I am wondering,Is this really a new tuning from seydel? I ask because when I go on the ED harmonica website two of the harps are seydels and the cheap one says it is a easttop. It looks like ED harmonica is not part of seydel but just uses their harps.
JInx, you are welcome. I'm glad you've liked it. Sloppy1, I think yes. I think ED harmonica is a concept and they are using Seydel and Eastop to produce their harmonicas.
Just for the record, there is nothing 'new' about the ED Harmonica tuning. It's simply the bottom end of Paddy Richter or Melody Maker repeated up the harp - except they start the scale on the A instead of the C.
The website says 'Patent Pending', but I'd be very surprised if a patent were ever granted. Not just because it's an existing tone layout repeated, but also because it's been publicly used and recorded with in the past.
Isacullah has mentioned it right here, with his own name I can't quite remember - Pentatonic Tuning? I think he's done videos with it also; can you remind us Isaac?
I've had a few harps in this tuning in my harp case for years, and got Richard Sleigh to make me a custom Marine Band version back in the early 90s. It's a very nice harp that I dubbed The Slayer, and still have :-)
I call the tuning Paddy Richter Extended, and recorded a couple of tracks using it in the XB40 on my 'New Chinese Harmonica' album of 2013. And, incidentally, those harps start the scale on the A note too, which sets a public precedent five years ago for that little variation... You can hear the x-reed version on the first track:
I'm not knocking the tuning at all - I wouldn't have used it myself if it weren't good! But to try and claim it as something new and even patent-worthy is not just misleading, but also legally and factually false.
Last Edited by BeePee on Oct 14, 2018 10:24 PM
How come a regular C harp is 1st position CEG 2nd position DGB On the edharmonica key of C (am) 1st position is ACE and 2nd goes Bb Db Gb What makes the edharmonica key of C? I bought one,the easttop one and it sounds a lot lower then a regular C harp. They give playing examples of playing in different keys but I have not seen where they show how you play in the different keys. Maybe it is my relative newness overall to playing harp in general that I dont understand all this.
BeePee, Hi, Brendan. I'm not specialist in patent laws at all, so I can't really comment it. But I think they've made research before registering for patent. If they wrong, than patent bureau will decline their registration.
But for me the fact that you, Isaac and EDHarmonica discovered this tuning independently just prove for me that it's good. What is good enough for Brendan, is good for me.:) ---------- Konstantin Kolesnichenko(Ukraine) http://kolesnichenko-harmonica.com/
Sloppy1, if I understand you correctly the answer for your question is. Draw pattern is BDG ---------- Konstantin Kolesnichenko(Ukraine) http://kolesnichenko-harmonica.com/
Hi Konstantin: I think your ED Harmonica friends' patent research cannot have been very thorough, because they obviously missed this one from 1988:
https://patents.google.com/patent/US5166461
Whether you call it the ED tuning, Paddy Richter Extended or Pentatonic tuning, they are all covered by this generic patent, whose salient feature is:
"Harmonics are disclosed in which the pitches of the draw-reeds and blow-reeds are arranged such that, in each of at least seven successive cavities, the pitch of the blow-reed is equal to or lower than that of the draw-reed."
So it appears they have wasted their money applying for a patent...
Since you're reading this, perhaps you can help with some other points? The ED Harmonica project leaders have been very secretive about who they are; there is no mention of any names on their website. Most start-up companies are very proud to name their personnel, but not this one. Why is that, I wonder?
I discovered the company is based in the Ukraine. Since you are the best-known Ukranian harmonica player, one assumes you must know the background to this project, and be proud it is based in your country! I wonder if you could tell us if you are involved in the project yourself? For example, is it your playing on the demo tracks? If not, who? It's quite nice playing, I'm sure MBH readers would like to know the player's name.
Thanks Konstantin :-)
Last Edited by BeePee on Oct 16, 2018 12:43 AM
BeePee, Hello, Brendan! Yes, they are my friends. That's why I recorded this bluesy demo for them. They have their own motives not to have any names on the site. But I must say that they are 100% honest people, that I trust and their main purpose is education and popularization harmonica in general That's why they discovered this tuning. Because it's easier to play any kind of music, not only blues, on it. And I must say they really discovered that independently and made a paid research for patents :)
Well, perhaps it would have been more honest to have said at the beginning that you were reviewing a friend's product as a favour for them, rather than pass it off as an independent review.
As for the somewhat strange EDHarmonica policy of anonymity for its personnel, in these days of the internet that is not easy to maintain. It simply had the effect of piquing my curiosity, so I did a search. If you put edharmonica company into Google you get this information on the first page, showing the website is registered in Kiev:
https://statuslite.com/domain/edharmonica.com
If you do a search for Kiev harmonica this site comes up, for a harmonica school:
https://harmonica.kiev.ua/
Various common features in the graphics with the ED Harmonica website suggest that they are related, and run by the same person: Igor Gurskiy. I guess he's also the player on the ED demo tracks? Correct me if I'm wrong.
Not sure why he'd want to hide his light under a bushel, as he's done a nice job of the whole project :-) But as a piece of friendly advice, Igor should not waste any more good money on patenting this tuning because of the precedents mentioned earlier.
Last Edited by BeePee on Oct 17, 2018 2:23 PM
I am still learning standard harp,but I bought the cheaper easttop ed harp and I like it. It has been fun learning to play it and the website being free is a great value. Lots of courses and song tabs ect. Looks like he-they-whoever put a lot of time into the whole project and I think it came out well.
I recently received an Edharp, labeled "C", made by Easttop. First, it is absolutely the loudest harp I have ever played. Really nice, slippery blue coverplates, too. These are NOT painted covers, I guess the blue is electroplated in, whatever that means. Trust me, they glide easily. Yes, the EDharp is suitable for much blues and reggae though in order to be completely chromatic, as many prefer, one must be able to overbend to attain the Eb and Ab on this harp. Or, one could partially valve for blow bends. Actually, I think the whole draw reed plate could be valved which would allow one to not only draw bend on every hole 1-10 but ALSO blow bend holes 1-10. Just an idea, but I think it ought to be experimented with. I am interested to know what others think of this tuning. Cheers !!!
Like I said in a earlier post,I am somewhere between a beginner and intermediate. I love this EDharp. I find when I am playing to jam tracks I find the EDharp much easier to me.It is much more intuitive. I record my practice and when I listen back my playing with the EDharp sounds much better. Music does not come very natural to me,I am only playing for my own fun,but this new harp is much more natural to me.
