[Harp-L] Re: XB Altered tunings--Melody Maker

"rick epping" <rickepping@xxxxxxxxx> · Wed, 6 Sep 2006 10:00:47 +0100

Hi Gary and all,
It's been some time since I last surfaced - here's hoping everyone is alive
and blowing...
As Tim said, retuning the regular reeds of the XB-40 will not alter the
pitch of their bent notes.  To do so requires retuning the zero-offset
auxiliary reeds and, as their plucked pitch or natural frequency is not the
same as the pitch they produce at full bend, the way I use to fine tune the
auxiliary reeds is to lay the reedplate on the comb and play the bend
between strokes of the reed file or scraper.
Another thing to consider is how much tolerance you want to leave for the
bent note.  When first establishing the factory tuning charts for the
auxiliary reeds I allowed a little extra room both for expression and so
that one could reach the full bend without excessive effort.
Best regards,
Rick Epping
PS. I'll be touring the Southwest (Texas to Calif.) in October-November with
the Irish group Dervish.  Details at http://www.dervish.ie/tour.htm
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On 9/5/06, harp-l-request@xxxxxxxxxx <harp-l-request@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Message: 8
Date: Tue, 5 Sep 2006 09:37:43 -0700
From: "Gary Lehmann" <hqr@xxxxxxx>
Subject: [Harp-L] XB Altered tunings--Melody Maker
To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Message-ID:
       <20060905163749.DZXS6711.fed1rmmtao04.cox.net@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Content-Type: text/plain;       charset="us-ascii"
Hi all-
I ain't no Jason Ricci, so I have taken to using harps with notes
changed-just got an XB back from Pat Missin, he changed it to Paddy
Richter
and generally made it a fine instrument.
How tough is it to create a custom tuning on an XB? I know Jazzmaan is
using
XB Melody Makers, did he create them himself? Anybody?
I am a little reluctant to experiment on these since they are more
expensive-I already have lots of harmonicas, but can always use more.
Gary