Re: 18 hole bassharp

[Pat Missin <pat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bobbie wrote:
>
>Anyone tried one of these?  Bass harmonica with 18 blow and draw holes in one
>row.  Lowest note is "EE" ??  What does that equate to?  Sorry... my theory
>deprivation is showing!  :)
>
>http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3708717587&category=16228
>
>I bet Winslow would like one of these!!  ;)

I bet he's not the only one.

I've not tried this particular model, nor am I familiar with the name
of the maker (Leo Shi), but this appears to be a bass version of the
Diatonic Single that is commonly used in the Far East for music
tuition. This type of harmonica is not very common in the West, but a
few folks will be familiar with the Tombo S-50, which is a Chromatic
Single (essentially two diatonic singles stacked one above the other
on the same comb, one of them in C the other in C#).

The Single harmonicas (I'm not at all sure of the derivation of the
term "single" in this context) have the notes arranged in groups
covering a diatonic octave, with a separate chamber for each
individual reed. Usually these groups begin with a B and end with an
A, with a slightly thicker divider before the start of the next octave

Looking at the picture of the Leo Shi bass, it looks as though the
first hole will be a blow E, the second a draw F, the third a blow G
and the fourth a draw A. Then there is a spacer, followed by B draw, C
blow, D draw, E blow, F draw, G blow, A draw. Another spacer, then
another full octave B to A.

EE indicates the E of the lowest string of a bass, or the lowest reed
of the "standard" bass harmonica.

Single harmonicas don't take too much work to pick up. The basic
layout of the notes is familiar from the standard solo tuned chromatic
or the middle octave of the standard C major diatonic. The price seems
quite reasonable assuming they are decently made instruments and I can
imagine one being a useful addition to the arsenal of many a harp
player. Even though they are limited to the notes of the C major
scale, there is quite a bit you could do with these, including the
potential for some mean and lowdown (very LOWdown!) 3rd position blues
in D, as well as some nice backup playing.

Of course, you could also buy two of them, raise all the notes on one
of them by a semitone, hinge them together and you would have a good
single reed chromatic bass at quite a reasonable cost. I must admit,
I'm quite a fan of the single reed bass sound (I love my Tombo
Contrabass even though it only goes down to a baritone C), but I can
never bring myself to pay the prices that people ask for a second hand
Hohner 264. This might be an affordable alternative - I'd be very
interested to hear from anyone who tries one.

 -- Pat.