Chrometta fan club!

[draak13]

I have 13 harmonicas and 3 of them are Chromettas'. Two 10's and a 14. I very much enjoy playing them.

[Bill Morris]

I've got three Chrometta 14s.  Not only do I love the mellowness but the narrow dividers between the holes cause me to tighten up my playing so that I don't get chirps from an adjacent hole that I didn't mean to play.  I've also found that they can take hard playing and REALLY put out the volume when I want it.

Bill

[Lo]

I have 13 harmonicas and 3 of them are Chromettas'. Two 10's and a 14. I very much enjoy playing them.

And as soon as you get another harmonica you'll be draak14?

[TomC]

  the narrow dividers between the holes cause me to tighten up my playing so that I don't get chirps from an adjacent hole that I didn't mean to play. 

As a tongue-blocker I'm also finding that this makes it great for practise.  Seems to make my other Hohner chrom's easier to play afterwards.

[gvelasco]

By your reasoning, penny whistle, with only two octaves (plus a few notes if you're clever), and diatonic unless you half-hole or cross-finger, compares unfavorably with a concert flute, with three-plus octaves (three and a half if you're clever), and fully chromatic to boot. But there are clever people out there who play whistle a lot better than some doofuses play flute. Not "Flight of the Bumblebee," but you gotta go with the repertoire suitable for the instrument.

Yes! There are some amazing whistle players out there. Surprisingly the pennywhistle has many things in common with a diatonic harmonica - except for the chording of course. It's about the same octave as a single chromatic. It has about the same range. They also have to concern themselves with intonation - JI vs. ET. They use a similar concept of playing in positions - for instance using a D whistle to play in G. They have to use bending to play some missing notes.

A Chrometta 8 is plenty for most Irish music and New England fiddle tunes. (Retuning to D might help, but not really the issue here.)

Yes. D is not a particularly friendly key for ornamentation on a standard C chromatic.

For lots of music, you'd still need to jump octaves on a 12/48. Want a harmonica for every range? Play a 16/64.

Surprisingly, I've found that just the two extra holes on a 14-hole are often enough to keep me from having to jump octaves. I'm getting a 16-hole very soon, but I suspect it will be significantly bigger and heavier than my Chrometta 14. 14 holes seems to be a pretty good compromise to help you avoid octave jumps a very high percentage of the time.

[MrChro Mo]

I'm also a Chrometta fan.

Over the past 12 months I have acquired a few different types of harmonicas and although the mouth piece is a little awkward, I think they sound as good as any other Hohner.

As I gain more experience I may change my mind but for now I think they are very underrated.

[Keith]

Didn't know this thread existed, & I know it's over 5 years old, but do I really want to start another thread.......

.......just to say that I like the tone of my 14.........but couldn't get on with the mouthpiece when I got it about two & a half years ago......... no, I think I'll necro post.

(Of course @ge may have other ideas......)

I revisited my 14 the other day & managed to play a couple of tunes on it..........even despite those big square holes.

Maybe I am a better player now, probably not by much  , but it did sound good/(nice), & it's sitting on my computer desk right now - so I was just wondering if anyone else has bought one, or revisited their old Chrometta lately. 

[SlideMeister]

No worries; you re-opened the thread. It'll be fine.

FWIW, I am also quite fond of the Chrometta tone. It's (IMO) the mellowest Chromatic you can buy. I do believe, unfortunately, that awkward mouthpiece has a lot to do with the tone of that little beastie. I have a 12 C, a 12 G and a 14 C. All great sounding Chromatics

[The Lone Harper]

A customizer in China makes brass mouthpieces for the Chrometta.

[Crawforde]

That’s pretty cool.
Do you how much they ask?

[SlideMeister]

I had a custom one like that with a Suzuki, chrome-plated, plastic mouthpiece that worked fine but besides the plating wearing off, there was a noticeable difference in the sound over my other 14 hole Chrometta. Felt great in your mouth but that magic tone just wasn't there.

Is there any kind of plating on that brass one you just showed us?

[Aluvsupreme]

Believe it or not i dig the little Chrometta 8. Its kind of a novelty and its a one hander!     Brian

[SlideMeister]

Nice picture, thanks for posting.  I wonder if anyone has made a substitute mouthpiece with the big square holes -- I think that's largely what gives the chrometta its sound.

Norm

Yeah, that and the shape of the cover plates. Actually, the Swan boat-shaped 1664-6 sounds more like the Chrometta than anything I've heard and the only obvious similarity is the shape of the covers.
 

[The Lone Harper]

That’s pretty cool.
Do you how much they ask?

https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=562938329643&_u=93ku079def21

[SlideMeister]

Dunno for sure. Probably around a hundred bucks (if they still make them)

[Whitelight]

I play my 12, several times a week... Agree with all, on that Chrometta sound.

[Grizzly]

This thread prompted me to dig out my old (~40 years?) Chrometta 12 and play on it. I could probably get used to the mouthplate again, but never played it that much years ago. And the tone is "sweet," but without modification, it's way more leaky than anything else I've got. I'll keep it out for awhile, but then it'll probably got back into the box.

Tom

[Doug]

What’s the deal with the Chrometta mouthpiece? Are the mouthpiece and comb one piece?

[Keith]

Yes. Moulded together. (At least the newer versions are.)

However, it is as big as a CX12 or SCX in general size, which was/is different from the standard size of the time; but it does have big square holes that you have to cover, (about 3/8" square, with very little between the holes).

EDIT: The holes are actually 3/10" - just measured them.

[dougharps]

Yes, the mouthpiece is part of the comb. The Chrometta has a nice mellow tone, but due to the different shape of the mouthpiece, the clacky long throw slide, and the overall leakiness I seldom play either my C or G Chrometta 12. My older C Chrometta has some chipped plastic where the back of the covers meet the brittle plastic comb, similar to my old Golden Melody's chipped edges. 




Doug S.

[Doug]

Thanks for the mouthpiece info, guys. It seems strange that they made the hole dividers so narrow on a chromatic that they advertise for beginners. But I guess they did.

[frankyb]

Thanks for the mouthpiece info, guys. It seems strange that they made the hole dividers so narrow on a chromatic that they advertise for beginners. But I guess they did.

They advertise that the holes are larger to make it easier to play for a beginner.  I wonder if it may be more difficult with the narrow dividers, than if they had used a standard mouthpiece.  Here is a link to the current Hohner page for the Crometta harmonicas.
https://www.hohner.de/en/instruments/harmonicas/chromatic/chrometta

[Giuliano]

Thanks for the mouthpiece info, guys. It seems strange that they made the hole dividers so narrow on a chromatic that they advertise for beginners. But I guess they did.

They advertise that the holes are larger to make it easier to play for a beginner. 
https://www.hohner.de/en/instruments/harmonicas/chromatic/chrometta

Yeah. And it has a durable plastic comb......!!

[Grizzly]

My Chrometta 12 was my first real chromatic, after owning a 260 that was Richter tuned. I never learned to play it. I can't remember why, after more that 40 years, I decided to try again, with a Super 64. After 14 more years and maybe a dozen harmonicas later, I'm still at it.

Hohner still promotes the Chrometta as a beginner's instrument, then turns around and offers 4 models from an 8 to a 14, plus a 12 in G. And the 10 is orchestra tuned! People must still be buying them, because they're still in their catalog. My 14 (since traded) was made in the Czech Republic, of all places.

Count me as a fan, but more for sentimental reasons. There are better, even cheaper, harmonicas on the market today. Better for beginners, too.

Tom

[Keith]

I have to admit that I am still tempted to get a 10 - as it has all the notes that I tend to play, on my other chroms - it's just those huge holes that keep stopping me. 

[SlideMeister]

I bought one for a buddy of mine back when I had a dealership. I found the 10 hole Chrometta very exasperating to play. It's basically an orchestra tuned 8 holer. The tone was still there, but other than that, I hated it like a snake. 

[John Broecker]

What's a Chrometta? (just kidding).

About 30 years ago, I bought a Hohner Chrometta 12
at a local music instrument retail store. I had it for about
a week, then sold it. I didn't like the mouthpiece holes.

JB

[Whitelight]

I would like some more info, on the smaller, round hole mouth piece.

[SlideMeister]

They don't make them; you gotta do that yourself or have a customizer build you one, but be warned; you will lose some of that gorgeous tone if you mess with the mouthpiece.

[Whitelight]

What a drag, but thanks for the info.