[Harp-L] The Perfect Fusion of Chromatic & Diatonic Harmonica

["Ruan Chaves Rodrigues" <ruan930@xxxxxxxxx>]

I think I get it , and it's dead simple to understand if you already know
something about the Suzuki Overdrive.

Each hole has four reeds, two ( one blow one draw ) at each side. Each side
of the hole has it's own additional chamber on the outside of the plate. A
slide behind the
instrument obstructs one of the two chambers ( one when pressed, the
other when released ).


Here is some advantages of this system compared with the standard chromatic
and diatonic harmonica.

** The slide is behind the instrument. *Great for cupping effects and
holding a mic.
* * The air column is short as on diatonic, *so bends and overblows act the
same as on the diatonic.
** Airtightness. *There is nothing between you and the reeds.
** Size.* The vertical size of the harmonica is the same of a standard
Richter harmonica. The horizontal size is almost the same. *
*** Optional Valving. Valves aren't obligatory since there is not air
leakage sources.
* Maintence and Making are easier, and cheaper.
* Big sound projection as with Overdrive

Here are some interesting ideas that can be used together with this system:

* Reeds riveted to individually removeable plates, plugged or screwed to the
comb. So you could change the harmonica tuning while performing.
* Chambers on the sides of the hole, so you could put up to 8 reeds in one
single hole.
* Dual-reed bends blowing and also drawing. If there is 3 reeds at each hole
( or 6 if you're playing chromatic ), you could perform blues-style bends
blowing and drawing in the same hole.

The draw reed is valved, the blow reed isn't. The blow reed is lower in
pitch than the draw reed. A third reed, this one being draw and **lower in
pitch than the blow reed** , is placed on the hole, lower in pitch than the
blow reed. This third reed is valved in a reverse manner: It will not
respond to draw pressure, only to blow pressure. This link shows a diagram
illustrating how the reeds behave on this system, and then compared to the
bluesharp.

http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/6852/prototipo2vl5.png

**( The reverse is true if the higher reed in the hole is blow )*
*
Translation of the terms
Soprando = Blowing
Com bend = and bending
Aspirando = Drawing
Palheta soprada = Blow reed
Palheta aspirada = Draw reed
Palheta auxiliar = The third reed
*