Hi boys. I was wondering if can be a way to custom your harmonica for overblows but without in a way you don´t lose power. Can I avoid embossing and get overbends?
What exactly do you mean by "lose power"? Do you mean that the harp chokes when you play hard?
I suppose you need to set it up correctly. I set up my harps to play overblows on holes 4 5 and 6 (I am not very good at it, they play clearly, I can sustain them but I can't bend them) None of them choke when I play my hardest. I get this by sanding flat the comb and draw reed plate as well as setting the reed curve and gap.
Now, some play better than others and embossing helps. I'm just starting to develop embossing skills but to answer your question, I can get decent results most of the time without embossing.
I probably am not the hardest player, but when I set up my harps, I get annoyed at reeds that stick when I play them too hard and so I set up my harps to avoid that.
This is a great question. I am also in the process of learning to modify my harmonicas and at this point play OB's on 1,4,5,6 and Overdraw on 7. I can bend them but not great at bending yet.
I am also trying to figure out the balance of modifing without choking and have learned to play way softer over the years but would love to know the balance in other folks opinions and what techniques may address this issue specifically.
Sorry I can't add anything but just wanted to say I am looking forward to the answers and thank folks in advance.
you can't really do that, because you have to gap higher to be able to blow harder.
However the volume of the tighter harp goes up with softer blows, and much of the rest comes from resonant embouchure and a large sounding chamber (what some talk about as deep tone), so you can get back what you call power not blowing hard on a tight harp.
You still don't get what Adam says the ability for a hard attack if they are gapped too tight, so there you need to back off a little bit on the gap tightness. Sort of like compromise tuning....
I have a thoery, and people can either agree or disagree, but I feel like a lot of the characteristics of a "hard attack" can be achieved without blowing much harder.
Basically, I think you can't actually hear someone blowing harder, what you're hearing is the tone changing, and the note getting flatter, among other acoustic effects that indicates that the person is blowing harder. I personally feel that you can make those same acoustic effects without blowing much harder, by simply recognizing what happens to the sound when you attack harder, and recreating that through your embouchure and bending (keep in mind that every reed on the harmonica can bend a little, and this is to your advantage).
I'm still working on this myself, but I feel like I'm making progress in making it sound like I'm attacking a lot harder than I am. I'm not a very experienced player, so I feel like an experienced player would have a much easier time exercising the control it takes to do this.
That's my theory on having your cake and eating it too: the easily accessible overbends of a tightly gapped harp, and the umph of a wider gapped harp being ripped on. I'm still working on it myself.
Last Edited by on Jun 29, 2011 12:07 PM
actually, when closing the blow reed gap you can lose some of the volume you get from a strong attack even if the reed doesn't choke. for instance, just hitting the four blow and not intending it to OB.
as we know, a higher gap can increase volume.
i find it kinda tricky getting just the right balance setting up OBs. i don't want them to choke w/ hard playing but want them to OB when i need them and not OB when i don't.
but there is a balance and i doubt one could see it even w/ a microscope because all reeds are slightly different even if they are they are same model/key.
as far as noise reduction, i've found tapping the rivet tight and very close embossing gets rid of whistles and party favour noises for the most part. if that doesn't work you might try nail polish on the seat.
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MP doctor of semiotics and reed replacement.
"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"
Absolutely. I haven't bothered to emboss any of my harps for a long time now. You can make a harp much more overblow-friendly just by setting the gaps correctly, and making sure the reeds are as flat as possible. That, and also improving airtightness by flatsanding the draw reedplate and comb (if it's not injection-molded plastic) and not over-torqueing the reedplate screws upon reassembly are all I really do these days, and all my harps overblow on the 4, 5, and 6. I don't really do overdraws, so I can't comment about that.
Obviously, you won't be able to play EXACTLY as hard as you used to, but in my experience, you can play quite a bit harder on a harp set up like I've describe than you can play on an embossed harp. You can't control the overblows to the utmost degree like you might be able to do on an embossed harp (or at least do so with less effort), but it's not like the OB's run wild all over the place. I can pop them in the correct pitch an bend them a little too, and I usually don't get much squealing from torsional vibrations (but I've definitely worked on my technique in this regard). I also think I can get plenty loud on my harps, so perhaps that's what you were wondering about?
