9 harmonicas (and counting)

You can say that again (and again and again … ) !! On the chance that the Casha chromatic is valveless, I just ordered one (the price is right, so why not?) and should get it on Saturday.

– Slim :sunglasses:

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OK. My knowledge of the inner workings of harmonicas is as limited as my playing skills! To me the Cascha sounds fine and I’ve used it for a while now. I recently added a Hohner Discovery 48 which I find more difficult to play but I’m working on it. My other Cascha is a Tremolo which I really like.

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Good thing we don’t play the piano…:rofl:

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I’d have to have about 12 pianos :rofl::rofl::joy::joy:

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@jeffw and @Slim I’m in court all the rest of this week doing my day job. As Slim has a Cascha arriving at the weekend and he will immediately know if it has valves I’ll wait until he comes back with an answer. East:Top non valve [NV] chromatics have a totally different comb with separate channels for each reed, I’m pretty sure they make NV harmonicas with different named cover plates such as Kmise. The only issue I’ve had with them is the mouthpiece screws can be a bit too short so only just go into the captive nut. Jay1

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Hi @Jay1 and @jeffw

The Cascha 10-40 Chromatic arrived and has no valves. I have not really done much with it other than to play all possible notes (reason given below), and I am very pleased to report that its responsiveness and loudness are quite even across the entire range. The slide does make a little noise, but it is no worse than my other chromatics that have slides.

The tuning needs to be adjusted on some of the reeds to make it really accurate.

Since I only have experience with 12 hole chromatics, the tone layout on the upper 2 holes (9, 10) surprised me as it is not what I expected and will require some practice on my part to adjust my playing. Is this typical for 10 hole chromatics, @Jay1 ?? Disregarding the use of the slide (to keep this short and simple) I have the following layout up there:

+9 = E, -9 = D, +10 = G and -10 = F

So actually only +9 and +10 are unexpected (for me).

More later when I have time to check out the internals, etc.

We are at the moment in shock, since two friends of ours (father and his 18 year old son) both were killed when they fell 1000 meters (ca. 3300 ft) while attempting to reach the Matterhorn Peak. We just learned of this tragic accident today.

– Slim

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@Slim, my condolences for your losses. I’m pretty certain it’s been made by East:Top. Yes the top two holes are tuned differently following the +8C +9 E +10G & -8B -9D -10F pattern without the double C at 8 & 9. I don’t find it an issue switching from 10 hole to 12 hole and back and I’m sure you’ll get so it doesn’t cause you any problems. Be careful of the mouthpiece screws they only just reach the captive nuts and the ends can strip, I probably don’t have to tell you to watch out for the plastic buffers. I’m trying to find some longer screws. All of these low cost valveless chromatics need some customising but that’s half the fun ‘isn’t it’? Jay1

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@jeffw Jeff see @Slim post, your Cascha chromatic is valveless and that’s my favorite type of harmonica, have fun Jay1

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Hello @Slim ,

First of all, I would like to express my sincere condolences. I had heard or read about the tragic accident in the media.

My Easttop 10-40 C has the following channel assignments for the sounds:

All the best to you!

Astrid :woman_in_lotus_position:

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Thank you, Astrid @AstridHandbikebee63 :heart:

So your T10-40 is in the key G? How do you like it?

Best regards,
– Slim :sunglasses:

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No, @Slim, as I wrote above, this is in the key of C. I didn’t know that you got it in the key of G. Sorry!

I don’t know of any other manufacturer of chromatic pianos in the key of C with 10 (40) channels without valves. The others have at least 12, but you know the Forunners yourself.

I can’t find anything about your new Cascha either. I would have liked to help you.

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No! Mine is a C harp. The one in your picture of the tone table for the EastTop T10-40 is for a G harp. In any case, I have now the tone table for my Cascha 10-40 Valveless Chromatic.

Thanks anyway for taking the time to look around!

– Slim :sunglasses:

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Thanks for the tip @Slim. That’s how it is shown by the German dealer on the description page. But I never pay attention to it, as you can see, and rightly so.

I like this harp and I no longer buy chromatic harps with valves because, despite being from a well-known manufacturer, there were only problems from the start. I sent one back to complain and when they checked it, they didn’t notice or SEEN that one valve was completely folded back. So much for that.

Now I’ve checked my definitely chromatic C harp again in practice and can confirm @Jay1’s pitch assignment.

How was that? As long as it sounds good and right, it’s good.:blush:

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@AstridHandbikebee63 & @Slim I strip mine and smooth the slide with wet&dry, usually starting with P600 then 1000 and finish with 2000. Also gently file each slide hole with triangle file to ensure no burs. The slide part of the comb gets the same treatment, then where the reed plates fit, lastly the mouthpiece where it fits to the comb gets a rub down with ultra fine grinding paste to minimise airloss finishing off with toothpaste and a good wash before I start on the reeds and reedplates. Now I only ever use non-valve harmonicas, usually East:Top forerunners either 1 or 2 or 10/40s Enjoy Jay1

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@Slim I just bought an East Top ET12 key of A because it was on sale at SPAH for $45. I’ll let you know how it plays once I open it(…and learn how to play chromatic. :rofl:)

Antonio Serrano, Hank Shreve, and Shane Sager all inspired me to wanna try playing some chromatic…but I still haven’t taken the dive…

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