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From: "Paul Farmer"
Date: Sun, 6 Oct 1996 18:23:51 -0700
Subject: Wooden coverplates

Re different harmonica materials:
I have had bodies milled out of plastic,wood,and brass for
my Meisterklasse chromatic in the hope of obtaining a richer or
mellower sound than that obtained with the original aluminium body.
The end result was that despite expecting to (and wanting to!) hear a
difference the brass comb sounds exactly the same (to me) as the
aluminium,and the wooden and plastic combs sound so similar to the aluminium
that I'll admit that I'd probably fail a blindfold test to tell them
apart.I'm not saying that there are absolutely no discernible
differences with the wood or plastic substitutes,but to my ears they
are so insignificant that I can find no acoustical advantages in
substituting one material for another.Having said that,I can certainly
hear considerable differences between different makes and models.An
example that stand out is the comparative bright sound of Hering
chromatics compared to their German counterparts,and the significant
difference in the sound of the CX-12 from other Hohners.
Last week I received a set of wooden coverplates from Bill
Romel for my MK chromatic.Unlike the use of different body materials,
the wooden cover plates make a very significant difference to the
overall sound and performance of my instrument:
. They reduce the volume I would achieve for the same amount of
effort if I were using the regular coverplates,
. They change the tone significantly to my ears.I don't know if
mellow is quite the right word, it's like playing a solo
chromatic recording through a graphic equaliser with the top
3 or 4 frequency controls adjusted to cut out those frequencies
entirely.
. While all the notes still respond satisfactorily with the
wooden coverplates I find that the reeds seem to respond
easier with the brass coverplates(this perception may be due
to a combination of my first 2 observations).
I want to make it crystal clear that these are only my
observations and that that other players may have entirely
different experiences with wooden coverplates than myself.I actually
quite like them and rather than replacing my standard coverplates
I'll use these(quite often I suspect) on a 2nd MK chromatic for their
different sound as the situation requires.Bill has done a beautiful
and professional job in making them and I would encourage anyone to
try a set of these coverplates.
Any suggestions as to why the Herings sound brighter than
Hohners?
Cheers,
Paul

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