Greyowlphotoart
590 posts
Jun 21, 2011
1:33 PM
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I bought a 12 hole Bends Tonica Chrom. in the recent sale in the UK, as they were selling at half price. I'm not big into playing chromatics but have dabbled with them and this seemed a good opportunity to get a fairly expensive Chrom. at an affordable price and which would outperform my old 10 hole Hohner 'Chromonica', but the plain truth is the Hohner is louder and more responsive.
The thing is Santos - the UK distributors of these harps have shut up shop presumably because Bends no longer wanted a supplier in the UK. This must have been the reason for the sale as Santos sought to offload their remaining stock.
I'm not blown away by the response of the Tonica and in fact 1 hole draw is a dead loss, very leaky and doesn't resonate well. I have taken the reed plates off and shimmed the slot to remove any possible burrs and tried diferent gapping on the reed to no avail (you cant plink effectively with the windsaver on - and I didn't want to remove that, but the reed seemed to be clear of obstruction)
I suppose the reed maybe faulty or there might be an issue with the valve.
Also the high end draw notes are not very responsive.
However everything is a lot better with the 'button in' reed plate, ie louder and more responsive.
Don't really know what to do now.
Any useful advice would be appreciated... but not, throw it in the bin or you should have bought a ....... :) Ta.
Any repairers in the UK or elsewhere and if the reed is duff can it be replaced?
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Brother Tuck
19 posts
Jun 21, 2011
2:32 PM
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Couldn't tell you how to fix it, brother Owl. If you have to toss it, you might consider a Hohner CX12. I have an old one and I'm not even sure they still make them, but it's a very responsive 12 hole chromatic that's a lot of fun to play.
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Greyowlphotoart
592 posts
Jun 21, 2011
3:37 PM
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@ Brother Tuck Hey thanks for that, It's always good to hear feedback on other harps and as I said, I did like my old Hohner.
And welcome to the fun of the Forum BTW.
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Brother Tuck
22 posts
Jun 21, 2011
3:45 PM
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Thank you brother. I don't play chromatic much and by no means am I an expert of any kind with them. I had given up on them completely until the CX12 came out and I finally found a chromatic I could truly enjoy! Loud, easy to play and very durable.
Last Edited by on Jun 21, 2011 4:59 PM
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Aussiesucker
864 posts
Jun 21, 2011
4:52 PM
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Grey Owl, you could try posting your questions to Slidemeister Forum as it's all chromatic. There is sure to be someone over there that could help you?
http://www.slidemeister.com/forums/
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nacoran
4215 posts
Jun 21, 2011
9:27 PM
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It's not just they didn't want a UK supplier; Bends went under.
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Nate
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Ant138
998 posts
Jun 21, 2011
11:25 PM
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Hey Greyowl,
i got an old Hohner 64 from cash converters a while ago for £30 but it plays like crap, lots of windsavers broken and a 1 hole that sounds like your Bends. I'm not much of a Chrom player at all but i keep meaning to give it ago.
as for repairs, you might want to ask Jim from the forum, he's working on a Hohner Old Standby for me at the moment.Hes cleaned it up real nice and put a really nice Jarrah comb on it. I'm thinking of asking him to work work on my chrom sometime.
heres a link to his True Chromatic website.
http://www.truechromatic.com/index.php
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Last Edited by on Jun 21, 2011 11:26 PM
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Greyowlphotoart
594 posts
Jun 22, 2011
6:59 AM
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Thanks Aussie and Ant, I'll follow that up.
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Grey Owl YouTube
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Aussiesucker
867 posts
Jun 22, 2011
2:37 PM
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Grey Owl> check this out. They get excellent reviews but unfortunately they have gone out of business due to financial problems. Maybe some parts ie reeds/ reedplates are interchangeable with eg Hering?
http://www.patmissin.com/reviews/bends1.html
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Greyowlphotoart
596 posts
Jun 22, 2011
2:45 PM
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Thanks for that Aussiesucker. I have just joined the Slidemeister Forum you mentioned, and I will see if I have any luck there. On reflection I don't think this is the right Forum to have posed this question.
Nate said Bends had gone bust...shame.
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