Brendan Power & Alternative Harmonicas Forum

I'm glad to hear you're getting into re-tunings of the new Solo and PowerChromatic Lucky 13 harps Sachlaw. They lend themselves to some nice options: the same tuning in different keys, alternate tunings like Diminished, or the above with small variations... Using Blu-tack is a great way to do minor ...

Here are some photos of the modular-reed harmonica prototype.

Hmmm... photos are not showing, will come back on this.

I made a prototype of the single-reed reedplate harmonica today, using some concertina-type reeds sent to me by a friend (see photos). Sounds OK as-is, but it needs valving to work properly. Because the reeds are larger than normal harmonica reeds, there is a bigger gap around them for air to escape...

Thanks for asking Lizzie. There are a few main areas I'm focussing on right now: LIVE MIDI RECORDING I'm preparing to make some new instructional material (videos, books etc). A primary element of such material is music notation with associated harmonica tablature. In order to generate the tab autom...

Certainly Thomas, the Lucky 13 can be customized for overbending like any other harmonica. I recommend learning how to do it yourself, as it will give you control of the process so you can adjust the tiny details to suit your playing. Richard Sleigh makes special embossing tools and has done a serie...

The D PowerChromatic starts on D3, it's lower then the G.

Only D and G keys available in PC at present. But you can easily play in the key of C on both of them using draw bends.

Out of interest: If you want all chromatic notes without bends, why not play a chromatic harmonica?

If it's a G it will be the low reeds, they are very heavy and will vibrate when you move the harp.

Sorry for the slow reply Triona!

The books are identical except for the keys of the harmonicas. I recommend the G/D book because those keys are the correct ones for playing with other Irish musicians, but for C-only chrom players the C book is best.