[Harp-L] Re: Harp-L Digest, Vol 26, Issue 7




> Message: 8
Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2005 07:41:27 -0700
From: "Don Grubbs" <jgrud@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Harp-L] XB-40 Harp
To: <Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx>
Message-ID: <011f01c5c828$897e4cd0$6400a8c0@donnewpc>
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I purchased a XB-40 some time back, and am having a hard time getting a good sound out of the hi end. I've tried playing softer, centering my lips over the hole, and thought maybe there was just a break-in period I had to go thru. I either get no sound, a squeaky sound, or on rare occasions out comes a clean sound.
Could anyone shed some light on what I'm doing wrong?
Regards Don
Hi Don,
My guess is that you've an XB40 in C. Holes 9 and 10 are very difficult. The reed cavities are too big for the smaller top reeds to resonate properly. The inventor, Rick Epping, suggests using the second harmonic to get then to sound! If you play around with mouth and throat cavity, (try tensing up your mouth and throat to make the cavity smaller) there's a point where they sound but I found I couldn't do it at any sensible speed. I sold my C XB40 on ebay but get a lot of use from my G, A and low D ones, (they don't make the usual D - guess why). The reason they have a C is probably that any harmonica range without a C just wouldn't sell.
Regards, Lurcherjohn.








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