Brendan Power & Alternative Harmonicas Forum

I recently received a request from a customer in Scotland, Ron Taylor, to retune a Lucky 13 to what he called "Scottish Tuning". This is his creation apparently, and allows him to play in D major as well as A major and A Mixolydian without bends. A Mixolydian is used a lot in Scottish folk music. Ch...

Hmmm... Doing that is cutting out a whole bunch of reeds from sounding! Not recommended. The windsavers block and un-block themselves advantageously in response to your breath. The idea is that they block the air through the non-sounding reed slot so the sounding reed has a purer sound and better re...

Thanks for these alternate Lucky 13 tunings Patrick. More reeds = more tuning fun

That's not something I can answer with sure knowledge - comb chamber size is one of the parameters I'm still experimenting with. However you could use a standard accordion wooden comb as a guide, because you know that it will definitely work well. Buy yourself an old junked accordion and you'll have...

I did a short video test of a slider chromatic version of Patrick's Inverted Bebop Tuning. Using the Kongsheng Lyra he kindly donated for the test, I tuned it from Solo C to Inverted Bebop D/G, which is not a big change in terms of notes. Here's the scale: SLIDE OUT CD EF# GA BC# CD EF# GA BC# CD EF...

Hi Umut, I'm not ready to offer my accordion reed harps for sale yet - still experimenting with various aspects to make them work better. No time scale to offer them, except sometime in 2020.

But you don't need to wait for me: I suggest you get hold of some reeds and start experimenting

Umut: You can use steel reeds as long as the instrument is allowed to dry out after playing. As for reed block widths etc, they are specified in the Harmonikas site tech details: https://www.harmonikas.cz/admin/files/ModuleText/16-sortiment-sizes.pdf Another place to buy accordion reeds is via the H...

I haven't settled on a final comb design yet, still improving it. As for reed lengths, they vary a lot depending on the key and range, there is no set rule.

Good luck with your experiments

That's a series of very fundamental questions Umut! It makes me wonder if you have thought this thing through, because it's a lot of thought and work to make a harmonica using accordion reeds. Yes, you need a comb for sure! You could use the wooden ones that come in accordions directly, but they wou...

Glad you like the Harmonikas site Umut, it's pretty cool alright! BTW you can find lots of old accordions for sale on eBay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=accordion&_trksid=p2380057.m4084.l1313.TR12.TRC2.A0.H0.Xaccordion.TRS0 Or just reed sets: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Set-of-Reeds-A-D...