[Harp-L] Another tiresome XB40 thread, or non-thread...

["Steve Shaw" <moorcot@xxxxxxx>]

Here's yet another XB40 rant, so hit delete if you like, but have pity as I 
haven't been able to get my hands on one till now!

I got my XB40 (in G) two weeks ago.  I played it at home for a week as it 
came out of the box, got that informative harp-L reply from Rick Epping 
about retuning, then tinkered....

I did the Paddy Richter Shaw-style retuning (on the 2 draw, not the 3 blow, 
as I've always done - don't ask me about it, but inertia's got a lot to do 
with it!).  I've left the auxiliary reed alone for the time being.   It 
still works fine.  I might get round to retuning it if needs be.  I had 
played the harp quite a bit before doing anything to it in case there was 
any settling-down going on inside.  I tried to make and use one of Rick's 
reed-lifting tools but I thought I was risking damaging the reed (I'm 
clumsy, and one false move...), so I did a little fine-tuning of the blow 
reeds with the reed-plates off instead (lots of little screws, but they come 
out and go back in OK as long as you go progressively - dig those different 
lengths!), testing the result by just holding the plates back in place - 
that worked fine, and I felt happier than if I'd been fishing reeds up 
through the holes, especially the shorter ones.

The gapping of the harp was fairly consistent, but as for tuning I found the 
8 blow and 9 blow were quite audibly flat.  I know that this (8 blow anyway) 
could be a function of the Hohner intermediate tuning, but these reeds were 
not even tuned consistently with the equivalent ones an octave lower (5 blow 
and 6 blow).  I fear that this was a quality control issue.  A peculiar 
thing I noticed was that the lowest auxiliary reeds did not have a zero 
offset.  As the sounding reeds down there bend OK I haven't done anything 
about this.

Overall the harp feels a little leaky to me (from the word go, not as a 
result of my tinkering!).  Unless I'm using considerable wind the notes seem 
in danger of just not sounding.  This is a consistent feature throughout the 
harp's range. The gapping doesn't seem excessive, which is the first thing I 
looked at.   At the moment I feel that the harp is restricting my dynamic 
range as a result, i.e. I have to play moderately loud to loud.  Maybe I'll 
get used to this, but note the harps I like the best....

.....I can see a use for it in my playing but it certainly isn't going to 
replace my Lee Oskars and Special 20s for the tunes that work on those 
harps.  A particular problem I'm having with the XB40 is fast runs, e.g. up 
and down the first position scale, with a lot of changes of air direction, 
without it sounding very choppy.  That's a consequence of what I said in the 
last paragraph.

I'll see if the harp "plays in" in the next week or two, though I've always 
been very sceptical about the concept of breaking-in.  Maybe it needs to 
break ME in!

As far as I'm concerned, the jury's out still on this harp.  Its 
construction is ingenious, but undeniably we're getting away from the 
beautiful and functional simplicity which is to me one of the most appealing 
attributes of the 10-hole harp.  But the bottom line is whether effortless 
playability can be achieved in the LO/Sp20 sense.  I'm curious as to whether 
I'll find the same things when Santa brings me my low D XB40 (and I do know, 
as does one wonderful guy over on your side, that he IS bringing me one!)

Steve

http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/trad_irish_harmonica

Steve's CD of mostly traditional Irish,  "Blowing Through The Reeds,"  is 
now available!  Hear clips at http://www.gjk2.com/steveshaw/cd.htm

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