[Harp-L] Rick Eppings "Bunker Busters"

[Tony Eyers <tony@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I was lucky enough to have a long phone call with Rick Epping a while 
back, and he described his octave tuned instrument. It seemed like the 
harmonica equivalent of a 12 string guitar, and sounded like a great 
idea. I decided to get one.

I wanted a 10 hole octave tuned instrument that I could play my fiddle 
tune repertoire on

After collecting (and discarding) various bits and pieces, I ended up 
with a Seydel Concerto. This is a well made, valved octave tuned 10 hole 
instrument, in Richter tuning, with a plastic comb. The octaves sound 
great, the mouthpiece takes some getting used to. However, bends are 
more or less out of the question.

To get around this problem, I tuned it up to my Major Cross tuning, 
details of this are at http://www.harmonicatunes.com/retuned.shtml This 
meant retuning 14 reeds, while watching out for the valves. I'm not a 
particularly good technician, but I'm patient, and the job got done.

The verdict? I'm still learning how to drive the instrument, but love 
it, and can more or less play my repertoire on it. One feature I 
particularly like is that you can switch between single note playing 
(sounds like a chromatic when you do) and octave playing.

Once I get my head around it a little more I'll post a recording. 
Hopefully I'll meet up with Rick Epping one day to compare instruments.

Tony Eyers
Australia
www.harmonicaacademy.com
...everyone plays