I first met young Joel Andersson from Sweden when he was about 15. He was into Irish music and had persuaded his parents to bring him to Canterbury in England to have a lesson with me. He was talented, and already pretty knowledgeable about how harps could be modified too. I was impressed, not just with his skills but also determination and ambition.
Since then Joel's trajectory has been ever upwards, both as a player and a customiser. His main guru is Rick Epping, the Father of Embossing, inventor of the XB40, and a brilliant exponent of playing Irish music on the 10-hole diatonic. Joel has visited Rick many times in Ireland to learn the intricate details of his tunings, playing techniques and legendary harmonica tech knowledge.
He's soaked up Rick's playing and customising techniques like a sponge, and added plenty of his own refinements too. He's been making beautifully finished, sweet playing custom harps for a few years now, and his growing reputation has earned him membership of Hohner's Affiliated Customizer guild. In my opinion Joel's work is up there with the very best in the world, and demand for his harps has meant he's now going full time with harmonica custom work.
Joel has visited me again a couple of times since that first meeting and we've become friends. When I launched my new TwinDiatonic harps he was the natural person to ask to be the Recommended Customiser for the Hohner models. You can see and hear why when you listen to this video of him playing an OctaHarp: Hohner Crossover and Thunderbird combined into one beautiful sound:
Thank you for your kind words Brendan! I really enjoy playing the Octaharp, it's wonderful. Great comfort, response and volume. You have helped the people who loves the octave harmonicas Brendan, since Hohner discontinued the Auto Valve there haven't really been any other options.. But now with this, and with the simplicity of the Marine Band harps it's a joy to play and to work with. ---------- Regards, Joel Andersson Sweden Website Facebook YouTube
In Joel's hands it sure is a mighty beast. I wonder how it holds up against Rick Epping's "Bunker Busters", made from Hohner chromatic parts. ---------- Tony Eyers Australia www.HarmonicaAcademy.com everyone plays...
Tony, It's a little bit brighter due to shorter reeds in the diatonics than in the Auto Valve. But volume and response wise it's more or less the same. What I really like with these is the size and the fact that they are much easier to work with than the Auto Valve reed plates. ---------- Regards, Joel Andersson Sweden Website Facebook YouTube
Joel just came second in the Tremolo/Octave section World Champs in Trossingen playing his OctaHarp. That's very impressive considering he was up against a slew of the brilliant Asian tremolo players!
@Harmonicatunes: in addition to the ease of disassembly and working on the reeds, one big advantage of the OctaHarp against the Auto-Valve is that it can be made in any key you want.
The octave sound is a wonderful tonality for the harmonica - quite addictive once you try it. My next model out will be the OctaHarp Selectable, which has the two harps inline. This allows the front harp to be played alone with single notes and bending, or in conjunction with the rear harp for the octave sound. Here it is from 5:10 onwards:
I've just sent Joel and Rick Epping some comb units for this baby, looking forward to hearing what they make of it!
