Re: [Harp-L] Sixth Position on #5 Tuning

[Joe and Cass Leone <leone@xxxxxxxx>]

On Mar 29, 2005, at 9:42 PM, Rick Dempster wrote:

> 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;

Hi Rick, I'm assuming here that you feel first is now useless for 
'blues'? It won't be for 'pop' and certain 'country'. It is fairly good 
for 'western' and some 'folk' tunes (like Londonderry Aire-AKA Danny 
Boy) work well.
With second position it works OK as long as the tune isn't too fast. As 
long as the tune is reasonable in tempo, when the 5th draw (F on a C 
harp) is needed, you can bend the (F# on a C harp) that you made, down 
that semi tone easily. I would even venture to say that this particular 
bend is the easiest one on the harp as the reed was ALREADY cut and 
tuned to (an F on a C harp) and you have now taken away metal. (Instead 
of the usual deal which is to have a SHORTER reed in the first place). 
The longer (F on a C harp) reed will be more "whippy" and actually 
easier to bend.

>  but I found myself playing in B
> minor on the thing, and I liked it.

 Man. I'm with YOU. I absolutely LOVE minors to begin with and play 
them any chance I get.
>                        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.

 I can dig it.
>                        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.

 Yes, you have to get comfortable with the tuning. Playing tunes other 
than blues will acclimate you to it.

>                       A further adjustment to this tuning would be
> filing up draw nine a semitone as well.

Yes, that's what 'I' do. Back in 1959, I damaged a reed while tuning. 
What the hell, I was only a fumbling teenager at the time. Well I broke 
the reed and had to replace it with another. I had to use a larger reed 
and when I had to snip it to length, I had removed enough from the tip 
to make it go sharp. I LIKED it and a week later I took the 9 up also. 
I think G had a couple of my old junkers like that. Now they call them 
'country" (5 raised) or 'double country' (5 & 9 raised).  I'm not sure 
who was first with this idea, but I DOUBT that I was. Hey, maybe I WAS. 
:) The one BIG problem with them is that if you're doing something fast 
(Foggy Mountain Breakdown), you can't get the 5 bent down fast enough. 
(At least 'I' can't). Another problem would be something like Rocky Top 
where you NEED the tuning to be Richter.
>                       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.

 Never thought of that one. Sounds neat. :)     smokey-joe's ghost
> Cheers,
> Rick Dempster
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