[Harp-L] (no subject)




I have a copy
of Hohner’s 2006 Catalog.  It appears to
list the low keys first and the high keys last.  It has long been my understanding that the XB-40s in the high
standard keys do not perform very well. 
Coast2Coast’s website shows that they are not carrying the D and Eb any
longer.  It appears that the spectrum is
now from low D to C#.  I know that
Hohner, and most chromatic harmonicas, start at low D and go up to C, the highest
key.  The exception to this rule would
be Seydel, who key their chromatics in the same tones as their diatonics.  So far, so good.  It appears that my theory of low keys listed first and high keys
listed last is holding up.  When you get
to the octave harps the G,C choice turns into C,G.  The Autovalve is listed as D,E,F,G,A,Bb,C.  The Tremolos go back to G,C, C thru Bb, and
in one case, F,G,C.  Then the Echo
Celeste appears to return to the diatonic tones of G thru F#.  Am I interpreting this catalog
correctly?  That is to say are the low
tones listed first and the high tones listed last?


 


Diatonic


(1)
G,A,Bb,C,D,E,F


(2) G,Ab
(G#),A,Bb,B,C,


Db
(C#),D,Eb,E,F,F#


(Low)
D,Eb,E,F,F#


(High) G


 


XB-40


(3) Low E,Low
F,Low F#,G,


Ab (G#),A,Bb,B,C,Db (C#),D,Eb


 


Chromatic


C


G,C


D,Eb,E,F,G,A,Bb,B,C


C-Tenor


 


Octave


C,G


Autovalve


D,E,F,G,A,Bb,C


Double Sided


C-G, F-C


 


Tremolo


C,D,E,F,G,A,Bb


Double Sided


Bb-F,C-G,D-A


G,C


Golden Melody


F,G,C


Echo Celeste


G,Ab,A,Bb,B,C,Db,D,Eb,E,F,F#


 


So why do I
want to know.  I’ve recently tuned two
harps to 5 limit Just Intonation and got a very interesting effect.  The sympathy vibrations are constant, not
just when I bend.  They really have a
consonant bluesy sound.  If you pros
care [and I don’t] they perform very poorly in front of a microphone.  Since the opposing read is always vibrating
in sympathy, it might as well be wide open. 
The microphone will pick up the air hissing out.  My ear doesn’t pick it up at all.  I think it sounds great.  If I was a performing professional, I would
probably offset the draw and blow reeds by the same number of cents to kill the
sympathy vibrations in the same channel, and leave they sympathy in the chords
across channels.  Or I would just get a
better microphone. 


 


This
experience has me looking at Concert Tuned Marine Bands.  Since the best sympathy vibrations are going
to be created by octaves, an unvalved knittenger octave harp like the Concert
Tuned is the way to go.  I’ve been told that the Autovalve will not
function without valves and that they are tuned to the same tones as the
diatonic keys, G – F#.  I’m guessing
that AutoValves are really D – C, and that the Concert Tuned Marine Band is
nothing more than an Autovalve without valves, and that the keys C,G represent
the highest keyed Autovalve in C, and the High G an octave above the Autovalve
G.  My hope is that the highest key will
release the least air from the sympathy vibrations.


 


By the way, I own a Seydel
Concerto in G.  They are the Seydel
Autovalves.  Their keys go from A to
G.  Keys A to C have ten Richter channels
two through eleven in order to avoid the long reeds from hitting the covers in
the lowest channel.  The higher keys, D –
G use standard Richter tuned channels one through ten.  My Seydel in G is the best $50 I ever
spent.  But if I’m going to be yanking
out valves, I want to start with the highest keyed.  I haven’t had the kind of luck with valves that I’ve had tuning
harps, soooooo, that is why I am interested. 
I’m thinking that the Concert Tuned Marine Band in G is the highest key
on the market, followed by an Autovalve in C where I could pull the valves out
from top to bottom just to see how it plays with a few less valves.  Or go for the Concerted tuned in C and add
valves into it from the bottom to the top. 
I think my Seydel in G is an octave lower than the CT in G and the same
as the AutoValve in G.  What do you
think?T in G and the same
as the AutoValve in G.  What do you think?



 
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