XB-Melody

["d.m.fairweather" <dmf273@xxxxxxxxx>]

>From: Philharpn@xxxxxxx
>Subject: what is a XB Melody v. XB40

>What is the XB Melody??
>How is it different from XB-40?

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An XB-Melody is an altered tuning you can make yourself from a stock XB-40.  Or have
someone retune it for you.   It's based on the Lee Oskar Melody Maker tuning.

        E
        F   Ab      Eb  Ab      Eb  Ab
A   Db  Gb  A   Db  E   A   Db  E   A
Bb  D   G   Bb  D   F   Bb  D   F   Bb
1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10
C   F   A   C   E   G   A   C   E   G
B   E   Ab  B   Eb  Gb  Ab  B   Eb  Gb
    Eb  G
        Gb

Every note in the chromatic scale (except for the high "A" at blow 10) can be acheived
either unbent or fully bent.  This helps to tame the XB-40 into a more manageable beast
if you want to play chromatically.   There may be other tunings that would achieve that
same goal, but the XB-Melody tuning stays fairly close to Richter tuning (the low-end
draw bends are identical to Richter) so its probably easier for most diatonic players
to adapt to than a radical retuning like wholetone or diminished.