Brendan Power & Alternative Harmonicas Forum

What's the hole spacing on the Trochilus, Dom? I mean between mouth or slider holes. On most chromatics it's roughly 9.35mm, but on the Easttop 1040 it's 9.65mm. Incidentally, it's quite easy to swap around welded reeds. I did a YouTube video on it about 15 years ago, and there have been others sinc...

Thanks for the excellent photos and info, Dom! I've been an admirer of this thin comb and vertical-slot slider format for some time. It's a very old design, dating back to the 19th century, with some commercial models made in the mid 20th century. Vertical Slot Chrom Top View.jpg Vertical Slot Chrom...

Oh dear Ramon and Triona, you're joining me on this tangential discussion somewhat off topic to Dominick's thread. I hope he doesn't mind! I'll try not to waffle on too much more, but just to answer a couple of your points: RAMON: you're right, for traditional Irish tunes, Solo, Easy Third, Paddy-Ri...

It's unfair to only highlight the mental inflexibility of Richter players - because exactly the same situation pertains with chromatic players. Their operating system lock is even stronger actually: they are not just wedded to one tuning of harmonica, but also just one key! Yes... You'd be amazed at...

Thanks for your interesting reply Dom. It's good to hear that younger players are looking around more widely at the myriad options our wonderfully multi-configurable instrument can offer them, rather than just accepting unquestioningly the two standard formats the manufacturers provide. However, it'...

I watched your video. Nice work Dom - your test apparatus certainly demonstrates the potential to work well for instant, accurate retuning on the fly once it's fitted with a spring. Regarding coverplate clearance, here are a couple of ideas: 1. Try putting a couple of spacers maybe 2-3mm thick at ea...

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.

Aren't magnets wonderful? Especially the small powerful neodymium ones we have now, in all shapes and sizes. I don't believe in any kind of god, spirit, essence whatever. But magnetism is a kind of magic for sure! Even though science might explain it logically, I never get over the wonder that these...

Nice work, Dom! Please send us a sound clip when you have it playing as you wish. Are you using ABS or PLA for your 3d printed parts? On some of my SlipSlider designs I attached a 1mm Teflon liner to the inside of the draw plate, to aid sliding and allow unhindered movement when the low reeds were s...

Interesting ideas as always, Edvin... I have some of these tiny magnets, and they attract well to Seydel steel reeds. I was looking into using them as reversible tuning weights: similar to the repeat-Blutak idea, but faster. Mixed success in that respect. In your application they would need to be gl...