Brendan Power & Alternative Harmonicas Forum

Mucho Gracias for the encouragement Brendan. Knowledge has organizing Power and it always feels good to be autonomous. Where I’m a bit spooked is doing the valves on the inside plate where it meets the comb. Here they need to be within the boundaries of the comb chamber, otherwise the misalignment o...

Yes, demand seems to drive the market. I’m very surprised that more people have not adapted, or are aware of the extra expression that valving offers. Seems to be a lot more overblowers, which although a great and valid approach to chromaticism, takes careful reed set up and big learning curve to ge...

Hi Brendan, Thanks so much for looking into this. Funnily enough, I have been chatting about the Trochilus with Andre Coelho, ( as you know, one of your recommended customizers for your Octahatp selectable), and he out of the blue, mentioned to me that “I put 4 front screws on mine. It did make it m...

Today I did try to half-valve my Tronchilus but bailed after realizing I was using the wrong glue. I tried using Krazy Glue but it dried so fast I didn't have a chance to adjust and align the position of the valve. I did however, discover where to put the valves: Trochilus Chrome (solo - yellow): - ...

I'd be happy to design a set of gasket-valves for the Trochilus, but ideally I need a DXF file of the reedplates. Dominick: with your CAD skills, is there a way you could scan the reedplates of your Trochilus and convert to DXF? If not, a graphics file with accurate dimensions would suffice. Wow! T...

The new JDR Trochilus harmonica is a valveless 10-hole with a button, offering a number of color coded configurations including: - Richter Tuned (they call it Blues tuning) in color blue comb (1/2 step up with the button) - Paddy Richter - Red Comb - Solo Tuning - Yellow Comb (valvless chromatic) I ...

Thanks Marty! Glad you like the tool. I am about to release a new version. Thanks also for that idea about valved bends. I discussed it with Bren and due to the nature of valved bends (valved draw bends are the same as non-valved draw bends) and because valved blow bends are not a set pitch, and ve...

Thank you Agustín, for sharing your experience with the Forerunner 2. Another harmonica to put on my wish list!

Marty

Hi David, Excellent idea and well executed! I see that you have a top and bottom row for Overbends and Bends. Since Brendan is a pioneer inventor and exponent of half-valving, and I assume quite a few people like myself are adapters, ( or curious about the chromatic advantages of half-valving), it w...

Brendan has been a champion of the half-valved chromatics, which has stimulated my curiosity to take advantage of the extra bends that come with half-valving a chrome. (The way I understand it is that the missing valves give extra draw bends like a diatonic, the added valves allow blow bends). I exp...