Re: Beginner question: type of harp?

[Mike Curtis <wd6ehr@xxxxxxxxxx>]

> 
> Wow what a reply from Barry S. Lot of great stuff in there. One disagreement.
> Comparing guitar set up to harp set up is stretching it a bit. Harmonicas
>   have  A440 on them and being in tune from the factory should be the norm
> not the exception. It is an instrument thats alleged intrinsic value is that
> a new one will be in tune ready to play. I do agree that some tinkering is in
> order now and then.

While I'm one who (usually) doesn't tweak new harps, it's not as cut and
dried A440 as this.  With a guitar, the pitch is pretty much the pitch
regardless of the player.  With harp, different players can play the same
harmonica and it will produce a different pitch.  When I use a heavy throat
vibrato, it tends to flatten the pitch.

A harmonica is not a finished instrument until it's in the mouth of the
musician.  Your mouth and respiratory system (and hands if you use 'em) all
become a part of what I define as the "whole instrument".  Maybe we both
have the same harp in our mouths, but we well may end up sounding quite
different.  Of course, a lot of this is resonance and such, but your pitch
may be quite different from mine.

Oskars come tuned a little sharp.  For most players, this will be right. 
But I'm sure there are plenty more who feel as fjm does - that "stock"
tuning just isn't close enough for them.  And even though I'm not one of
these, I do recognize the validity of custom tuning new harps if it allows
_you_ (not me or anyone else :-) to play your instrument better.

One method I use to compensate is to tune my guitar a little flat.  I
reference my tuner to A438 when tuning guitar.



 -- mike