[Harp-L] Leaning on the Reeds Rather than the Slide

[Joseph Bernard <bjosephmex@xxxxxxxxx>]

That's interesting.  I'm wondering if the larger holes on a Chrometta allow the player to lean on the reeds harder and give a diatonic feel to the chromatic?  If so, or if not, what brand of chromatic allows the player to lean hardest on the reeds.  All the chromatics that I have tried use most of my wind against the slide rather than the reeds.  One would think that the most desirable result is just the opposite.  The best that I've tried so far was a Chinese "Tower" that was laid out like a double reed and really didn't need wind savers.  There were two holes for every four notes..  The slide would cut off every other hole.  I think Tombo or Suzuki makes a similar product.

 
John Broecker said:
 
They have a ... a longer slider than other slide  chromatics.
  
The Chromettas have a diagonal reed placement system. That is, looking  at the mouthpiece slider, with the slider button out, you will see an open  hole for the top reed plate, then the next hole will be open for the  bottom reed plate. 

The holes are slightly larger than on a "straight" reed placement,  like the Hohner #270, where all of the scale's reeds are on one plate. The  Hohner company states that the diagonal reed setup allows more resonance  than the smaller holes of the straight reed setup.

The mouthpiece of the Chrometta features large squares, compared to the smaller squares of the Hohner #270 Super Chromonica models. This is sometimes  a negative for a few players, but it's a minor problem, if any.