Brendan Power & Alternative Harmonicas Forum

It was a conscious and logical decision to half-valve the Diminished Lucky 13. As Jason Rogers said, the valves do give you isolated-reed bends on the blow notes if you want them. However my main reason was that half-valving balances up the expression and volume on draw and blow reeds. With them in ...

Many Irish & American fiddle tunes incorporate rapid repeating wide intervals into their melodies. These "fast jumps" are virtually impossible on regular harmonicas, but this clip of the popular session tune 'Drowsy Maggie' shows how they CAN be played on alternate types. The tune is i...

There's an extra bonus of having a slide harmonica tuned in fifths, or using the fifths-up button on the DM48X, besides the fast repeated wide interval notes. Even though this clip has a range of over one octave (hole 5 to hole 9 on a normal G chromatic), using the top buttons on the DM48X I can pla...

Being able to get these techniques on Midi harmonica has made me think about what modifications might be required to make them possible on 'real' harmonicas (ones with free reeds instead of breath sensors). There are a couple of good options. The simplest one is to make a slide harmonica in fifths, ...

Midi Harmonica enables several playing techniques that are impossible on traditional types. Fast wide intervals and 5-note rolls (a type of mordant or decoration) are examples of such Achilles heels of the standard analogue harmonica. However they're commonly heard in Irish & American fiddle tun...

Ever since I started playing MIDI harmonica when the Lekholm DM48 first came out (now the DM48X), I've found the lack of ability to bend notes as I do on my regular harps (half-valved diatonics and chromatics in custom tunings) quite frustrating! The original model only enabled bending based on brea...

Considering your background and primary playing of the harp for Blues, PowerDraw is your best option I think. It's identical to the standard Richter harp you're familiar with in holes 1-6, and aft that you can continue draw bending all the way to hole 10. PowerBender is better for easy chromaticism,...

"FYI, I believe Richard Sleigh messed with it in the early days too, but probably after you." Not sure about that, but I know Richard made some harps that repeated the bottom octave of Richter: CD. EG. GB. CD. EG. GB. CD. EG. GB. CD I asked him to make me one in the early 90s, which I call...

Thanks for the clip Rishio. It's great that you're happily playing ED Tuning still! It is an excellent layout, for sure. As stated before, I made some harps in the 90s in the same tuning, but starting on a different note. In key of C it would be: CD. EG. AB. CD. EG. AB. CD. EG. AB. CD. (ED Tuning is...

Thanks for your questions Rishio. To answer: 1. My Gasket-Valves are no problem for maintenance. Simply lift the valve unit away and clean the comb/reedplates as normal. The material is quite rugged so you can also rinse or wipe it - but wipe in the direction of the valves, or you may bend them. 2. ...