Brendan Power & Alternative Harmonicas Forum

As noted, I feel that the current 10-hole 20-reed harps, based on the iconic Hohner Marine Band design from 1896, have reached the end of their tether when it comes to their ability to give the increasing sophistication of overblow players what they need in order to fully express themselves in the f...

Thanks all for your suggestions! 'Bite-size video lessons' seem to get the thumbs up from several of you, and indeed a series of them in different areas is something I've been planning to do for a while. As mentioned, if well planned it's a good way to build up a body of related lessons that could b...

Sorry it took a while but I get it now: same core tuning but with the root note of the two keys in different places, hole 1 and hole 3. I think I found it confusing as I've never used the concept of tuning two harps as a linked pair - I've always thought of each as separate but which I'd sometimes p...

Ah, so it is a purely D tuning. It was the description of it as "English G/D Tuning" that got me confused. I thought you were aiming to create a diatonic that could play equally well in G and D, but actually you use two harps in different tunings. Which do you prefer, your English G or English D tun...

OK, the album is out:

HARMONICA & BUTTON BOX: New Album with Tim Edey

Free-reed mayhem! Live and leaping. Go here for a listen:

http://www.brendan-power.com/HarmonicaAndButton-Box.php

Thanks for your comments Andre and Winslow. I'm of the opinion overall harp design is a more fruitful avenue to explore than improving reed efficiency on the current type of harp.

Winslow, could you supply a better photo of the Discrete Comb than the one I found earlier in this thread?

Nick, I'm still a bit puzzled with your English G/D Tuning: Blow G B D F#A c# e g c#e Draw A C#E G B d f#a b d BTW, I have a thread on how to input tunings so they come out with good registration on the main board. Here's how yours looks: ENGLISH G/D TUNING BLOW G B D F# A C# E G C# E HOLE 1 2 3 4 5...

We're all about niche topics here, you're in the right place. A video is a good idea :-) And Tony's right, you should give the tuning your own name. Modal tunings designed for trad tune playing, like Paddy Richter or Major Cross, are good for probably 80-90% of the repertoire. But some of the most i...

Sure, the Seydel is a very useful 12-hole harp option, but I'd argue not as much fun and satisfying as making your own Stretch Harp by hacking two together, and you can make any length you want

The Tuboliner only fits Hohner harps, the Special 20 specifically. I have a LOT of respect for Jim Antaki and always applaud his inventions that I like. However the Turboliber, while theoretically a good idea to supposedly replace embossing, in practuce just doesn't deliver the microscopic-level clo...