[Julie C.]

Hi Alan,
So nice to hear from you, I hope you are well.
Yes, I’ve tried that, but it feels weird. I bought (well a friend gave me a Xmas present of cash to spend however on music stuff) a Hohner, Instructor 32, which isn’t bad but nothing like my Suzuki, just to have a “mouthpiece”–as you probably know already, it has something for lips to hang on to, haha, without any mouthpiece at all. It’s got a sound I like but it’s truly very different. I also have the Yamaha 37, totally different, using it for more “classical” stuff.
So, I’m wondering, maybe you know, I might buy the Melodian M-32, or 32 plus, I look closely at pics and videos and can’t tell if the mouthpiece hole is exactly like the M 32, do you know?
Julie

[Julie C.]

Hi, I bought a Suzuki M32 which I absolutely loved but it went out of tune pretty quick. Before I get a lecture, I do not have time to tune melodica, believe me! I had my brother do it, it took him four hours (he said never again) and it lasted about a week. Pretty bummed. That Suzuki had a great sound, a lot of soul. I have a Yamaha P37, perfectly in tune, no soul. I hardly ever play now. I can’t afford to keep buying Suzuki’s from Japan that go out of tune! So that’s my two cents. Take or leave.

[Julie C.]

Hi Alan, and all, sorry for late replies but this is a very time of year for me! I am so grateful to get all this info on melodicas.
I’m getting used to my Suzuki M32 and really loving it. 🙂 I’m getting used to the strap, or maybe it’s stretching out a bit.
I’m playing with no mouthpiece but boy oh boy wish I could just find a bit of plastic to come out just like the like (that worked) above that I posted.
I told a student of mine about it, he’s a physicist and engineer, and he measured and came in with a long metal mouthpiece, similar to a trumpet, ugh!! He’s also a trumpet player. I told him it wouldn’t work. Also, like you mentioned a few comments back, it didn’t cover that space around the hole!
I tried taking the piece off the hose but the grooves (right word?) around it I didn’t like, weird feeling.
It is getting easier with no mouthpiece but LOL I have to figure out how to not squish my nose up against it so much!

[Julie C.]

Just saw your comment, Alan, but my hand isn’t big enough to do that. I have a very small hand, I’m only 5’2″ tall. Anyway, can’t try anything just now, need to ice thumb, Bummer.
Sorry link was set wrong, this will work, still figuring out how to do “link-only” pages on my website, sorry about that! https://capeannpiano.com/melodica/

[Julie C.]

Well, just had a good play and am liking even more! but…ugh, …the strap is too tight on my hand, it’s putting an indent into my skin at base of my fingers, wish I could loosen it, and my thumb now needs to be iced, even though it is straight and aligned with fingers, ugh, not good, and I tried putting a thin felt cloth but to no avail…suggestions? If I can’t remedy, I can’t play it as I’m a pianist and need my left hand thumb working properly 24/7!

[Julie C.]

Ok, here’s link to pic of Excalibur thingy: http://wp.me/P2ktnP-3wk, let me know if it works.

[Julie C.]

Hi My Melodica Men!
Sorry I have been away, start of school season and all.
My Suzuki M32C arrived from Japan a few days ago (today I will finally be able to really practice on it!) and the blue color is very nice, Alan, as you said, “handsome”. The sound is very good, but need to figure out mouthpiece first before I can really comment more on sound, chords are slightly harder to play than on Yamaha P37 but I’m sure I will get used to that quickly.
Two things:
1. it’s heavier than I thought it would be and slightly heavier than the Yamaha P37–I was able to hold them side by side as a student bought a Yamaha P37. The keys are a tiny bit thinner than the Yamaha too (Yamaha piano keys are also wider than the other pianos!) I’ll have to get used to that, I do wish it was a bit lighter, and my left hand isn’t big enough or strong enough to fully support it without using the strap.
2. The mouthpiece, I don’t like it at all, but just read through all the posts I missed here and I didn’t realize I could dismantle the hose and use the fitting (never use hose), I will try that as soon as I’m done typing this. (Also a student of mine, who’s a retired physicist!, said he has a basement full of stuff he thinks will fit.) If it doesn’t work out, I will read back through all these posts and looks at pics you posted Alan. The mouthpiece holder on the crappy Excalibur was perfect, I’ve taken a picture but need to post it somewhere so I can provide url, can I use dropbox? if not I’ll post it on an “invisible” page on my website, and put it here in next post. This forum has been so incredibly helpful, I am really grateful for it! Thanks Alan for convincing me to get the Suzuki M32C, no regrets whatsoever, but I think later I will also get the Yamaha P37!

[Julie C.]

Sorry Alan, missed your info re: pics.
Excalibur: Total. Piece. Of. Shit. I got completely ripped off by those guys, $150 bucks for a melodica not worth $30, Jim Labbs or whatever his name is, out in Wisconsin, they sell through eBay. Claim their instrument is “professional” and have a guy demo’ing it in a YouTube video, but of course the sound pumped up by amplification, mic’g, whatever. Huge delay in shipping after I paid promptly was because the old guy who “hand tunes them first” was out sick (he was 80, for all I knew he was gonna drop dead any minute). So I get it and it’s like a Stagg, just a toy, only black, not red (bro gave me a red Stagg for Christmas). Went out of tune immediately. No spit valve (that works). My brother tuned it as best he could, it went out again. I’ve been playing only the 32 keys (not 37) for a while cos it’s been out of tune so long. Anyone wanna buy my brand new BLUE Suzuki M32C? I’ll ship it to ya gratis if I can figure out where to get a black one, cos that’s the one I wanted!

[Julie C.]

And could one of you tell me how to upload pics, because there isn’t a button here ^^^ for pics upload. Thanks in advance.

[Julie C.]

I was talking about the M32 Suzuki. Not the 37 Suzuki, as far as weight. Whatever. The Yam P37 is too heavy for me. Ordered the Suzuki M32C which appears to be lighter, so hope that will work.
And RATS!! I ordered from Japan the stupid BLUE Suzuki M32C, I couldn’t find that black one (M32C) anywhere, which is what I wanted. Only could find the M37 Suzuki in black (looked on Amazon and eBay). Damn it. 90 bucks for nothing. I didn’t want a blue one. Argh. Where did you find that black one? pls tell me you’ve had it forever, and they are no longer made. God damn it.
Olivier–the Yamaha P37 sounds beautiful, I say go for it you will not regret it. I’m sure I’ll get it later to play tangos, classical, etc. but I wanted something REALLY much lighter for now so I could run around with it everywhere.
Grrr. G’nite all, bad mood, just saw bloody hardy mums out everywhere, the harbinger of fall. Not pleasant for this beach-lovin’ gal.

[Julie C.]

Hi all,
Alan, I dragged a pic into bottom since there’s no “upload pic” in menu above this text box, hope it shows up, let me know. That’s Excalibur (piece of junk folks!!!) 37 with no mouthpiece in it obviously. Only good thing about it.
Thanks for pics and info Alan! What a big help. My brother looked at them last night and thinks he can come up with a fix, just based on looking at your pics. Olivier, in next reply I will try as best as I can to describe the Yamaha I am borrowing, wish I knew French for you.
I guess I will go with Suzuki M32C blue, because the only black ones are 37’s, and I am after a lower weight (the Yamaha P37D is approximately 1600 g, or 3.5 pounds, the Suzuki M37 is 947 g, or approximately 2 pounds and the Suzuki M32C blue (blue is only new one I see available at eBay and, more expensive, at Amazon) is 765 g or approximately 1.7 pounds. Could not figure out weight of my Excalibur (did I mention it’s a ripoff and the sellers are sleazy?) but guessing it’s about a pound or so.
I’ll let you all know how I like the M32C!

/Users/juliecleveland/Desktop/melodicpic1.jpg

[Julie C.]

Hi Alan and Olivier and Martin–
The most remarkable thing happened today, a student walked in and had bought the Yamaha P37!! He left it with me to try out as he knows I’ve boiled it down to a few models. I really liked it, a lot, the action and tone was great, chords very easy to play, nice warm tone, not too “brassy” but, the caveat is the mouthpiece. I didn’t like it, the shape doesn’t allow me to stand in the right position for me and Alan, like you, I don’t like to use a mouthpiece at all but there isn’t enough of a lip(? can’t think of word, you know what I mean) around the hole, to hang onto!! You (Alan) know what I mean. So just that alone would rule it out for me, unfortunately, because everything else about it is great (the keys are a tiny bit wider yes?, which is cool).
I do feel after playing it that I don’t think I really need those top notes so realize that for now I’d be very happy with 32. Alan–there doesn’t seem to be any black Suzuki M32’s so I guess it’ll have to be blue OR just get the Suzuki M37 which is black (and has that groovy-looking case, haha, I really don’t care about the case!) but then we are back to 37 keys and possibly heavier.I think now for me it boils down to: 1. does the Suzuki have a whatever you call it I can get my mouth around! (OMG where is this going…LOL), there must be, cos I see Batiste do it! and 2. weight, the weights of the two models (gonna go look that up right now), if not significant I’d take either the M32C or the 37.

[Julie C.]

Super helpful, thank you! trying to decide now!

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