[Harp-L] Sixth Position on #5 Tuning

["Rick Dempster" <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Reeders;
                       Digging through boxes of scrap harps looking for
reeds over Easter I found a 'C' harp that I had raised draw 5 a semitone
on  I-don't-know-how-many-years back. 
                       Never really took to that idea for second
position and it made first useless; but I found myself playing in B
minor on the thing, and I liked it. 
                       Took it to a gig Sunday night; we do a number
that just happens to be in B minor: changes B minor, E minor and F#7th.

                       For me, this tuning, in this position, works
better in a minor blues than the natural minor harps, and combines
elements (on the standard Richter tuning) of both third position (D on a
C) and what Tony Glover caused to be for some years  popularly called
fourth, but now seems generally referred to as 5th (E on a C) which is a
position I like for minor blues, but has its frustrations as well.
                      A further adjustment to this tuning would be
filing up draw nine a semitone as well. 
                      The only other thing that might make it more
useful might be adding a hole at the bottom with a low G on the blow and
a B on the draw. Sliding down from the root to the sixth via the seventh
and back is delicious.
                      
Cheers,
Rick Dempster