Chromatic
Harmonicas   By G.

Retail

Whilst my main role is harmonica technician, customers may find it convenient to purchase stock chromatic harmonicas through me.

When you purchase any plastic comb Hohner chromatic harmonica through me, you may take advantage of my reed gapping and fine tuning services.

Repair

I offer repair services for plastic comb Hohner chromatic harmonicas. Eg. Hohner CX12, 280, Super 64, etc.

Repair service pricing

All jobs have a base cost of NZ$25, for assembly, sanitising, evaluation & admininstration. To which you add the following service costs.

Services not available for wood comb chromatics.

Repair service description

Base cost? For health reasons, every used harmonica I service needs to be disassembled, cleaned, sanitised, and then I can assess it. If you're not sure of what work needs to be done to your instrument, to arrange for your instrument to be sent, along with the base cost (per instrument), and coverage for return shipment. If after assessment you choose to go ahead, you've already covered the base cost, and will only need to pay for the work we agree on. If however you decide its not worth fixing, you've covered the cost of labour and shipping, so I'll return your instrument clean and reassembled.

Revalving deals with: notes that are slow to start; notes that resist playing then suddenly sing out known as popping; annoying buzzing and rattling. When I revalve chromatic harmonicas I retention the top flap of each valve, which gives it a slight arc reducing the chance of it sticking to itself, and ensures the bottom flap is kept snuggly in place at rest.

Regapping reeds makes the notes respond more consistantly across the range of the instrument. Taking the player's level of technique for granted, this deals with notes that choke too easily, or notes that need too much breath to sound. The ideal reed gapping for your instrument depends on the way you play, and this will need to be taken into consideration.

Fine tuning has a big effect on the way your harmonica sounds, in terms of being in tune with accompaniment, and especially when playing chords, double stops and/or with reverb and echo effects. The reference pitch to middle A, and the type of fine tuning that suits your needs will be taken into consideration.

Reed replacement involves removing a fatigued reed from the reedplate, installing a fresh new reed of the correct pitch, replacing it's valve, gapping and finally fine tuning it.

Installing replacement reedplates can be a troublesome, so I offer this service to make life easier for you. At the same time you may wish to take advantage of my regapping and fine tuning services to get the best out of your replacement reedplates.

Services not available for wood comb chromatics.

References

Max Greco
Repair and fine tune two Hohner chromatics C diminished.
"Very nice job, G. They sound really great. Nice uniform response/attack and perfect pitch. I must say that now that they are both properly tuned as dim, I really like the sound of the S64. - very nice indeed." and "Well, what else can I say... Thanks again for your excellent work.
Well done!"

'Hoot'
Two Hohner chromatic repair and fine tuning.
"The two babies have just arrived...
They are just great. A top job. I'm over the moon. I like the ease of sound and tuning. Everything just gels well. The slide moves nicely too. I had a look under the plates and a nice tidy job.
One word -- professional -- says it all."

Mr Borgo
Retuned new stock Hohner CX-12 to C diminished tuning.
"Just wanted to let you know that my CX-12 did arrive back safely last week. It will take me some time to get up to speed on the new layout, but it sounds great. Thanks for your hard work and assistance."