[Harp-L] Re: Original Hohner Pro Harp/painted covers

[Jonathan Ross <jross38@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Jan 27, 2009, at 11:19 PM, John F. Potts wrote:

> BUT, let's use a different reference point.  Most players i talk to  
> think Lee Oskars sound BRIGHT (whether they happen to like them or  
> not).  Do you contend that you sound the same whether you are  
> playing a Lee Oskar in the key of C, a Marine Band in the key of C,  
> or a Suzuki Hammond in the key of C?  No tonal differences?

The side vents on the Marine Band may influence the tone, or at least  
my perception of it by redirecting the sound.  Aside from that, no  
significant tonal differences when I play different diatonics-- 
certainly none I would expect a listener could detect.  The initial  
sound produced by blowing them with a bellows or in a non-playing  
style of all of these does have a very slightly different tone.  I  
would suppose that is most likely do to the reed scaling and then  
possibly other factors (neither cover-plate material nor coating  
being one of those).  The main difference I (and I suspect most  
people) would tend to hear when playing the three harps mentioned  
would be one of temperament--the LO and PM are 12TET, the MB is not.


> How about if you play a Marine Band in C (which has vented  
> covers)   and a Hohner Meisterklasse in C (which has full length  
> unvented covers)? No tonal differences?  Really?


The side-vents do make a difference, but block those and my answer  
would be yes.  And even with the side-vents, I don't think there is a  
great difference outside of their usage in playing.  Manipulate the  
vents with hand movement and you are no longer really talking about  
the innate tone of the instrument but how you can shape the sound.


> a rose is a rose is a rose, by any other name etc? Are you really  
> saying harmonicas are that generic?


We are talking about minute shades of a single timbre, not radical  
changes.  Basically, all single-reed harmonicas sound pretty much the  
same (diatonic, chromatic, singles, etc...) when playing straight  
single notes.  And, they all sound very similar to other Western free- 
reed instruments (accordions, concertinae, bandoneons).  You have to  
go to fairly great lengths to get a free reed to not have the typical  
familiar sound.  And, harmonica players do influence the tone in some  
of those ways when they actually play it, usually eliminating  
whatever minor variance there is between models and brands.

To sum up, I would say that yes, different models, brands and designs  
of harmonicas have different timbres, but this variation resides  
within a very small set, and is usually overwhelmed (certainly within  
similar designs, ie all Richter diatonics, all slider chromatics) by  
what the player does to shape the tone when they play.





 ()()    JR "Bulldogge" Ross
()  ()
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