone see that email?
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Mike
My Website
My Harmonica Effects Blog
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arzajac
1606 posts
Feb 26, 2015
7:37 AM
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Canadian prices starting March 1st:
Special 20 Minimum Advertised Price will be CAD$66.99. Marine Band 1896 will be CAD$65.99.
I hear the folks at Suzuki and Seydel had big parties when they heard the news...
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Custom overblow harps. Harmonica service and repair.
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