Unibender

A space for players interested in my specialist harmonicas, alternate tunings, instructional material, recordings etc to ask questions and share information, experiences, videos etc.
Lizzy
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Location: Sweden

Re: Unibender

Post by Lizzy » Mon Feb 26, 2018 5:03 pm

I have old harmonicas to play with but my concern is rather how much i should invest on my old solutions which need new parts. No meaning in buying more parts and have no use of them laying around if Brendans solutions is to my liking. I am aware of the obstacles to make it to finish and if Brendan have many projects at the same time should make it even harder.

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Brendan
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Re: Unibender

Post by Brendan » Thu Mar 01, 2018 7:24 pm

Thanks for your sympathetic comments, Lizzy and Triona. The good thing is I have a bit of a deadline coming up for this and a couple of other designs that I need to finish patent papers for in early April, so that will help concentrate the mind :-)

Lizzy
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Location: Sweden

Re: Unibender

Post by Lizzy » Fri Mar 02, 2018 9:38 am

Good news Brendan! . I have been waiting for Unibender since October last year so Unibender is awaited for sure!

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triona
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Location: Aue / Germany

Re: Unibender

Post by triona » Fri Mar 02, 2018 3:00 pm

Oh how long a time! :mrgreen:

Believe me, there are harmonicas in the world, on which I had to wait for more than 2 years or even longer, after I had taken knowledge of their existence and wanted to have them. Just because of they were very rare (some historical ones) or very difficult to obtain (some Japanese, which are not distributed commercially in Europe.)

Once I had the chance to play a prototype in the Seydel factory, which I would have bought at once. But they did not want to sell the prototype. Neither did they intend to build it so very soon. And it took more than 5 years, until they decided to build one similar to it. I was one of the first in the world to buy and play one. :)

And it was worthwhile to wait for all of them.


dear greetings
triona
Last edited by triona on Mon Mar 05, 2018 10:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Aw, Thou beloved, do hearken to the Banshee's lonely croon!
sinn féin - ça ira !
Cad é sin do'n té sin nach mbaineann sin dó


https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1yI3H ... 9ktgzTR2qg

Lizzy
Posts: 160
Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 1:42 pm
Location: Sweden

Re: Unibender

Post by Lizzy » Fri Mar 02, 2018 6:58 pm

Yeah..that is REALLY a long time to wait! and one reason among others is probably because there is more people involved in the process and more different opinions too. And this was before the era of 3D printers. If you are a inventor like Brendan you are probably dependent on your creativity to push ideas forward and boring- time consuming tasks easy kills other creative processes.You sometimes need to leave one work and do some other work if you dont want to get stuck. I certainly dont know if this is the case with Brendans work but creativity dont work in straight lines.

rickdempster
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Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2018 3:15 am

Re: Unibender

Post by rickdempster » Mon Mar 12, 2018 3:25 am

Regarding the Unibender, Brendan. Just letting you know of my keen prospective custom. I play modified SUB30s almost exclusively now. I'm so desparate for something better (and something I can choose keys for without having to re-tune) that I am in the throes of trying to build my own twin harp, one all suck with two draw plates (one reversed) a tone apart and ditto blow plates. That bit was easy, but designing and producing the valved mouthpiece necessary to make the thing work is keeping me awake at night. Even if I do succeed (unlikely) in any shabby form, I would rather someone else do it for me. My credit card awaits your earliest possible convenience.

Lizzy
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Location: Sweden

Re: Unibender

Post by Lizzy » Mon Mar 12, 2018 11:12 am

My main reason to try the Unibender is to get rid of half-valving because the valves get stuck after a while. Not a big problem but nevertheless probably better without. So far half-valving have been the best solution for me without spending money on a customized harmonicas to play all scales chromaticly. Half-valving was also very easy to adapt to, at least for me.

rickdempster
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Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2018 3:15 am

Re: Unibender

Post by rickdempster » Wed Mar 14, 2018 10:48 pm

On the subject of sticky valves, I have, in my "armchair-workshop", been toying with the idea of a ball-valve, seated like a poppet valve in an internal combustion engine, and entrapped in a mesh cover. On my actual (very crude) workbench I have experimented with a chunk of drilled timber and some poystyrene balls. The latter are not evenly shaped enough, and are probably too light, but a properly spherical ball made of firm but compressable plastic might do the trick. I am aware of the further complexities that this idea would involve, but, without going on too much, thought it might be worth a mention.

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Brendan
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Re: Unibender

Post by Brendan » Thu Mar 15, 2018 12:29 am

Interesting posts people :-)

I'm off to Denmark and Sweden tomorrow doing a few gigs, and am taking a couple of UniBender prototypes to play and show a couple of friends. One is Joel Andersson, an excellent young harp tech, who works ubder the Hohner Affiliated Customiser scheme. He has shown quite a bit of interest in the UniBender; it will be helpful to get his opinion.

In addition to the twin-diatonic version I have another with the same front valving principle on a single harmonica using XB40 reedplates and covers. Joel plays these a lot so it will be interesting to compare performance with the standard XB40.

Rick: good to see you being proactive in making your own front-valve harp. I also looked into all kinds of miniature valves that could be used. There is a kind of caged ball valve used in heart surgery, the ones at the top of this picture:

https://goo.gl/images/pLSn62

You can get mini ones of these I believe, but I can't find a link right now. Or make them yourself by miniaturizing this procedure:

https://goo.gl/images/FZcCst

Silicone Duckbill valves come in very small sizes, and look promising:

https://goo.gl/images/6jy7p7

But I'm not sure they will work at a low enough pressure for the quiet notes on a harmonica.

Good luck with your project, keep us posted.:-)

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Brendan
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Re: Unibender

Post by Brendan » Thu Mar 15, 2018 4:20 am

Rick, check these babies out:

http://www.smartproducts.com/check_valv ... cialty.php

The smallest ones could be arranged in line in a diatonic harmonica mouthpiece (hole spacing is 7.5mm). However, I doubt two things:

1.Their lowest operating pressure of 0.09 psi is low enough for quiet notes. Not sure on this, need to check.

2. Their airflow is big enough. The 1/4" (6.35mm) ones could be fitted, but what's the internal diameter and airflow? Much smaller than needed I think.

Also they are quite long, roughly 12mm at the shortest. That means Helmholtz Resonance issues will kick in.

No doubt a company like this would be willing to work with a client to create a specific valve for harmonica use, but you'd have to order thousands probably...

Anyway, food for thought. They are certainly lovely little objects :-)

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