Any Chance We'll See Melody Maker Tuning?

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bmarsolais
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Joined: Thu Mar 30, 2017 10:35 pm
Location: San Diego, CA

Any Chance We'll See Melody Maker Tuning?

Post by bmarsolais » Mon Jun 12, 2017 10:56 pm

Any chance we'll see a Lucky 13 in the Melody Maker (MM) tuning? Would any one else be interested in this? Considering that 4 (or 5?) reeds need to be modified to make a Melody Maker out of even a Paddy Richter, the cost to modify a harp to Melody Maker is equal or more than the price in a new Lucky 13 on top of the price of the Lucky 13 (as reasonable as it is!). Also, would it make a more useful Melody Maker if the middle octave pattern of the 10 hole MM were repeated in the middle two octaves of the Lucky 13 MM and the new Lucky 13 low octave have the pattern of the 10 hole MM first octave? Just a beginner, so thanks for the education to come from your responses!

Irish Soul
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Re: Any Chance We'll See Melody Maker Tuning?

Post by Irish Soul » Tue Jun 13, 2017 1:14 am

MM tuning is simply equal temperament or "ET" I believe...I play a few harps that are tuned that way...for myself it matters what style of music I want from the harp itself....be careful how much you pay to have a tuning converted....I'm certain you could get an ET tuning for much less....just friendly advice...I believe it is A=443 ET you are wanting if you want MM but I'll do some homework. Luck to you.

CrawfordEs
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Re: Any Chance We'll See Melody Maker Tuning?

Post by CrawfordEs » Tue Jun 13, 2017 1:25 am

For a C melody maker you first Paddify the harmonica, then make the Fs into F# s.
See:
http://www.overblow.com/?menuid=26#10
You can check out lots of cool tunings there.

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Brendan
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Re: Any Chance We'll See Melody Maker Tuning?

Post by Brendan » Tue Jun 13, 2017 3:30 pm

Thanks for the request Bob. Sorry, we won't be putting out the Lucky 13 in Melody Maker but, as noted, MM is easy to make from Paddy Richter harps, so you could take that route. However Paddy Richter is only available on the Lucky 13 in a limited number of keys. The best idea if you you want it in many keys is to learn to retune reeds yourself.

It's not difficult, but work out on some old harps before you tackle a good one. With practice and using Dremel-type tools with a rubber polishing disc you can get very fast at retuning. Like raising a reed two semitones will take about 8 seconds: 4 to get it in the zone and 4 for fine tuning. If you can develop the skills, retuning reeds to obtain existing alt tunings (or create your own !) becomes second nature.

bmarsolais
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Joined: Thu Mar 30, 2017 10:35 pm
Location: San Diego, CA

Re: Any Chance We'll See Melody Maker Tuning?

Post by bmarsolais » Wed Jun 14, 2017 1:07 am

Thanks all for your responses. Brendan, it keeps coming back to this - there are a lot of good off-the-shelf harps available, but full freedom to explore the harp requires a box of tools!

CrawfordEs
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Re: Any Chance We'll See Melody Maker Tuning?

Post by CrawfordEs » Wed Jun 14, 2017 12:26 pm

But it is a small box of tools.
A set of small screw drivers, a cheap dremel type tool and polishing/ grinding burrs and a set of gap feelers, a reed wrench (you can make your own).
And you can get a prepackaged set if you want.
The Hohner kit is pretty nice, and it comes with winsavers for chromatics. I bought mine when it was on sale for just a little bit more than the windsavers cost.
Andrew Zajak has some nice tools and combs.
Andrew and Brendan have instructional videos on YouTube.

bmarsolais
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Joined: Thu Mar 30, 2017 10:35 pm
Location: San Diego, CA

Re: Any Chance We'll See Melody Maker Tuning?

Post by bmarsolais » Wed Jun 14, 2017 7:09 pm

Yes, I've seen the reed replacement video on the Lucky 13 page. But where to get the reeds? I posted the question to Brendan under his Customizer announcement post. I have a cheap harp I'm going to use to learn how to raise a reed 1/2 pitch (think Melody Maker). If I feel good about it I'll take a Lucky 13 A who's #1 draw reed I broke (please don't ask how and embarrass me :( ) and try converting it to a Melody Maker.

CrawfordEs
Posts: 100
Joined: Mon Apr 03, 2017 11:06 pm

Re: Any Chance We'll See Melody Maker Tuning?

Post by CrawfordEs » Wed Jun 14, 2017 8:17 pm

reeds are listed under accessories
http://brendan-power.com/lucky13.php
And don't be embarrassed
The first time I opened up a harmonica I broke a reed.
Maybe two.
Probably everyone does that.

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