A family of new modded-Richter tunings

[IaNerd]

A US-based customizer pointed out to me that the tuning in the post above would be an exceedingly difficult re-tuning project. With that in mind, I offer the tuning below.

What’s in it:
1) Full I and IV chords that are in-line with each other on the low end.
2) Three continuous octaves of G (the I chord) blues scales, none of which rely on overblows. The middle G blues scale (traced out with a bright blue line) is exceptionally speedy/easy to play.
3) More than two continuous octaves of C (the IV chord) blues scales. The lower of these relies on one overblow; the upper (traced out with an orange line) relies on none.
4) More than two continuous octaves of D (the V chord) blues scales. The lower of these relies on one overblow and would be cumbersome to play. The upper D blues scale (traced out with a magenta line) does not rely on overblows and is much easier to play.

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[IaNerd]

In the time that I have studied, devised and written about alternate tunings, I have on several occasions been humbled by my own unwitting demonstrations of convergent evolution.

Consider the tuning shown two posts above this one -- from February 5, 2020. At the time of this writing that tuning has been viewed 10,826 times. And yet somehow no one pointed out that the tuning shown there had a famous cousin. Do you recognize it? I did ... but only eighteen months later.

The tuning shown below is none other than the Natural Minor variant of Richter. I don't know if Lee Oskar invented this tuning, but more than anyone else he is probably responsible for its popularity and widespread availability.

Other "stock" Natural Minor harp models include the Hohner Marine Band, the Seydel Session Steel, the Suzuki Manj, the Easttop T2408, the Harmo Polar, and various Kongsheng harps (even the little Baby Fat).

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