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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! > Chromatic patent violation
Chromatic patent violation
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Diggsblues
2148 posts
Nov 03, 2017
1:31 PM
This sure looks like a hohner Cx Chromatic. https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/High-Quality-12-Hole-Chromatic-Harmonica-WH12-Black-Harp-professional-musical-instrument-mouth-organ-semi-matte/1881286_32735474559.html
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the_happy_honker
277 posts
Nov 03, 2017
1:48 PM
The CX-12 was introduced in 1991 or ´92. Any patents on the original design must have expired by now.
1847
4520 posts
Nov 03, 2017
2:17 PM
just where do you think hohner has them made? germany? ha ha, now that is ob-surd.
SuperBee
5066 posts
Nov 03, 2017
2:30 PM
Yeah ob-viously it would be much more efficient to maintain those factories and workers in Germany just for show and do all production offshore, while pretending otherwise. The German employees will keep it all secret, large groups are good at keeping secrets. You just have to look at NASA and how all those people kept quiet about the Apollo project all these years, not to mention how the fact the earth is really flat has been hushed up for centuries. Very easy to keep those secrets
nacoran
9648 posts
Nov 03, 2017
8:31 PM
The Earth is no longer flat. I sent it to a customizer and had it retuned.

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Nate
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WinslowYerxa
1467 posts
Nov 03, 2017
9:51 PM
The WH-12 has been around for a few years now. It does look like the CX-12 but those who have tried it say it's nowhere near as good.

I've been to the factory in Trossingen and watched them making diatonics, start to finish.

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Winslow

Check out my blog and other goodies at winslowyerxa.com
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MP
3482 posts
Nov 04, 2017
6:56 PM
nacoran.

I bought Zajac's F-Tool. I can make the world flat like it was in the good old days. It won't leak either. :-)

Lemme know if you change your mind. The very idea of a sphere in a heliocentric solar system seems rather excessive and intellectually pompous, don't you think?

By the way, great tool but very dangerous if put in impatient hands. If you are hurried you can make a plate look like the sand dunes of Libya. If you take your time it works a treat.

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Last Edited by MP on Nov 04, 2017 7:02 PM
bluemoose
1161 posts
Nov 04, 2017
8:52 PM
@Nate/MP....man we need a like button.



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Philosofy
855 posts
Nov 05, 2017
9:10 AM
I bought one from George Miklas at SPAH this year. From what George and others told me, Hohner ripped off Golden Butterfly, not the other way around. The covers between the Hohner and GB fit interchangeably.

One other story related to this: I bought a used one from George Miklas ( www.harmonicagallery.com ). The next day I was showing it to a friend, and I dropped it, and it smashed. I brought it back to George, who is a skilled chromatic repair man, and asked if there was anything I could do. He gave me another one, and didn't want me to pay for it! I insisted, since it was my mistake, but he suggested I just buy more stuff, so I did. The harp world has some very nice people in it.
Gnarly
2337 posts
Nov 06, 2017
7:16 AM
http://archive.harmonicasessions.com/dec09/Yerxa.html
A little history on the CX-12.
Here's the pertinent text--
"A little-known part of the story is that the CX-12's quick and easy disassembly without tools was inspired by modern automatic weapons design. The late Horst Jakubaschk was head of research and development for Hohner at the time (end of the 1980s and into the 1990s). He had previously designed weapons for firearms manufacturer Heckler & Koch. Rick Epping, designer of the Hohner XB-40, relates, “An intelligent and gentle man, Horst told me he left H&K for Hohner for ethical reasons, preferring to assist in the development of music rather than war.”"
WinslowYerxa
1471 posts
Nov 06, 2017
2:37 PM
Thanks for coming up with that quote, Gnarly. This is from one of my harmonicaessions.com articles.

The CX-12 first appeared around 1992, and it won a design award in Germany.

The WH-12 first came to the notice of Slidemeister members sometime around 2007, about 15 years later. The earliest dated reference I can find on the web is from a Hong Kong site from 2006.

While it's possible the WH-12 was kicking around China unnoticed by Westerners and even Hong Kong residents for all that time - unlikely given the export-minded Chinese - it's just as likely that it's a copy of the CX-12.

By the way, if Hohner had copied the WH-12, they would have made sure that the parts were not interchangeable. That's the first thing an OEM client does so the customer can't buy replacement supplies cheaper from the source manufacturer. Unless they're unspeakably lazy and careless.

by the way, there either is or was a WH-10 as well, for those who like the idea of a 10-hole chromatic.

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

Check out my blog and other goodies at winslowyerxa.com
Harmonica For Dummies, Second Edition with tons of new stuff
Join us in 2017 for SPAH in Tulsa!

Last Edited by WinslowYerxa on Nov 06, 2017 2:42 PM
Philosofy
857 posts
Nov 06, 2017
3:27 PM
Winslow, I now agree its unlikely Hohner ripped off Golden Butterfy. I just repeated what I heard.
BeePee
32 posts
Nov 09, 2017
8:32 PM
Winslow and Gnarley are right, of course! Thanks to Horst Jakubaschk for one of the greatest harmonica designs ever in the CX-12, my long-term favourite chromatic.

The first time I came across the WH-12 and WH-10 copies was on my first visit to China in 2002, when touring as guest soloist with the Paul Mauriat Orchestra. It was one of the few Western music acts that was sanctioned for airplay during the Mao years (probably because the band's music was all instrumental, plus uber schmaltzy!) and had a massive following in China. We even played at the massive Great Hall of the People in Beijing, where the Communist Party has their gatherings.

The PMO was huge in Japan too, and we toured there first all over the country for 6 weeks. While in Japan I got an email from a harmonica enthusiast in Shanghai called Wang Kai. He arranged for us to meet up and took me to his home for lunch. Communication was hard but he showed me a big range of Chinese-made harmonicas - among them the Golden Butterfly WH-12 and WH-10.

At first sight I was impressed, but sadly they didn't play as well as they looked. The plastic moulding is poor compared to the Hohner original, the slide is coarsly stamped, and the shallower curve of the covers means that lower draw notes hit the inside.

The best thing about them is the box, a really solid item made of wood and covered in green faux snakeskin. Its worth buying one just for that!


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