[Harp-L] Octaves (was: Lee Oskar or...)

[jross38@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Rick writes:

The fundamental difference is in the tuning of them.If you aimimg at the 'chicago' sound you'd be better of with the hohner ,ie the octaves and chords sound <snip> a couple that i have tuned for octaves etc so (again to me) i get the best of both worlds."

Unless your harmonica is horribly, horribly out of tune, the octaves will be the same on any instrument, regardless of the specific intonation.  An octave is an octave, and except for a very few tuning schemes these are always tuned pure.  This is the same for any of the tunings I know of for harmonicas, whether it be 12-tone equal temperament Lee Oskar uses or the compromised temperament Hohner uses for most of its range--or the Just intonation (5-limit, IIRC) which Hering uses for many of their diatonics.  Now, the chords will sound very different in all of these, but when you play an octave it should be beatless in any of them. 

JR "Bulldogge" Ross
& Snuffy, too:)