Brendan Power & Alternative Harmonicas Forum

Andre Coelho from Portugal is making something of a specialty setting up chromatics with no valves for bending and overblows. He has some nice videos and photos on his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/andre.coelho.1694059 Here's an old thread where I talked about overblows and how they could ...

Thanks for the message Ryan. Glad you're enjoying some of my creations 🙂 We discontinued the Extreme version of the 270 comb because: 1. The main positive effect of reducing comb chamber volume happens in the top 3-4 holes. The Advanced is similar to the Extreme in that zone. Lower down I couldn't h...

I'd just tune the top plate up a whole step - that's the way I've done it in the past.

It is a reasonably established tuning for chromatic harmonicas, used by at least a couple of well known players: William Galison and Long Deng Jie. Check them out on YouTube to hear it in action.

It's generally called Major 6th Tuning.

Comparing the sound of half-valved and fully-valved chromatics is an interesting idea... Choosing the same tune helps give a comparison. I assume my version was this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_esTDXMMts Which recording of David's did you select? The only caveat I'd add would be that, in ...

Oops! A typical New Year's Resolution that didn't go the distance... :-( After a fiery start, I got distracted by workshop projects again! I'm not good at multi-tasking between recording music/videos and tech Rn'D: both of them are very time-hungry and tend to consume all my available brain cells wh...

Happy New Year my Friends... Let's hope it turns out to be! Like most of you I'm sure, occasionally I've idly scrolled through the zany world of TikTok videos! I was intrigued to try out the ultra-short video format myself, to see what I could meaningfully play on the harmonica in 15 seconds or less...

Hi peeps, just checking in to say I'm still on this (see my other thread on all things valve related). I'm on a quest to find the perfect single valve material - the Holy Grail. A fool's errand some would say, but I'm certainly finding it fascinating and learning a lot. In the meantime my current in...

I'm still at it! Have ordered all kinds of materials to try on their own, or laminated together. Been talking to my engineer friend Zombor Kovacs about valves too - he's done extensive study of this vexing topic for his brilliant ExtraBend harp. He finally concluded, like all the manufacturers, that...

I'm still at it! Have ordered all kinds of materials to try on their own, or laminated together. Been talking to my engineer friend Zombor Kovacs about valves too - he's done extensive study of this vexing topic for his brilliant ExtraBend harp. He finally concluded, like all the manufacturers, that...