Brendan Power Harmonica

Welcome to a new concept in bass harmonica: the Slider Bass Harmonica! Based on my patent-pending TwinHarmonica System, I have scaled up the design to fit existing bass harmonicas of the traditional type. Now, instead of having to jump awkwardly between two separate units as in the past, the player can stay on one comfortable rounded mouthpiece and get all chromatic notes via a sprung slider, just like a normal chromatic harmonica. Aside from the advantages in comfort, speed and accuracy, it offers bass harp players new techniques never possible before - like legato semitone playing, slider trills and more!

The mouthpiece/slider unit is all my own design; I make the plastic parts and rubber gasket using 3D printing and laser cutting, and outsource the chromed brass mouthpiece and stainless steel slider. The precision CNC machined mouthpiece is the most expensive part. I offer the full assembly for the older wood-comb Hohner small basses (Double-Reed 265 and the Single-Reed 264) and the Suzuki SDB-29. Here are some photos:

Hohner Small Single and Double Reed Basses

Click to enlarge, click outside the photo to return.

The videos below show assembly of the completed Sliderbass upper unit to Suzuki SDB-29 and Hohner 265 basses.

As you can see from the videos, once the upper unit is assembled and the SliderBass made flat, you can leave the SliderBass fully assembled. Inner and outer coverplates can be removed in seconds to allow gapping and fine-tuning of ALL reeds! This makes my SliderBass system really user-friendly. You have all the advantages of the slider without any compromise on adjusting your bass for optimum reed response without disassembly.

Recommended Customisers

I have asked some of the best bass harmonica techs in the world to be Recommended Customisers for the SliderBass. You just pay for the parts, and select which person you want to do the work. Contact them yourself to confirm the job and receive their postal address for sending your bass harmonica. After receiving your order we'll post the SliderBass parts to your selected customiser separately. After they receive your bass and checks its condition, you two negotiate the fitting price between you.

George Miklas - USA

George is a specialist bass harmonica player and customiser. He played bass and chord harmonica with the world-renowned trio Jerry Murad and the Harmonicats, as well as other well-known harmonica groups.

Widely respected as an expert repair man for chromatic and orchestral harmonicas, George's world-class ability on the bass harmonica means that he is guaranteed to get the fitting of my mouthpiece/slider adaptor working at its best with your bass harmonica.

Email: harmonicarepair@gmail.com
Website: http://repair.harmonicagallery.com

Steve Malerbi - USA

Steve is best known as a harmonica customizer, having done work professionally now for 15 years. He specializes in chromatic and orchestral harmonicas, melodicas, and melodian's. His list of customers reads like a who's who of professional players having been Norton Buffalo's harmonica tech for 10 years, to Mark Hummel, Rick Estrin, Charlie Musselwhite, Rod Piazza, Jon Eriksen, Michael Peloquin, Damien Masterson, Tom Stryker and many others. He's also a 15 year member of SPAH, the Society for the Advancement and Preservation of the Harmonica and has been a stand in teacher at the Berkeley Jazz School. On the music side, he's an active jazz chromatic harmonica player, fronting his own trio Harmonica Jazz, plays bass with the San Francisco Harmonica Ensemble, and answers the occasional call for harmonica recording in the studio.

Email: harpsurgeon@hotmail.com

BUYING THE SLIDER-BASS UPPER UNIT

All parts are sanded and finished, all fitting screws are included, and the slider is hand-ground for smooth airtight action.

SliderBass - £250

Currently unavailable

The SliderBass won't fit in the original box after assembly because of the extra height - but there is a solution! Check out this beautiful bespoke leather SliderBass case made by Michelle LeFree. Contact Michelle if you would like one for yourself.

The big Suzuki bass harmonica is popular with professional players, and it's now possible to customise with my SliderBass unit. It's so big that I couldn't fit the air-shifting unit on my 3D printer! I solved that problem by printing the unit in two parts and then bonding them together. The stainless steel slider baseplate and slider are laser cut, and the comfortable rounded mouthpiece is CNC milled from brass, then polished and chrome plated.

Click to enlarge, click outside the photo to return.

Apart from its bigger size, the Suzuki SDB-39 SliderBass unit is identical in fitting and other aspects to the same version for the smaller Suzuki SDB-29 bass. If you are looking to fit it yourself, please refer to the video and follow the same procedure.

As you can see from the video, once the upper unit is assembled and the stainless steel slide base made flat, you can leave your SliderBass fully assembled. Inner and outer coverplates can be removed in seconds to allow gapping and fine-tuning of ALL reeds! This makes my SliderBass system really user-friendly, because you have all the advantages of the slider without any compromise on adjusting your bass for optimum reed response quickly, without disturbing the slider assembly.

Though the fitting job can be done by anyone with good tool skills, if you want to be sure the job is done right you should have the work done by one of my Recommended Customisers (see below). As you can see from the video it's not such a simple job; lots of care and attention to detail required. It requires someone with quite a bit of chromatic and bass harmonica customising experience to do it correctly.

BUYING THE SLIDER-BASS UPPER UNIT

All parts are sanded and finished, all fitting screws are included, and the slider is hand-ground for smooth airtight action. International tracked shipping is included in the price.

SUZUKI SDB-39 Bass - £275

This model has been discontinued.

The SliderBass won't fit in the original box after assembly because of the extra height - but there is a solution! Check out this beautiful bespoke leather SliderBass case made by Michelle LeFree. Contact Michelle if you would like one for yourself.

I have managed to scale up the size of my unique SliderBass design to fit the original 'big daddy' of bass harmonicas: the 39 hole Hohner 268 double-bass. It's so big that I couldn't fit the air-shifting unit on my 3D printer! I solved that problem by printed in two parts and then bonding them together. The stainless steel slider baseplate and slider are laser cut, and the comfortable rounded mouthpiece is CNC milled from brass, then polished and chrome plated.

Click to enlarge, click outside the photo to return.

Apart from its bigger size, the Hohner 268 SliderBass unit is identical in fitting and other aspects to the same version for the smaller Hohner 265 bass, so if you are looking to fit it yourself, please refer to the video.

As you can see from the video, once the upper unit is assembled and the stainless steel slide base made flat, you can leave your SliderBass fully assembled. Inner and outer coverplates can be removed in seconds to allow gapping and fine-tuning of ALL reeds! This makes my SliderBass system really user-friendly, because you have all the advantages of the slider without any compromise on adjusting your bass for optimum reed response quickly, without disturbing the slider assembly.

Though the fitting job can be done by anyone with good tool skills, if you want to be sure the job is done right you should have the work done by one of my Recommended Customisers (see below). As you can see from the video it's not such a simple job; lots of care and attention to detail required. It requires someone with quite a bit of chromatic and bass harmonica customising experience to do it correctly.

BUYING THE SLIDER-BASS UPPER UNIT

All parts are sanded and finished, all fitting screws are included, and the slider is hand-ground for smooth airtight action. International tracked shipping is included in the price.

Hohner 268 SliderBass - £275

This model has been discontinued.

The SliderBass won't fit in the original box after assembly because of the extra height - but there is a solution! Check out this beautiful bespoke leather SliderBass case made by Michelle LeFree. Contact Michelle if you would like one for yourself.

Hohner Double-Reed 265

" The bass slider is great. Great job. Congratulations and thanks for all the innovations you've come up with. I had a lesson with you in London in 2001. Thanks for always being an inspiration. "

Marcus Milius - New York (June 2016)