3D printed mouthpiece adapters? (and hello!)
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Firstly, a quick hello as this is my first post. I’m Jon, a complete novice with the instrument, living in West Yorkshire, England. Delighted to find a forum dedicated to the melodica, which has already provided so many answers to my inevitable newbie questions.
Like many people I’ve started by picking up a very cheap and basic model to test the waters, so to speak, and it has a typically generic mouthpiece and extension tube, which are fine for now until I move on to a superior instrument. Looking at the various options available for Hohner, Yamaha, and especially Suzuki, none of which appear to be compatible with the other brands, I was wondering if anyone had any tried designing and 3D printing adapters to connect the hose / mouthpiece from one company to a melodica made by another? Are there technical reasons why this might not work very well?
A number of stores carry the various different mouthpieces and adjustable tubes from Suzuki, as well as the tube from the Hohner Airboard series (thankfully available in black!), and it seems a pity to be restricted in choice if you prefer—or are only able to obtain—a melodica from someone else.
Hi Jon, good to see you here.
I’m sure you could 3D print an adaptor. I’ve used electrical tape in the past to try things out, for instance, playing a Clavietta with a hose. Maybe not the most aesthetic solution…
Thanks for the reply, Daren.
What I’d like to see is a set of easily available files that would allow people to print—or have printed for them—the connector they need, expanding the usable selection of mouthpieces at little additional cost. A friend of mine does design and print 3D elements, largely for use with boardgames, so I’ll talk to him about it. The only real issue is the need to get hold of at least one each of Suzuki, Yamaha, and Hohner mouthpieces, along with a good set of calipers to make certain the measurements are accurate. The parts are easy enough to buy, but shipping costs are a bit extreme.
Still, I have a Suzuki (my cheap introductory melodica failed after a couple of days, so I decided to return it for a refund and step up to a better model), so that’s a start.
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