Re: [Harp-L] raising a reed's pitch

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

Another way to raise the pitch of a note is to make it open instead of close. Instead of closing into its slot before springing back, it opens away from the slot before springing back, sounding a pitch nearly a semitone above its closing pitch. The opening-reed phenomenon is behind both overblows/overdraws and dual-reed bends in diatonic harmonicas.


For a blow reed to open, it needs to be pulled away from its slot by an inhaled breath, while an opening draw reed will be pushed away from its slot by an exhaled breath. However, on chromatic harmonicas, valves prevent blow reeds from receiving inhaled breath and vice versa. Therefore opening reed action is only possible with the removal of valves.

Yet another way exists to raise the pitch of a reed: Shorten the reed's vibrating length. Some pitch pipes work this way, with a sliding yoke that acts like a capo. Jim "Turbodog" Antaki has created a magnetic version of this, with a whammy-bar-like slider that places magnets over steel reeds to effectively shorten their vibrating length. He's built some prototypes using Seydel 1847 diatonics but I'm not aware of him doing this with chromatics.

 
Winslow Yerxa
Author, Harmonica For Dummies, ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5
            Harmonica Basics For Dummies, ASIN B005KIYPFS
            Blues Harmonica For Dummies, ISBN 978-1-1182-5269-7
Resident Harmonica Expert, bluesharmonica.com
Instructor, Jazzschool for Music Study and Performance


________________________________
 From: David Payne <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Harp L Harp L <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx> 
Sent: Monday, December 17, 2012 3:03 AM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] raising a reed's pitch
 
Here is an example of Leo Diamond, back in the 1950s, doing exactly what you're talking about - bending notes UP on a chromatic. 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBgSDZLLoZM

Now Leo was a master player. He was also a master customizer. Recordings of Leo are very helpful in kind of getting some vague idea about the history of customizing. One of these interesting facts I learned from audio evidence of Leo is that embossing was done in the 1930s. 
 The harp he plays here is probably one of the awesome custom chromatics ever made. There's lot of stuff he's done to it... one of these things makes  it possible to bend notes up. What he's done is alter the reference pitch. This harp is probably tuned at A=480 (that was not a typo). It's tuned so sharply that he has to bend every single note down to pitch. If every note must be bent down, then releasing that bend gives you the ability to bend up. 



David Payne
www.elkriverharmonicas.com
www.hetrickharmonica.com


________________________________
From: Music Cal <macaroni9999@xxxxxxxxx>
To: harp-L list <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx> 
Sent: Monday, December 17, 2012 2:49 AM
Subject: [Harp-L] raising a reed's pitch

I can bend notes down a half step or so for most reeds of my chromatic
harmonica. But can one bend notes up, even a little bit? That is, is there
something like overbends and overdraws for the chromatic harp?

MusiCal