Re: [Harp-L] Golden Melody

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Captron100@xxxxxxx wrote:
<<In a message dated 2/3/2006 12:00:55 P.M. Eastern Standard  Time,
<<richard hunter writes:
<<
<<So if you're doing mostly melody playing, try a GM; if you're doing a
<<lot  of chording, try a SP20. Or just buy Lee Oskars, like me.  I 
<<think they sound great.  And you can get them in different tunings,
<<so you can do even more chording on those Gospel  pieces.
<
<LO's are also tuned to to Equal Temperament and, to my  ear, give sour 
<sounding chords.  In my  experience, LO's usually, but not always, have
< superior responsiveness right out of the box.  It's been stated many 
<times on Harp-L that LO's have superior longevity.   I would  use them
<if not for the sour chords. Please correct me if i'm wrong.
<ron

Ron is correct, LO's are tuned very much like GM's.  I happen to like
the sound of chords on the LO -- especially the Natural Minors and
Golden Melodies -- but of course this is a matter of taste.   

A number of my solo pieces that use chording extensively on several
different LO tunings can be heard at my website at:
http://hunterharp.com/mp3s.html

These are acoustic solo recordings with no overdubs, so you can really
hear the sound of the harp.  I think the chords sound good, but see what
you think.  

And of course, to say that they sound good to me doesn't mean that I
couldn't be convinced that they sound better with a different
temperament.  But I'm not putting in all the hours or money I'd need to
put in to give my 75 harps (tuned to six different tuning schemes,
including standard Richter) a different temperament when I already like
the way they sound. 

If my audiences start asking me "What's with that sour noise on the
harps, man?", or just start leaving as soon as I start to play, I'll
change my mind right away.  Hasn't happened yet, but maybe my audiences
are just too damn polite.  Joe Filisko once asked me how come I wasn't
using just-temperament-tuned instruments with all those chords I play. 
That made me think, but apparently not enough to do something about it.

Thanks, Richard Hunter
hunterharp.com