[Harp-L] X-reed Sub30

[Rick Dempster]

Yes, David. To be exact, I have one actual X-Reed, and other Sub30s
customised by either Brendan or Zombor Kovacs.
I also have one from Tom Halchak, his comb and OV plates, and a couple of
Sub30s to which I've added Tom's OV plates myself.
After years of messing with single reed bends (ie overblows, if we must) I
have, for the time being at least, thrown in my lot
with 30 reed harps ( I am also furiously practising chromatic - again -
hoping I can play it half decently before I die)
I never really likes the sound of single reed bends, be they on half-valved
or unvalved harps.
I much prefer the sympathetic  or double- reed sound (ie normal blooz harp)
Having said that, the 30 reed harps are still a way off from being trouble
free, despite the excellent efforts
of Brendan, Zombor & Tom.
So pleased to see someone wanting to discuss this lonely, frustrating topic!
By the way, I use them for playing old stuff like "When you're smiling, and
"Who's sorry now", but they
are great on just about anything, when they are not playing up.
Main general criticism is a slower response time in bending.
The X-Reed has internal valves, which are fiddly to replace.
Having said that, so are the valves in Tom's over-valve plates, though at
least you can
just take the plate off and replace it with another, at least for the time
being.
Cheers,
RD

On 29 December 2016 at 05:28, David Fairweather <dmf273 at xxxxx> wrote:

> Just curious if anyone is using Brendan's X-reed diatonics? I ordered a
> custom tuning Melody Maker a couple of years ago. It's an excellent harp
> and I'm thinking of getting another in standard Richter tuning. Just
> wondering what others experiences have been with it.
>