Re: [Harp-L] Re: half-valved diatonic

[Jim Hanks <jhanks@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

No, not fully valved. The fourkey layout is such that only 4 holes have 
the draw reed a whole step (two semitones) higher than the blow reed. On 
those holes, you can use a normal draw bend to get the in-between step, 
e.g. C blow and D draw, bend to get C#. So on those 4 holes I only put 
valves on the blow notes. The other 6 holes are separated by a semitone, 
e.g. Bb and B, so I put valves on both blow and draw on those holes. 
Some of this is admittedly redundant, e.g. the B can be valve bent down 
to Bb (theoretically - as I said, I can't bend it that far) but Bb is 
already available in the blow reed. But I was going for maximum 
flexibility. :-)

Jim

On 6/15/2011 2:54 PM, gnarlyheman@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Is the instrument fully valved? 20 windsavers?
> ------Original Message------
> From: Jim Hanks
>
> Something I'm struggling with as well. My valved diatonic is a fourkey
> (more than half - 16 out of 20 actually) and I can get a semitone pretty
> easily on the valved blow bends but the valved draw bends I can barely
> get a quartertone.
>
> On 6/15/2011 9:46 AM, harp-l-request@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> > What affects the amount of bend available on a valved hole?