Brendan Power & Alternative Harmonicas Forum

I'm pleased to announce the release of my new-generation PowerBender and PowerDraw 10 hole harp models in five keys: Low F, G, A, C, D. Made to my specifications by the respected Easttop harmonica company, they have phosphor-bronze reeds, close reed/slot tolerances, riveted reeds, traditional sandwi...

Since these harps have never been made before, interesting new effects/abilities from the sliding reedplates keep coming to light. Roverharp (who made the first prototype Special 20 version) thought of one: If you move the draw plate only half-way in either direction, the draw reeds are stopped by t...

Yes, I think so. I'm in France now and then only have a short window before flying to Beijing for the APHF festival, and after that only a week till SPAH. in the gaps I'll be busy with orders and preparing stuff for the festivals. Making alternate versions of things takes care and attention and quit...

Never say never. The advantage Seydel has is that their harps can be ordered in alternate tunings, so it would be good to offer a Mk2 SlipSlider in the Session format for that reason. Right now it's a bit busy for RnD, as I have trips to France, China and the USA in the next few weeks, but I'll look...

I did try making laser-cut reedplates a few years ago, and tried waterjet also, cutting slots to fit standard Hohner reeds. It turned out to be way too difficult and time-consuming to create harmonicas this way, so I gave up. But if you want to try, Hohner reeds come in two widths - can't remember e...

Yes - a lot of testing of various brands/models has happened over the past couple of months. I've made a couple of Seydel Sessions, plus Suzuki Harpmasters, Easttop T004 and other similar types into Mk2 SlipSliders. They all work, but the precision of the fit of their covers to the reedplates is inf...

I'm very proud of this nifty new SlipSlider Mk2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3Hf-CHikWU

Lots of great new features, and considerably cheaper than the Mk 1 SlipSlider.

More Info, photos & ordering:
http://www.brendan-power.com/SlipSlider

Thanks to Roverharp for the inspiration to create it

Bends and Overbends happen regardless of the reed intervals, so no need to limit them in your definition.

@IaNerd: If you understand the principle of interactive-reed bending you'll have the answer to all those queries. Basically the high reed in each hole can bend almost down to the pitch of the low reed, about a quartertone above it. Just apply that and you have a universal solution to all the questio...

@ rlb: Yes, valves and overbends are incompatible, it's one or the other.

I've just designed a version for PowerBender/PowerDraw tnings. It's just one part on the blow reedplate, will get back to you after testing.