Re: [Harp-L] Overbends on tremolo harps and the Discrete Comb

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

I think you're thinking og the Hohner New Best Quality, whcih was like an Old Standby, wbut with the comb divided into top and bottom chambers. After I came up with the Discrete Comb, madcat gave me one of these as a gift.

later looking at old catalogs, I dscovered what apepared to be the following marketing ploy:

1) market a Knittlinger harps with double reeds - octave tuned, 40 reeds instead of 20.

2) bring out a standard 20-reed harp but put a horizontal divider in the comb

3) Sell the above 20-reed harp for more money than a standard 20-reed hpar, , but for lesss money than the 40-reed harp, while making it look like a "junior" version of the 40-reed harp.

The irony is that a 20-reed harp with a horizontal divider in a comb of standard height will play much worse than a standard 20-reed harp. To work decently it needs bigger chambers, which required increasing comb thickness.

Winslow
Winslow Yerxa

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

--- On Mon, 7/20/09, David Payne <dmatthew@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

From: David Payne <dmatthew@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Overbends on tremolo harps and the Discrete Comb
To: "Harp L Harp L" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Monday, July 20, 2009, 6:31 PM


The video where I overblow a Seydel Shanty tremolo (as promised I'd post) has been uploadified:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2AnqfqRxY0

On the discrete comb, the basics have been there for, mercy, prolly 150 years. Somewhere, deep in recesses of the Elk River Institute for Advanced Harmonica Studies museum/lair/whatever, is a mouse ear Hohner, probably from about 1915. I might have lost it in a move, I haven't seen it in a long time. But the important thing is, I remember what it looked like. It had a pearwood discrete comb, but it was NOT a double reed instrument. It is a hell of a lot cheaper/easier to make a regular comb than it is a discrete comb and it would have had to up the price. Makes you wonder what folks were doing with them back in those days that they'd shell out the extra smackers to buy them.

Dave
____________________________
Dave Payne Sr.
Elk River Specialty Harps
www.elkriverharmonicas.com



----- Original Message ----
From: John Kerkhoven <solo_danswer@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>; Harp L Harp L <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, July 20, 2009 4:34:29 PM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Overbends on tremolo harps and the Discrete Comb

Winslow,

What you say makes a discrete-combed harp sound extremely cool.... To the
point that I'm left asking how come we haven't seen these -- at least as
diatonics? Or are there discrete harps on the market (other than tremolos)?
And if not, is there any likelihood that there might be?

Did you make your own? How?

What would you list as the advantages and disadvantages compared with a
standard diatonic harp of similar quality?

I'll stop there. I'm just plain intrigued. Any additional info you have
would be appreciated, plus links to pictures if there are any. Sound files?

Thanks,

John



> Actually, discrete chambers make overbends EASIER - no pesky opposing reed
to interfere. That's the whole principle behind the Discrete Comb, my
invention (I also was the first person to apply the term "discrete comb" to
harmonicas). The Discrete Comb puts this capability in the format of a
standard 10-hole diatonic.
>
> Tremolo harmonicas and the Discrete Comb allow you to isolate ANY reed on
the harp (except ones where a hole is punched between the top and bottom
chamber, as on some Hohner tremolos).
>
> When isolated, a reed will:
>
> -- bend down like a "valved bend", with no specific limit to how far the
note will bend; that's a matter of reed adjustment and player skill
>
> -- bend UP on the opposite breath (draw bend on a blow reed, blow bend on
a draw reed) and produce a stronger, more stable overblow or overdraw than
you would get in a dual-reed system.
>
> At Jason Ricci's Harmonica Blow OFF on August 11, I will be playing an
A-harp with a Discrete Comb on a tune called "The Tinge." "The Tinge" is
also in A, so I'll be in first position. But half of the tune is in A minor,
so I have to play overblows to get some of the minor notes, including Hole 1
overblow. Not only will I play that overblow, I will bend it UP two
semitones, because the stability of the Discrete Comb allows for this. I'll
also do some "valved" bending of notes that don't usually bend down, like
Blow 6.
>
> WInslow
>

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