Re: [Harp-L] improving the harmonica

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

--- BiscuitBoy714@xxxxxxx wrote:

<snip>
>        A valve system that can be easily  installed and taken off
> without 
> doing each individual reed.

If you mean the windsaver flaps, half of them have to be on the inside
to service the draw reeds, which are on the outside of the reedplates.
It is possible to have all the windsavers on something other than the
reedplates - the XB-40 has all its valves mounted on the comb, but
that's even harder to get at than valves on the reedplates. Getting the
valves off the reedplates *and* putting them all on the outside, just
under the covers, may be impossible. At the very least it would require
a rather convoluted airflow path that might make the harp feel
unresponsive.

<snip>
>         A 16 hole diatonic that has the  lower octave on it that you
> have to 
> buy a low pitched harp for now all on the  same harp, and from the
> 7th to the 
> 16th hole is tuned like a regular  harp. 

That halfway-exists in the form of the 14-hole Hohner SBS, which has
the first four holes of a low harp, then the ten holes or a regular
harp, then one extra hole. 

The tuning you describe is one you can create for yourself, at least in
a 14-hole version. Players come up with dream tunings all the time and
no manufacturer can supply them all. By learning to retune harps (not
such a difficult skill) you can take control over creating what you
want, at least in regard to things like tunings.

Wish lists can point us to things that would be really great from
manufacturers. Some of them will be practical, have wide appeal, and be
economical to produce - and maybe a manufacturer will actually
incorporate them into design and/or manufacturing. Other ideas may be
impossible to engineer, uneconomical to produce, or won't repay the
investment in numbers sold. 

The beauty of working on your own harps is that you can enact changes
and customizations that suit you personally regardless of economics or
market appeal - though you're still limited by physical possibilities.

Winslow


 
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