XB-Melody

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

Steve "Moandabluz" Webb wrote:

"I found that most everything I used the Melody Maker for also worked on
the country tuned harps. The altered 3 blow changes things enough that I have
not become comfortable with it."

Well Steve that's exactly how I had felt about the Melody Maker tuning.  It wasn't so
much the change at blow 3 itself that I disliked.  It was the way that blow 3 changed
the characteristics of the draw 3.

Here's the Melody Maker layout in the Key of C (Lee Oskar would label this an "G"
Melody Maker becauze he labels them in 2nd position.)

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

The A at blow 3 reduces the bendability of the B at draw 3 as compared to a Richter or
to a Double-Country tuned harp, (which is exactly like the Melody Maker but with an G
at blow 3 instead of an A.) On a Richter or on a Double-Country tuned harp, that B at
draw 3 would bend down 1-1/2 steps.  Now it only bends a 1/2 step.

On the Melody Maker tuning the A at blow 3 is nice and clean but also rigid and
unbendable. On a Double-Country tuned harp that A would be an "in-between" bend at draw
3 that could bend up to an Bb or down to a Ab. 
 
For me that made the Melody Maker kind of a stiff, inflexible harp.

But compare this custom tuned XB-Melody:

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



Now the B at draw 3 bends all the way down to Ab just like a Richter or Country tuned
harp. The opposing A at blow 3 also bends 1-1/2 steps down to an F#.  And you've also
got the choice of that bent A at draw 3, just like on a Richter harp.

Another important feature of the XB-Melody is that every note in the chromatic scale
(save one) can be played via either an unbent or a fully bent note.  (The only
exception being the B at blow 10.)  This eliminates one of the main complaints about
the original XB - its hard-to-control "in-between" bends.  Now there's no reason to
grapple with one of those "in-between" bends unless you want to.  There's always an
easier way to sound that same note.

And of course you've got the added expression to every note that only an XB can
provide, eliminating my main complaint about the Melody Maker being stiff and
inflexible.

Mine is in the key of Bb:

        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


So how does it play?  Well it plays like a dream!  I can play the jazzy licks I hear in
my head and they lay exactly where I expect them to lay more than any other tuning I've
tried. (And I've tried a lot of tunings!)  

The only tricky aspect is that sometimes the way I "expect" a phrase to lay isn't
necessarily the easiest way to play it.  If "easiest" is defined as "no in-between
bends", then for instance on the Bb diagram shown immmediately above, it takes some
getting used to that the Ab at blow 4 lays further up the harp than the A natural at
draw 3.  Or that the E at blow 3 lays further up the harp than the F at draw 2.  But
those oddly placed notes are just there for convenience.  They each have enharmonic
duplicates to choose from that lay where'd you expect them to on the harp.

This harp is a LOT easier to play than a standard XB.  Its much more expressive than a
standard Melody Maker.  And its low draw bends are exactly like a Richter.  The best of
all worlds.  Many thanks to Pat Missin and Fernando Bresslau for helping me refine this
new tuning, and as always hats off to Pat Missin for his masterful retuning and artful
tempering of my my new XB-Melody!