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Re: Harmonicas with Modular Reedplates

Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2018 4:07 pm
by triona
EdvinW wrote:
Mon Nov 05, 2018 11:19 am
A serious harp player who is not totally focused on a single genre should see the sense in owning at least one modular instrument. Just imagine going to a gig, knowing that in your bag sits precisely the harp that you need for every song!
But you should be aware, that just this application usually is covered by a chromatic harp. I don't want to discuss here the (mostly slight) differences in sound etc. But this fact seems to me to cut down the target group for the modular harp remarkably.


dear greetings
triona

Re: Harmonicas with Modular Reedplates

Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2018 6:05 pm
by EdvinW
triona wrote:
Mon Nov 05, 2018 4:07 pm
EdvinW wrote:
Mon Nov 05, 2018 11:19 am
A serious harp player who is not totally focused on a single genre should see the sense in owning at least one modular instrument. Just imagine going to a gig, knowing that in your bag sits precisely the harp that you need for every song!
But you should be aware, that just this application usually is covered by a chromatic harp. I don't want to discuss here the (mostly slight) differences in sound etc. But this fact seems to me to cut down the target group for the modular harp remarkably.


dear greetings
triona
I didn't mean that you would be ready to change the harp on the spot, but that you could set it up before a gig, practice with it, and then keep it this way for as long as you need. If it turns out to be long, you might buy a harp with this tuning to save the work of reassembling the modular harp so often. In this way, I don't think a modular system would necessarily be that bad for business for a company like Seydel, as it could possibly make people more inclined to buy alternate tunings if they may try them first.

I am aware of chromatic harmonicas. They do have all the notes, but no chords to speak of. A modular harmonica would let you put together any feasible set of chords, choose which notes should be bendable, and so on. After all, people DO use diatonics in all sorts of tunings, and not everyone go to a chromatic whenever their Richter harp falls short.

I feel most at home in Paddy Richter, spiral tuning, harmonic minor and standard Richter, in that order. If I would buy 4*12=48 harps to cover all keys, I would have to be really certain that I choose a model that I will always be happy with. I would have to buy instruments that I would probably never use, to have them just in case.

For instance: At present, when I want to play a song in in a dorian key, I normally play it in third position on one of my Paddies, or maybe in first position on a Natural minor. (adding this tuning to the list, I now need 60 harmonicas, not including that in some keys I have more than one) Third position has the disadvantage that it has way less chords than fourth position (on a Paddy or standard Richter). The natural minor harp has the disadvantages that I need to buy twelve of them, and also use a different breathing pattern from what I am used to. Also, the natural minor has no parallel major chord, and no sub-dominant (no III and IV chord) in first position, and these are kinda useful.

If I could just get a Paddy-tuned harp and raise 5 draw one half step, it would still feel like my home tuning and I could use all the cords and techniques I am used to. Sure the two solutions suggested above work, but in many cases the result would not be as good. Similar arguments could be used for other modes and for songs with odd but important accidentals. Today I often compromise when faced with difficult songs, with the PowerBits I wouldn't have to.

I might be too optimistic here, but I think that there should be enough players who would pay the price of say five harmonicas, if it would spare them from buying a bunch of just-in-case harps that would probably see years between every use, and in addition would let them try out any new tuning that pops up. "Sure I have a spiral-tuned B harp!", "You say that this Irish tune I played in A mixolydian is too low for your vocal range, what if we raise it to C?", "This Wilde Rock tuning that Seydel are flashing on their front page, I wonder if this is something for me?"

Re: Harmonicas with Modular Reedplates

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 9:39 am
by Brendan
Thanks for the ruminations on this topic people, interesting and helpful. I was away in India for a while and laid low with Giardiasis since I got back, but am recovering now and getting back to various projects - including this one.

I sent off some reedplates for slicing into strips by a couple of companies, which came back recently. They have done a nice job, and I'm now negotiating prices for larger batches. It's a stab in the dark, but if I can get a decent price I will go ahead with this project and see what happens. Will keep you updated on further developments.

Re: Harmonicas with Modular Reedplates

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 11:49 am
by CrawfordEs
Are you also still considering doing something similar with accordion reeds?
I had a giardia today infection a couple years ago, not fun, I feel for you.
Get well soon. My energy dropped to around zero between the dehydration and the flagyl, but once my system was clean recovery was quick.

Re: Harmonicas with Modular Reedplates

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2018 1:49 pm
by EdvinW
The problem of chamber lengths has been brought up.

Couldn't this be handled by using long default chambers, and filling the back of them with some modular piece? Sort of like the Power Plugs?

Re: Harmonicas with Modular Reedplates

Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2018 4:59 am
by Brendan
Yes, or Blue Tack could work.

However I'd be adopting a single lipped comb model of harmonica for the reedplates, so any custom comb alternatives would be up to the owner to get made.

I have prices in for slicing the reedplates and they are acceptable, so next step is to try a few brands/models to choose the best option. A bit more Rn'D before committing to the project, just to be sure I have everything sorted. Otherwise it will be an expensive folly!

Yes Crawford, I would not wish a Giardia infection on anyone. A very nasty little bug - thank goodness for antibiotics! If the warnings about their impending demise are true, we are in deep trouble...

Re: Harmonicas with Modular Reedplates

Posted: Sun Aug 18, 2019 2:02 pm
by IaNerd
Brendan-- Are you still pursuing the modular relates?

Re: Harmonicas with Modular Reedplates

Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2019 1:09 pm
by Brendan
Yes. Progress is being made with intention to release, but I've have struck a couple of unforeseen issues and am working through them. Can't give a release date at this stage - "as soon as practicable" is as much as I can offer.

Re: Harmonicas with Modular Reedplates

Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2022 6:06 pm
by Dorothy
I love the modular reed harmonica!

I was wondering something. If I ever needed to purchase all the modular harmonica reeds for all the harmonica keys and only kept a few whole modular reed harmonicas on hand, how would I keep track of the ones already installed in the Modular reed harmonica? Would I start switching individually labeled harmonica combs? I have another idea in mind, but I will send it in a pm to Brendan.

I wondered how the modular reed harmonica would be like with something like Seydel cover plates on it. Since I already own two Seydel Session harmonicas, I made a comparison from the outside. I can post some pictures and the measurements if anyone wants. I noticed the Seydel Session cover plates are not directly compatible with the modular reed harmonica, due to a different distance between the cover plate screws being a longer distance apart on the Seydel Session cover plates.
My educated guess based on the pictures of the Kongsheng MARs harmonica cover plates may have the same problem too. I have no idea how the market is for this, but I am interested in the idea. Perhaps the Kongsheng MARs cover plates could be modified to have the cover plate screw holes drilled to be closer together instead? The MARs cover plates may have a flat surface on the inside, which my top Seydel cover plate might not be flat inside for the reed comb (the arches) to attach to. I can understand if the cover plate idea will be on the back burner, if at all.

Re: Harmonicas with Modular Reedplates

Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2022 6:09 am
by Brendan
Thanks for your positive feedback and suggestions regarding the Modular-Reed harmonica, Dorothy. I'm glad you're loving yours!

As far as keeping large numbers of spare reeds safe and well catalogued for easy retrieval goes, that's an interesting question! It was one that we had to solve ourselves, so we could fit the correct reeds into harps in response to the orders that came in.

My friend and IT guru David Ireland (who oversees this forum) came up with the ingenious reed selector table you see on our website. I made a series of trays that hold the sliced-up reedplates in a logical position relating to pitch, length, and rear or front mounting. David replicated them in digital graphical form. As the person assembling the harps, when I select a particular note in a tuning, the trays light up to tell me where I'll find a compatible modular reed.

This system could be replicated on a more modest scale by modular reed enthusiasts like you using something like Excel, relating the reeds you own to your reed trays. If we ever get to the point of marketing the Modular-Reed harmonica more extensively we'd devise some free software of this type, to help our customers keep track of their modular reeds

Regarding swapping covers or different parts between harp models and brands, that's a Pandora's Box - believe me! After creating several different products which I marketed for various brands (eg. Overblow-Booster, Gasket-Valves), I am way more familiar than is healthy with the myriad small variations between them, each of which takes careful adjustment to get parts to fit. It takes hours, days, weeks of design, testing, redesign, testing... Aaaaarrrrggghhhh....!

In the case of Seydel it's even more extreme than you realise. All other manufacturers use roughly the same hole spacing of 7.5mm (Easttop is 7.6mm and Hohner is about 7.53mmm, but they're all in that range). However Seydel uses 8mm hole spacing, so requires quite differently sized parts.

Getting the under-cover reed brace in the Modular-Reed harmonica to be just the right size and depth to apply pressure without raising the cover took a lot of time and testing. To fit it to any other cover would involve the same. I wouldn't want to do that again unless the new cover was the standard one for mass production.

Hopefully I will have that problem to tackle at some point - we'll see!