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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! > new,out the box,scx-64. somewhat dissapointed
new,out the box,scx-64. somewhat dissapointed
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pimike
9 posts
Jan 05, 2018
8:04 AM
i've been playing diatonics for about 10 years and just bought my first chromatic. a suzuki scx 64. i love that lower octave. i was somewhat disappointed however. the draw reeds in holes 4 and 5 sound a little sick and not as responsive as the rest with normal pressure. they respond better when i back off a bit. hole 16 does not respond at all on a draw unless the button is pressed, plus the windsavers are a bit noisy in the low octave. is this normal for an out the box chromatic. do most new chromatics need some tweaking or do they break in eventually. thanks guys
WinslowYerxa
1503 posts
Jan 05, 2018
9:13 AM
If you've never played a chromatic before, you need to adapt to it. It's a different beast.

By Holes 4 and 5 do you mean the 4th and 5th holes from the left, or the ones numbered 4 and 5 (which are actually the 8th and 9th from the left).

(You may wonder why the holes are numbered this way. It's so that the numbers on 12-hole chromatics and 16-holers match. The added low octave on 16-holers is numbered separately.)

Chromatics are much more sensitive than diatonics to how you attack a note and how you form your oral cavity.

This is because in a chromatic each blow reed and each draw reed is isolated – one can't act as a shock absorber for the other as it does in a diatonic.

This makes reeds much more sensitive to pitch depression (counter to popular myth, notes bend more readily on chromatics than on diatonics, sometimes unintentionally). They're also more likely to blank out if you attack them too hard.

Pitch sag in the notes just above and just below Middle C (Holes numbered .4 through 2, actual holes 4 through 6) is quite common, as is trouble in the top octave, which can manifest as pitch depression, squeaking, and reluctance to sound.

It's possible you've received a poorly adjusted instrument. But why not try adjusting your approach before sending it in on a warranty claim?

Open your mouth and throat as if you're yawning, and make sure your tongue is out of the way, on the floor of our mouth.

Breathe gently and deeply from the bottom of your lungs, allowing your diaphragm (just below the rib cage) to expand when you inhale and contract when you exhale.

===========
Winslow

Harmonica lessons with one of the world's foremost experts
Check out my blog and other goodies at winslowyerxa.com
Harmonica For Dummies, Second Edition with tons of new stuff
Gnarly
2400 posts
Jan 05, 2018
10:24 AM
What Winslow says is true--
But I am happy to help--I work for Suzuki.
If you want the instrument examined, give a call to 800-854-1594.
I am gone from there until next Wednesday, but there are folks there to help you.
First thing I would say is, if you don't have an instructor, you might want to take a lesson or two from an experienced chromatic harmonica player, oh say, Winslow Yerxa.
knight66
68 posts
Jan 05, 2018
11:58 AM
Interesting seeing how I just ordered one about five hours ago.
The one i ordered has an SU prefix before the SCX and I was wondering what it stood for.
thanks in advance for any answers.
Buzadero
1314 posts
Jan 05, 2018
2:34 PM
"Shock absorber"

Winslow, that is awesome. That is exactly the way to describe it and the effect as part of the difference in dynamics and response.

After some 5 decades of the ten-hole being part of my life, last year I started an earnest effort to become comfortable with the chrom.

I've had several chromatics over the years, but my abilities were limited to the blues adaptation ala Jacobs, Clarke, Smith, Wilson, Hummel, etc etc etc in primarily third. I wanted to release my little pea-brain and get out of my default comfort zone.

Winslow is right on. It is a different animal and there are plenty of nuance in the way the reeds and your breath animate the two instruments.

Now that you've assigned the shock absorber reference that is the label my brain needed. I know what the effect is as it occurs. I just needed a term to associate to it when I feel it.

Thanks, dude. My 2018 enlightenment is off to a high start.





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~Buzadero
Underwater Janitor, Patriot
MBH poseur since 11Nov2008
robbert
445 posts
Jan 05, 2018
3:56 PM
Also, warm the chrome up a little in your shirt pocket, or your hands, before playing. This helps prevent condensation from forming and causing the valves to stick and rattle.
The SCX is a great instrument, so once you are used to it, you should get a lot of satisfaction from it.
And yes, it’s possible it needs a little fine tuning.
Gnarly
2401 posts
Jan 05, 2018
7:22 PM
And yes, the valves buzz on the bottom octave if you play hard--the reeds swing wide on low notes, play with less force to find the "sweet spot" between noisy and musical.
BnT
124 posts
Jan 05, 2018
8:50 PM
Pimike - As much as I'd like to blame your playing, which I've never heard, Gnarly can probably resolve the playability issue without you changing how you play.

I bought a CSX48 and had issues similar to yours - buzzing windsavers, two stuck reeds (no sound) and two buzzing reeds. It sat unused for almost a year until I brought it to SPAH. The tech from Suzuki in Japan was there, took it apart, cleaned, adjusted, and gave it back. Still had stuck reeds on 5 & 6. Repeat. After 40 minutes of professional attention, it played perfectly (and 8 years later, still sounds good). Fact is, I play Suzuki Manji diatonics and they are consistently great OOTB. So my SCX was a surprise...but with the right tech, they do clean up well.
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BnT
knight66
69 posts
Jan 06, 2018
4:05 AM
twenty three hours after I ordered it I am now the proud owner of an SCX64. That's the good news the bad news is I have a throat infection so can't play it, did give it a quick go just to see if it works alright and it seems to. Will just have to follow Winslows instruction to get it right.
pimike
10 posts
Jan 08, 2018
8:24 AM
thank you to all. you guys all have very helpful knowledge and i find this forum to be invaluable. as winslow said, the chromatic is a different animal. taking that approach has made the difference. i am really enjoying this harp. the only problem is hole 16 draw not sounding but it may just be a small adjustment needed. hey gnarly, i hope to see you at this springs harp fest to take care of it. thanks guys, mike
barbequebob
3462 posts
Jan 08, 2018
9:54 AM
Hering chromatics are also known for windsaver valve buzzing when new so this is common and even on Hohners as well and these harps need some warm up time before playing them. The new Seydel Symphony 64 comes with a case that includes a heater designed specifically for this problem.

The 16 draw problem may be a more common problem from playing them too hard and building up a huge amount of stuck on saliva and dead skin that's clogging up the slot tolerances of the reed.

Overall, Winslow's post is absolutely dead on the money. Bending a note on a chromatic doing the way most self-taught diatonic players tend to do things by playing the note much harder to force the pitch flat absolutely will not work because, like Windslow is saying, is that chromatics do not respond well to being played hard and most diatonic players tend to play as much as ten times harder to make a bend happen and he explains the CORRECT way to go about a bend on a chromatic and you can actually use this same technique on a diatonic to allow yourself get the bends FAR more accurately, especially in the two holes where most diatonic players have the most problem with, which are getting the 3 bends in hol 3 draw and the 2 bends in the 10 blow.
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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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