Brendan Power & Alternative Harmonicas Forum

This week I'm getting back to messing with harmonicas made with accordion reeds. In the past I made a couple of test instruments, which showed the potential and allayed any concerns over steel reeds rusting. They don't, if you let the harp dry off after playing and it's kept in a dry environment. A ...

Thanks Triona for your helpful and accurate replies. Yes, my Universal Hohner 12 hole chromatic comb will fit the Larry Adler, because the only things different about it from the 270 are the coverplates.

One more observation on your Inverted Bebop tuning. Your intention was to start the C major scale on a draw note, and you get this arrangement (blow note to the left): Bb-C. D-E. F-G. A-B. * Bb-C. D-E. F-G. A-B. * etc Check PowerChromatic in F, starting on hole 3: Bb-C. D-E. F-G. G-A. * Bb-C. D-E. F...

Hi Patrick, finally you've come up with a tuning I like ;-) Not that I don't appreciate your many other proposals, but they are often based on chordal possibilities which I think are pretty much unusable outside the bottom octave. This Inverted Bebop ticks my boxes because it allows draw bends on al...

Nice diagrams and analysis Rishio.

Since you've been playing this tuning for a while now, do you have any video or recordings you'd care to share?

Yes. Progress is being made with intention to release, but I've have struck a couple of unforeseen issues and am working through them. Can't give a release date at this stage - "as soon as practicable" is as much as I can offer.

Edvin asked a good question: "For a person who doesn't build harmonicas for a living, what is a wise course of action when one makes an original discovery or invention? What is a good level of secrecy?" If you believe you have a new idea or method of significance, the first thing is to check that it...

Thanks for the helpful feedback Edvin and others. For riveted reed harps, it helps to sand the draw reed flat. However since that's beyond the skills of most players I've started to add rivet holes in the Gasket-valves, allowing the rivet stubs to poke through and ensure they lay flat on stock reedp...

Just came back to this thread after a week or so. I see it's moved along into the area of practicality, thanks to Edvin. Nice drawings and discussion :-) Not to take anything away from your enthusiasm for a promising concept Dodtsair & Edvin, but just as a factual note: I have already done some work...

It couldn't work with standard reedplates. Besides, the reeds won't "work in different directions". When you move the draw reedplate to the top of the comb, the reeds become blow reeds. That's because they are now under the reedplate instead of being on the outside, as they were when the drawplate w...