[Harp-L] LeeOskars equal tempered after all

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

Earlier I wrote that Lee Oskars are tempered according to the advice in the documentation to the Lee Oskar tools kit - tune the thirds of major chords 2 cents flatter than the other notes.

However, I have it from a knowledgeable source (who wishes to remain anonymous, but who has done the work to back the claim) that while Lee may advised this temperament in his advice to players, what actually happens in the factory is that Lee Oskar harmonicas are tuned to equal temperament.

My apologies to Phil, who had it right the first time.

Winslow Yerxa

Author, Harmonica For Dummies ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5

--- On Wed, 9/10/08, Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From: Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] 12TET harps -- only 2 in the main - not quite
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx, Philharpn@xxxxxxx
Date: Wednesday, September 10, 2008, 11:58 AM

Lee Oskar harps are not equal tempered. Some notes are tuned flatter than
others.

Lee uses A440 as a baseline and tunes most notes 10 cents sharp. But he lowers
the third of the major chords by 2 cents, tuning them only 8 cents sharp. The
notes affected are Blow 2, 5, and 8, and Draw 3 and 7.

You can see Lee's tuning chart in Kinya Pollard's February 2004 article
at HarmonicaSessions.com:

http://www.harmonicasessions.com/feb04/h-workbench.html

The same information is given in Lee's documentation for the Lee Oskar
Toolkit.

Winslow

Winslow Yerxa

Author, Harmonica For Dummies ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5

--- On Wed, 9/10/08, Philharpn@xxxxxxx <Philharpn@xxxxxxx> wrote:
From: Philharpn@xxxxxxx <Philharpn@xxxxxxx>
Subject: [Harp-L] 12TET harps -- only 2 in the main
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wednesday, September 10, 2008, 10:44 AM

 1. Are there any out of the box equal temperament (aka 12TET) diatonic 
harmonicas other than the Golden Melody and Lee Oscar and Huang Jazz Harp (also

double country tuned)?

A friend recently replaced his Lee Oscar harp with a Special 20 and
couldn't 
understand the "poor quality" of the Special 20. I informed him that
they were 
tuned differently Just Intonation vs. equal temperament. I told him his 
choices were Golden Melody or Lee Oscar were probably the easiest to find.

2. Seydel probably offers 12TET because the firm offers lots of special tuned 
harmonicas virtually off the shelf? Whereas most other firms don't even
offer 
some of the exotic tunings beyond nat. & harm. minors and the standard
major.

(Of course, most solo tuned chromatics are equal temperament and some 
consider them to be diatonic because they combined 2 diatonic harps usually a 
half-step apart. Richter chromatics like the Koch and Hohner Slide Harp are
just 
intonation.)

3. Were the first chromatics Richter harps with solo tuned coming somewhat 
later?

4. Extra credit question: Was the Golden Melody (in the 60s?) the first 
Richter equal temperament diatonic?

Phil



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