Brendan Power & Alternative Harmonicas Forum

As a reed swings back and forth in its slot, a turboslide works by pulling at it when it get's far out on one side. This results in the reed spending a little more time on that side, which lowers the frequency by which it swings. Why, precisely, doesn't a turboslide work for the draw reeds? It might...

Nice comb! Regarding overbends working but not normal bends: A full draw bend, especially in holes 2 or 3, is mostly produced by the blow reed. Effectively, it's basically the same as an overdraw. What happens if you try blocking the draw reed and play a bend? Can you produce an overdraw? Compare th...

Hello Dominico and welcome to the forum! If you want a way to instantly swap the reeds of a single hole in a diatonic, would it be an option to simply include an extra hole and use some mechanism to block the hole you don't want? This would make the harp longer, but maybe if it's just one or two hol...

5ᵗʰ postition does look a bit tricky, but what do you think about 6ᵗʰ position? In the top octave the B would be a half-step bend, but in its first octave, from the first B I think it looks better.

Interestingly enough, the Fanfare-S from Seydel may be precisely what you're describing... It's a Tremolo harmonica built around the body of the Seydel De Luxe Steel chromatic. The slider is removed, and just the mouthpiece remains, and the two reedplates are both tuned to the same key. If you are ...

For these sorts of experiments, a modular reed harp really is the way to go. If you just want to try out how the two reeds will behave in one hole though, you could, as I said, make do with an ordinary sandwich-type harmonica just holding the plates in place with your finger. Let us hear how it work...

I haven't noticed any problems with notes one or even two octaves apart. The only issue I could foresee might be if the Helmholtz resonance of of a longer chamber interferes with the higher note, but I haven't experienced it myself. Because the notes are so far apart, there is no interactive reed be...

Alternative title: What is the smallest difference from equal temperament that you find acceptable for nice chords? When fine tuning a harmonica, one faces the decision of whether one wants to prioritise melody playing in many keys or nice, pure-sounding chords in one key. In the former case, one tr...

Any updates on your neighbour's progress? Or about the method in general?

(I sent you a direct message, by the way!)

What a nice story! I'm much looking forward to hearing how this develops! Regarding your choice of tuning I think you are on to something. I have been recommending Paddies whenever I advice beginners for several years! My main motivations are usually to let the beginner play in minor keys and to ext...