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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Chromonica II DeLuxe
Chromonica II DeLuxe
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cliffy
95 posts
Jun 22, 2014
7:32 AM
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So, I've seen these harmonicas on eBay and always thought they were kind of cool-looking. They have this retro- but futuristic look.
Do any of you have one of these or know about them? Can they be restored to play as well as a newer model? One guy on eBay sells refurbished ones and they look to be in good condition.
Thanks in advance for any advice you can give :)
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GMaj7
447 posts
Jun 22, 2014
9:19 AM
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They do not play as well as any basic out of the box chromatic on the market today. They are really neat to look at and pretty cool when you realize how they were built 60 + years ago, but they just don't play that well. Also, they are tricky to disassemble so making routine adjustments - mandatory for a chromatic player - is very time consuming.
Also note - for better or worse - they are many times tuned to standard tuning that is commonly referred to as Richter as opposed to Solo.
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Greg Jones
16:23 Custom Harmonicas
greg@1623customharmonicas.com
1623customharmonicas.com
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cliffy
96 posts
Jun 22, 2014
11:01 AM
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Thanks Greg, I'll probably still buy one, but more a a collector's item than for actual playing. I just love the look of the "stealth slide" and how the other side looks identical.
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dougharps
654 posts
Jun 22, 2014
4:11 PM
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They do look cool. Your post made me dig one out that I had been given by a friend. It had been his father's, and was tuned solo. I removed the ends, the back plate, the covers, and the mouthpiece, freeing the slide from the spring. I cleaned up the mouthpiece parts and covers. I had previously repaired a crack in the comb in the hope of using the harp, but there were several flat reeds on the C plate (they are straight tuned, C plate on top, C# on bottom)and I didn't want to get into that. It has thick reed plates.
Today I tuned up the 4 and 8 blow C notes without disassembling. Tricky, but possible if you are careful. One of the other flat reeds was a whole step flat. It broke off while I checked it out. Faced with prying and pulling nails to remove the top reed plate, replacing the dead reed, upgrading any interior valves that might be in poor condition and then trying to reassemble it on the repaired comb getting a tight seal seemed like too much work for too little reward.
I just reassembled it to look at, not replacing the reed, not tuning other flat reeds.
It is a difficult harp to work on. Even a standard nailed 270 would be easier. I like straight tuned chromatics assembled with screws/bolts, not nails or pins.
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Doug S.
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