Re: [Harp-L] improving the harmonica

[BiscuitBoy714@xxxxxxx]

In a message dated 2/15/2007 12:53:51 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx writes:


---  BiscuitBoy714@xxxxxxx wrote:
 
            Thanx  for getting with me on this Winslow.  With the valve 
system I was talking  about it's mostly the blow reeds that I'm interested in 
anyway but from  what I've learned on the list overblowing and bending  depends on 
an  interaction between both reeds. I'd just like to have the option without 
buying  a bunch more harps. How is that 14 hole harp tuned?
        Randy



<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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