Re: [Harp-L] Rick Epping: the Father of Embossing

[David Payne <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I've never heard anything that it was being used on accordions before this. I've heard of a lot of things being borrowed from accordions, such as steel reeds, but never something aftermarket - only factory things as often the same people making the accordions were making harmonicas. 

But, I'll pass along a little story about people coming up with the same idea at different times.
Some years ago, I sat down for quite a period of time to make the perfect minor tuning for diatonics. The perfect minor tuning that would require me to tune the fewest reeds. I thought it was a stroke a genius that I could get two octaves of a minor scale by tuning only one reed, the three blow. I tuned it one step up, this gave me a seat for the minor scale and the whole instrument was transformed. I now had my minor scales in fourth position. I had the minor chords, the I minor, the I 7th minor and the four minor.

 I was quite proud of this until a sudden realization took the wind from my sails... Brendan Power had already invented this same tuning, although he had tuned that note to get the missing note in that low octave most needed in fiddle tunes. He called it Paddy Richter. 
 
David Payne
www.elkriverharmonicas.com
www.hetrickharmonica.com


________________________________
 From: Joseph Leone <3n037@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: David Payne <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
Cc: Harp L Harp L <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx> 
Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2012 9:04 PM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Rick Epping: the Father of Embossing
 

How do we know that embossing wasn't being done on accordions? As you say, solutions sometimes come from a necessity. Tone a little weak on the D draw of the pair of reeds in block #10 on bank #3? The chord doesn't sound 'full' on the lower tremelo?  Let's emboss it. Makes me wonder. Po-see-bee-lay? Hmmm, maybe. 
smokey-joe