dominico wrote: ↑Fri Mar 29, 2024 5:44 pm
I did not know this. This is great to know! It also means that overall comb thickness is another variable I can play with, which makes me happy
![Smile :-)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)
I did not expect that you did not know this.
But thinking about this just now I hit upon a top crazy idea going out from this:
Why not thinking about a comb where the thickness is increasing from High on the right to low on the left?
Something like this:
The depiction is slightly exaggerated for better distinguishability.
This would be easy to produce by 3-D-print. It is just necessary to design the non-orthogonal channels in a way that they do not interfere the oszillation of the reeds.
dominico wrote: ↑Fri Mar 29, 2024 5:44 pm
It was basically a comb with a divider down the middle of each hole, so you can either play the hole normally or with your mouth choose to isolate just the blow or just the draw reed. This gives you the ability to produce "valve-like" bends or overblow/overdraw any reed.
https://www.angelfire.com/tx/myquill/DiscreteComb.html
If I did not overlook something important, this looks to me very much like those traditional folk harmonicas of the "Vienna" type, both as octave harmonica or as tremolo harmonica. Contemporary models are e.g. Seydel Club Steel, Sailor Steel and Skydiver, Hohner Unsere Lieblinge, Contessa, Comet, Echo and many others, Suzuki Humming SU-21-H and Baritone, Tombo S-50 and 1577 and many other asian models.
If you can read German you can have a look here for more information:
https://www.harpforum.de/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=125293
https://www.harpforum.de/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=116384
https://www.harpforum.de/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=111632
Pictures and descriptions of the respective harmonicas you can easily find by net search in case of you do not know the one or the other.
Pat Missin might have reviewed most of those harmonicas as well.
And as a matter of fact on the octave types - but not on the tremoloes - you can bend each single reed by a semitone with a
non-interfering bend. I do not know what Winslow has meant with "valve-like" bends. But I suppose that he is meaning maybe the same.
And there is no limit to tune such harmonicas in any other tuning system different to the traditional Richter, solo or chromatic asian tuning.
dominico wrote: ↑Fri Mar 29, 2024 5:44 pm
Winslow Yerxa came up with the idea a long time ago but it did not catch on. I think now that folks are succesfully 3D printing combs the idea can and should be revisited.
That is the fate of those who come too early in history with a new idea. The inventor of the computer mouse did not earn a single penny for his groundbreaking idea for there was no use for it for decades while his patent was valid.
Btw:
A similar construction is the "Knittlinger" Octave harmonica like e.g. the Seydel Concerto or the discontinued Hohner Autovalve. They have a blow reed and a draw reed in each hole and the octave notes in the corresponding hole of the other reedplate. But contrary to the "Vienna" types with only 1 reed in each channel the "Knittlinger" Octave can not be bend non-interactively. And interactive bends are quite difficult to play. In the folk music styles like Alpine styles or Cajun etc where they are intended for there is no need for bends.
Btw 2:
And another interesting thing is the unfortunately since long discontinued Hohner Chordomonica II - a diatonic chord harmonica with 2 sliders.
https://www.patmissin.com/ffaq/q31.html
And a little bit more extensive information for those who can read German:
https://www.harpforum.de/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=131613
dear greetings
triona