[Shaun McDonald]

Not sure if this belongs here or in the General section.

I picked up a Hammond Pro-44HPv2 about a week ago, and although it’s the nicest melodica I’ve ever seen, I think mine was defective. Specifically, I found that the low Bb and B weren’t sounding properly at any volume above mezzo-piano. I know that the low reeds tend to choke and detune when overblown, but these notes were far more sensitive than I was used to: unless I was extremely careful and delicate with my airflow, they’d sound a quarter-tone flat, with a markedly weaker tone than the other notes.

After taking it apart, I discovered that this behaviour was caused the rubber patch (bladder?) on the airbox near the mouthpiece* making contact with the metal case. The notes sounded full and effortlessly at all volumes with the case removed, unless I happened to press on that rubber patch with my hand. I’m not super familiar with the inner workings of the air box, but it seems as though blowing into the instrument sufficiently hard inflates the patch until it presses up against the case, in such a way that the low B and Bb reeds don’t sound properly.

It’s possible that it’s an air leak of some sort, since the tone on the affected keys is quite “breathy” when this problem happens. But I think it’s more likely that the casing itself is misaligned: as soon as I started removing screws, the holes in the case and end caps slipped out of alignment, and it took some force to push them back together to put the screws back. The problem disappears entirely if the instrument is cold, but of course that only lasts for a few minutes of playing.

I took it back to the store the next and ordered a new one, which I picked up two days ago. To my great frustration, the new unit has the exact same problem, down to the aforementioned screw hole misalignment.

Is this a known behaviour with the HP44v2 (i.e. do I need to learn to play more delicately than I have on any other melodica)? Or am I correct in assuming that the store’s supplier got a “bad batch” from the factory? If it’s the latter, is there a way to fix it?

*The rubber patch in question corresponds to #(5) in the air box diagram on page 6-3 of this service manual.

[Author]

Posts