Re: [Harp-L] Hohner Auto Valve

[David Payne <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

One of my favorite subjects....
Constructionwise, a valved octave harmonica is just like a chromatic, only without the slide and mouthpiece and it's tuned differently. The Seydel Concerto is also made this way - and I do sell them either stock or modified so you can play section position on them:
http://www.elkriverharmonicas.com/new_blues_concerto_octave ;


There aren't 10 holes. There are 20. Each reedplate is its own harmonica. The top reedplate, for instance, on a Concerto would be a regular C with Richter note placement. The bottom reedplate, is a complete low C harmonica Richter note placement, just like your regular 10-hole diatonic... only there's two of them. If you look at this video, where I talk about what a Richter harmonica actually is, I do go over the style of construction that's seen on the Concerto and Auto Valve. It's called Knittlinger construction, presumeably because it came from one of the companies in Knittlingen, Germany that have long since disappeared. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u80Wd4EUbtQ ;


The comb on these harmonicas is like your regular 10-hole comb, only fatter and it has a divider in the middle. So the each reedplate is its own harmonica and each reedplate has both draw and blow reeds. This all means that if you lip block one side, you can play each side individually like a regular 10-hole diatonic, or you can play them both together for that unique octave sound.
The valves are there for a very good reason, it takes a lot of air to play two harmonicas at the same time. When you blow, the valves - there's just basically plastic strips - get pushed against the back side of the draw reed slot to keep air from leaking out of the draw reeds while you blow. When you draw, the opposite happens.  
It is similar to a discrete comb in its most basic sense, but there are differences. 
Octaves refers to when you play both reedplates at the same time (which is what it was designed for) you are always playing octaves. If you play 1 blow, you get a C4 on the high reedplate and a C3 on the low one. Always playing the octaves, it's a cool rich sound. There's no dictionary for this stuff, but my experience has been when the word "concert" is used, they are talking about valves.. and it means a valved octave harmonica. The auto valve refers to the valves, it's just the name of the harmonica, but the valves, I should mention, work automatically - just like they do in chromatics. 
The Seydel Concerto (plastic comb) and Auto Valve (pearwood comb) were designed to be played in first position and they were often used as chord harmonicas. Legendary chord player Al Fiore made his first chord harp by putting auto valves together. Bending is an interaction between the blow and draw reeds, so the valves keep you from doing traditional second-position bends (although you can play some 2nd position without bending)... what I do on the modified Concertos (also available stock) is remove the valves covering the blow reeds on holes 1,2,3,4 and 6 on the top reedplate, so you can get those draw bends when you lip block the bottom row, but you've still got enough valves to still be loud when you play them both together. I also have to adjust the gaps on the top reedplate, because when you just take the valves off, there is an inbalance of compression on the two sides - some gap adjustment compensates for that.
I started modifying octave harps actually long before I got in the harmonica business, I used to do it to Auto Valves about 10 years ago for my own stuff and started offering the Concertos like that recently.  



David Payne
www.elkriverharmonicas.com


Elk River Harmonicas Forum now available via Iphone app, www.elkriverharmonicas.com/forum


________________________________
 From: Sam Lyons <sjlyons93@xxxxxxxxx>
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx 
Sent: Monday, June 11, 2012 9:00 AM
Subject: [Harp-L] Hohner Auto Valve
 
I saw this Hohner 105/40 Auto Valve Harmonica and I'm wondering how it
works:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/folk-traditional-instruments/hohner-105-40-auto-valve-harmonica

How does it work, in general?
How can it have 40 reeds with only 10 holes and apparently only 2
reedplates? (Do my eyes deceive me?)
Is that a discrete comb?
What do they mean by "full concert octave"?
How do wind-saving valves work (generally, not just in reference to this
harp), and what is an auto-valve?

Thanks

Sam.