Sound differences between wooden and plastic Hohner button melodicas
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Hey folks, I sortof became obsessed with Hohner button melodicas in the past couple of weeks.
I happened on to two vintage melodicas, a Hohner alto which has a wood body, and a Hohner Student with a plastic body.I notice that the wooden melodica has a quieter and warmer voice. The student sounds louder and a bit more resonant, but also just a little more bright and strident. I’m trying not to say harsh. 🙂
The wooden melodica is a little slower to speak than the plastic one.
Does this comparison sound about right?
Since I’ve never played either of these types before, I just want to see if my experience is expected, and/ or I should take the wooden one in for some attention.
I happen to have an accordion tec near me. 🙂
Your thoughts are appreciated. 🙂
Rusty
Hi Darren,
The front and back of my red alto melodica are metal, but the interior “body” seems to be wood. It is much heavier than its cousin, my student melodica. Here is the Melodica World post which indicated to me that I may have an early alto with wood as part of its construction.That post doesn’t mention it, but I believe I also saw a post here which describes the differences between early alto/soprano and late alto/sopranos. One of them is that the early wood bodied altos have three screws down the front. Another is that the early, wood bodied altos are white on the sides while the later plastic ones are cream colored on the sides.
I’m having trouble finding that post right now. If I’m hallucinating it, please let me know. 🙂Rusty
Hi again Daren,
Here’s another post mentioning a wood bodied alto. As I said, the front and back are definitely metal.
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