Re: [Harp-L] Speaking of Alan Wilson...

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

Blind Owl did not use windsavers on On the Road Again. This has been analyzed and discussed here in some detail, and Pat Missin has determined (and I agree) that he tuned Draw 6 up a semitone, as opposed to valving Blow 7 to allow Draw 7 to bend.

Will Scarlett was much more than an auto mechanic. First time I laid eyes on him (in 1974) he was giving a lecture on the work of 19th Century acoustics pioneer Hermann Helmholtz in a little storefront hippie music school in San Francisco. He was playing a custom-built G-harp that he used for everything he played on the Hot Tuna albums. (He still has it, and you can probably see it if you come to a SPAH convention).

Norton was also a tech-head who hotrodded his Huang diatonics. Butterfield I can't comment on, and Madcat can, of course, speak for himself.

Winslow

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: "tacopescado@xxxxxxxxxxx" <tacopescado@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Harp-L L <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx> 
Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2013 6:03 PM
Subject: [Harp-L] Speaking of Alan Wilson...
 
How did Blind Owl, Little Walter, Butterfield, Norton Buffalo etc, have harps that allowed them to do anything they wanted to do? Did they know how to modify and trick up their harps ala Filisko, Sleigh, Spiers etc? Did this become a lost (and then found again) art or is it all about quality control?

One of my all-time favorite records is the original acoustic 'Hot Tuna' with Will Scarlett who was over-blowing long before Howard. Somehow he tricked up his harps but was mostly an auto mechanic. Ahh... the profitable life of a musician.

Also, Blind Owl supposedly added windsavers to his diatonic for "On The Road Again."

I've tried for decades to emulate Mad Cat on his tracks with Sky King from the early 70's such as Looking Forward, Hot Mustard and Don't Be Afraid (amongst others).

So, I ask you Peter, the Mad Cat, and I have nothing but the highest respect and regard for you as a harmonica player and as a person. What kind of harps did you play on the Sky King sessions and were they tricked up? If so, did you trick 'em up. Those badass hole-3 bends with vibrato! Where did that come from?

I just recently got some harmonicas from Joe Spiers that allow me to play in cross on a low-F as if I was on a D. Most amazing.

So I ask again... how did these cats do it in the past?