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  • #1871
    Gayle Wilson
    Participant

    Hey, back in the day, I rummed everything…

    #1867
    Gayle Wilson
    Participant

    Can anyone tell me if putting new reed plates on a melodica is any more difficult than unscrewing the old ones, taking them off, putting the new ones on and replaceing the screws? I have a replacement set coming from Hammond-Suzuki. $137.50 plus shipping. Don’t want to mess them up.

    #1866
    Gayle Wilson
    Participant

    Hi Alan,
    Just a quick note to say that Hammond mouthpieces also fit Hohner. At least, they do in a couple of cheap ones I have lying around.
    Gayle

    #1865
    Gayle Wilson
    Participant

    Thanks for going out of your way to locate that contact info for me. Those are the folks I have a call into about getting reed plates. The tech is Ray who’s “looking into it.” I just called them again and left a message. I will continue to be a squeaky wheel.
    Thanks again,
    Gayle

    #1864
    Gayle Wilson
    Participant

    Thanks for the info, especially about the Excalibur. One of the other posts said he thought it was just a cheap melodica with a pickup. Was that your imprression? When I run my Hammond through an amp, the volume on both the p.a. head and the instrument has to be jacked up almost all the way to get the volume I need. I live in Medford, Oregon. There’s a guy here who fixes accordions so he would be a good resource for me.
    thanks again,
    Gayle

    #1860
    Gayle Wilson
    Participant

    Hi Alan, Thanks for the response and the link. I read it with interest. Yes, I’ve done lots of research on the Excalibur but it’s hard to say without actually seeing and playing an instrument. I could never buy a guitar or piano without playing it but something you blow into is different. I think Jim Laabs Music and Excalibur Accordion company are partners of sorts since they are almost next door to each other and Jim Laabs is the only place you can buy Excalibur Melodicas. yes, Interesting that the person in the complaint felt they were repackaging a cheap melodica and selling it as a pro model. I spoke with someone today at Jim Laabs about the one I’m interested in knowing more about…the “Excalibur Triple Crown Pro Model with pickup”. I would want my rigid flextube mouthpiece from my Hammond 44 to fit it and gave him the exact measurement of the blowhole but he was unable to give me the exact measurement of the Excalibur and said the only way to be sure is to send him one of my mouthpieces since they have no return policy. I will call them again tomorrow and try to nail them down on where the thing is made. Re My Hdammond 44, seems I’m always fixing something on it…well, not “always”, but enough. Much tuning, now this blown reed, the mouthpiece broke off IN the blowhole and it was a very difficult and delicate job to get it out of there, the flap on the spit-valve broke and although my husband and I fixed it, it’s not as air-tight as I think it should be and I have to open it just a certain way to use it or it’ll fall apart again. Biggest problem I think with the Hammond 44 is the amount of condensation that builds up in it. I’m always slightly horrified when I open it up to tune it. Makes me think I should open it and wipe it down after every gig or rehearsal but eventually the screws would strip and that could open yet another can of worms. If I knew where I could get parts for sure, I’d feel a lot better about it. You see these advertised as now coming from Japan (Suzuki home base) but still no information about repair and parts.

    #1857
    Gayle Wilson
    Participant

    Anyone know if/where I can buy reed plates for a Hammond 44? I’ve blown the high G. I have a call in to Ray, the tech guy at Hammond, but am still waiting to hear back. I bought my melodian from Hammond in 2009 but since Suzuki bought them out a few years ago, Hammond no longer sells them. A while back, the hard-flex mouthpiece broke at the base where it goes into the blowhole…I was able to buy that part separately from Hammond but I got their last three (two for me and one for a Hammond-44 playing friend.) Wasn’t too impressed that they only had three of these things left with no plans to get more and no reference as to where to go from here for parts. Hopefully, Ray can sell me reed plates. They’ll fix it for me for about $150 but I think I can do it myself. Is it just a matter of unscrewing and taking the old ones off and screwing the new ones on? So far, I tune my melodian and have fixed other things that have gone wrong and I’d like to continue doing so because I love it even though it does have some problems. If I were to buy a new Hammond 44 HP from Japan, I think I might still have the problem I’m having now and that is, where do I get parts?

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