The Swan 1664 Chromatic

I received my new Swan 1664 chromatic harmonica after almost two weeks of waiting from the time the item was shipped.  It took such a long time because I did not realize that the supplier is a company located in Hongkong, China.

The inside of the carrying case is damaged when it arrived, but I was able to contact the supplier through their chat facility and received a replacement.

Here is the Swan 1664:

The harmonica is called Swan 1664, firstly because "Swan" is the brand name of good harmonicas manufactured in China by a reputable Chinese company; 1664, because the harmonica has 16 holes producing four notes each, or a total of 64 notes, making it a four-octave chromatic harmonica.

Here are the notes of the Swan 1664:

Out of the box, the Swan 1664 is difficult to play on the first and fourth octave - a lot of wind is needed on the first, while very faint sound comes out of the fourth.  The slider is soft and quiet.  Obviously, a little tweaking might be needed.  

One only needs a philips mini screwdriver to disassemble the Swan 1664.  Here is the semi-disassembled view of the Swan 1664:

The craftsmanship is excellent and it looks like a clone of the Hohner Super 64 chromonica 280.   Here are the two harmonicas set against each other:

Without the labels, the two harmonicas can be mistaken from one another.  Even the carrying case of the Swan 1664 seems to have come from the same mould that produced the carrying case of the Hohner Super 64.  But looking at the mouthpiece, one notices a difference - the Swan 1664's is thinner and the holes are arranged in straight line while the Hohner Super 64 has its holes alternating up and down.  In technical terms, the notes of the Swan 1664 are straight-tuned, while the Hohner Super 64's are cross-tuned.  

I went all the way to a full disassembly, i.e., I also took apart the comb assembly.   The first thing I noticed was some screws that attach the reeds plates to the comb were loose.

Here is a view of a fully disassembled Swan 1664.

The comb assembly of the Swan 1664 is beautifully done, with the red colored windsavers and solid cylindrical support studs.  The comb is synthetic and the reeds plates are attached to the comb with screws that thread to the opposite plate.  The slider assembly is a copy of the 3-piece design of the Hohner Super Chromonica 270, a system discontinued in the later versions of 16-holers of Hohner, which now use a 2-piece slider assembly, the mouthpiece having been redesigned to serve also as the cover plate.

Except for the cylindrical cover plate support studs that are bolted into the reeds plate, the comb and the reeds plates look almost like the Hohner Super 64's.  I noticed however that the material used for the reeds plate looks more like brass alloyed with steel.

I again played the Swan 1664 after the reassembly and checked the notes played on the first and fourth octaves and I noticed a marked improvement in tonal quality.

Here is a full piece, "I'll walk alone" in G major on Swan 1664 Chromatic:

But it seems to me the similarity with the Hohner Super 64 stops at the physical appearance and does not extend all the way down to the quality of the sound.  A hard draw on the higher notes gives an extra  whistling sound.  And after playing quite a bit, the mouthpiece corners start to irritate my lips.   I am not sure if this peculiarity is isolated to my harp.  Hands down I would give the gold medal to the Hohner Super 64.  And even against the older Hohner 64 Chromonica 280, the gold still goes to Hohner.  However, I think the people at Swan will not stop until they grab the lead and take pole position in this field of 16-holers.

In sum, I am very much impressed with this harmonica.  It is comparatively cheap, good practice harmonica, and could be a usable workhorse, considering the quality vis-a-vis the price, which is way below $100. I would think the full power still has to come with use.