Refurbishing an old chromatic

Where do you live? There is a number of good techs in different parts of the US (assuming you're in the US).

OK, in the eastern US I might suggest:

Michael Easton - http://harmonicarepair.com

George Miklas - http://harmonicagallery.com

any repair folks out west I live in idaho ??

Which Hohner model is it? They made wood bodied 10-hole chromatics starting in 1910 and stopped in 2013. Those may be worth repairing. They did have a Chinese manufacturer making junky 10-holers with black plastic combs for awhile, which are not worth fixing.

Here in northern California we have Steve Malerbi, probably the best tech on the west coast. steve.malerbi@gmail.com

There's also Burke Trieschmann, but he's curently dealing with serious medical problems.

In Oklahoma there's Gary Lehmann gnarlyheman@gmail.com

Wooden comb. If it also has the words "The Chromonica" on the cover plates (you can check that) it means probably a Hohner 260. I got a couple of those from eBay, you can find them for as cheap as $20.

If you plan on cleaning it yourself, do not soak the windsavers (if they are in good condition, otherwise you will need to replace them).

A couple of holes not sounding could be the holes are stuck (plink them) or the windsavers are. Winslow has posted a number of times how to clean windsavers with strips cut off of brown paper bags, that should do the trick.

Besides cleaning any gunk from inside the comb, reed and reed plates, removing any rust from cover plates and mouthpiece, cleaning the slide (do not lose the plastic tube around the mouthpiece screws, those are important) and removing rust from the slide and mouthpiece i wouldn't do much else.

You need to check whether the reeds are in tune too, which will likely not be the case, and retune accordingly if they are not.

There's info here and and the harpsmith forum on how to do all of this.

There's also posts on chromatic models comparison, the 270 (I have one of these with a replacement plastic comb and the mouthpiece of a 260 deluxe), the 64 and the CX12 are typical Hohner contenders, with other brands and higher end models sometimes mentioned (I have a Seydel Saxony I literally never play because I always feel it's too good to wear it) and some other cheaper options (i think Easttop makes chromatics too?) and people's opinions on it. People seem to like the CX12 for it's ease of cleaning though some complain of it's mouthpiece ergonomics. It all depends on your budget, interest (do you intend to focus on the chromatic or is it just testing the waters?) and preferences. I think the 270 deluxe or the regular with the deluxe mouthpiece (as i have) is a good compromise price/return. Not the greatest chromatic in many ways, but it's the model many professionals play so you certainly won't outgrow it. There's cheaper Chinese brands and some people swear by them, but IIRC Winslow checked one out from a student and thought it wasn't good.

HTH.

The Hohner 10-hole #260 Chromonica model was the earliest slide chromatic produced by Hohner, starting in 1910. Yous probably isn't that old, as they were made for over 100 years, up until 2013, when 10-hole chromatics were discontinued.

It's perfectly fine to learn diatonic and chromatic at the same time - it's what I did. But the 10-hole Chromonica present a bit of a puzzler, as it was available in three different tuning layouts:

1) tuned just like a diatonic, and with no valves, same as the Koch 980, also produced by Hohner and discontinued at the same time.

2) Tuned like a chromatic (solo tuning, which repeats the note layout of the diatonic from Hole 4 to Hole 7, repeating the same layout each octave). One version starts with C in Hole 1, same as with most other chromatics.

3) In solo tuning, but starting on E in Hole 1 instead of C.

When you say there are parts missing, this is what you should have:

  -- Covers, with the nuts and bolts to fasten them

  -- The reed block, consisting of wooden comb and top and bottom reedplates, nailed on. It may have valves (more about those later).

  -- The mouthpiece assembly, oinsisting of four parts, from top to bottom:

      -- The mouthpiece itself, on top

      -- The slide cage, or U-channel, a sort of U-shaped piece that goes between the mouthpiece and the slide, and encloses the slide. It should have tabs at the end that lock into the backing plate.

     -- The slide, with a button on the end.

     -- The backing plate, which rests on top of the holes in the reed block, and gives the slide a flat surface to travel on.

     -- There are also two screws to fasten the mouthpiece, with plasic sleeves to protect the screw thread from damage by the slide.

     -- The slide spring pokes out of a hole in the comb at the right side, and fits into a pinhole in the slide near the button.

You chromatic may have valves, little strips of plastic (or, on very old instruments, leather) that are slightly bigger than reeds, and are mounted on the reed slots in the reedplate on the opposite side of each reed. When you take the covers off, you'll see draw reeds alternating side by side with valves mounted over the slots of the neighboring blow reeds. Valves will also be mounted on the inside over the draw reed slots. On most chromatics, the first two octaves (or, on 16-hole chromatics, the first three) are valved, with no valves for the top four holes (or top two holes on a 10-hole chromatic).

If there are valves missing in a series (i.e. a gap in valving) then those should probably be replaced.

I hope this helps.