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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! > Stacking Two Harmonicas Together w/magnets
Stacking Two Harmonicas Together w/magnets
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Curtisaneumann
9 posts
Nov 03, 2018
4:04 PM
I’ve been combining my Powerbender tuned seydel and a Special 20 together by sandwiching them together with a couple refrigerator magnets so I can play them both at the same time.

Here’s a clip of my playing a slow blues using this setup:
Double Stacked Harmonicas - Slow Blues

I’ve been loving how many options this opens up for me. I love the PB tuning for its access to blues licks but at the same time, there’s some things that a richter tuned harp just does SO well, lol.

The magnets I used are the perfect thickness to leave a big enough gap so I can play comfortably without the other harp getting in my way. I have it Setup up so each harmonica is flipped opposite each other. This seemed to work much better because if it just stacked them the same way, I couldn’t play the bottom harp without the top one hitting my nose. So when I want to switch harps it’s just a simple flip. I wanted the magnets to be strong enough that they keep the harps together without me having to hold them together with my hands but I didn’t want to them to be TOO strong because I was worried it would affect the Seydel’s stainless steel reeds. For the record, it doesn’t. Of course I had to use two magnets to keep them level.

I plan on rigging up some other more permanent device in the future so I don’t have to rely on magnets.

This is an idea I got from Will wilde who I’ve seen playing a C harp with an A Minor harp in one of his videos. I’ve also seen brendan power make something similar but IIRC it was with chromatic harps or something... let me know if this already exists.

Does anybody else mess around with stacking Two harps?
nacoran
9994 posts
Nov 03, 2018
4:11 PM
I've done that too. I love magnets. You can also do it a bit more permanently with long screws through the cover holes. You can even take off the top cover of the bottom one and the bottom cover of the top one and put another comb in backwards between them to make it look like it's meant to be that way.

There are some clips you can get to hold them together too. I think maybe one of the reasons tremolo harps have the flattish covers compared to diatonics with their finger groove is so players can stack them easier. It's pretty common in Asia to use two harps. I've got a set of Huang Musettes that are supposed to be played stacked, C and C#.

Nice playing.

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Nate
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First Post- May 8, 2009
Curtisaneumann
12 posts
Nov 03, 2018
6:22 PM
That’s awesome!
Do you have pics or a link showing me examples of what you’re referring to?

I would make it permanent in a heartbeat ha.

The idea of removing cover plates and putting another comb in the middle doesn’t sound like it would work for me though. I think it would be too weird for my embouchre.
nacoran
9996 posts
Nov 03, 2018
8:42 PM
https://www.dropbox.com/s/33lp9v4t3y7dvgl/2013-06-11%2002.02.33.jpg?dl=0

See if that link works. It's just a couple cheap Piedmonts put together with a backwards comb. Ideally at some point I'd like to design a better in between piece than a backwards comb... maybe a little bit thicker but curved in a bit so that it's easier to get a good seal on the harps.

I never got around to it, but I wanted to find screws long enough to stack a full set of 12 keys together sort of as a novelty harp. It works well with just two harps though. The holes on the middle comb give the sound a space to come out of and it's much more compact.

Somewhere around Brendan Power has a video of a young Asian guy playing stacked harps. He just uses his fingers to swap them. Takes some dexterity. Brendan has a gizmo for using a chromatic slide style mouthpiece to let you use two harps at once too. (Although I think he focuses that more on chromatics, I do think he had a video where he did it with a couple diatonics.)

I can't remember where I saw the clips to hold two diatonics together. It's basically looks a lot like what holds bass harps together.

I have a lot of fun with magnets. I made a set of covers that are held on with magnets. Unfortunately they tend to get stuck other harmonicas and come off.

And of course Turboharp has harmonicas that use magnets to shift pitch, which is pretty awesome.

You could probably use neodymium magnets instead of refrigerator magnets. They have a smooth surface, are smaller and would be less likely to either scratch your covers or leave little bits of magnet stuck to your harp. You can usually find a pack of them at the hardware store or walmarts for about $5. They are enough smaller though that you have to keep better track of them if you have kids or pets that might think they look edible.

I wish I could find the right videos.

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Nate
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First Post- May 8, 2009
Christian Wasmer
11 posts
Nov 04, 2018
3:45 AM
just my 2 cents :)
If the Seydel reeds are stainless steel, depending on the type of alloy, they may well be non magnetic and wouldn't be bothered by magnets. You can check easily if a magnet will pull the reeds. If so, then you may use whatever magnet strength you want.
rbeetsme
1701 posts
Nov 04, 2018
8:34 AM
Why 2 harps in the same key, same tuning?
Lee Shamrock
11 posts
Nov 04, 2018
9:15 AM
I've used velcro to stick 2 harps together.
nacoran
9997 posts
Nov 04, 2018
11:28 AM
Christian, Seydel reeds are magnetic, but to change their pitch you have to get the magnets really, really close to them. Magnets on the cover don't do anything. There are harp clamps for mic stands that use magnet. Magnets won't effect mics either.

But, the Turboslide from Turboharp uses Seydel harps and a patented little gizmo that moves magnets right next to the reeds using a button. It shifts the pitch of the note down one. Right now it only works on blow reeds but they are working on one for draw reeds, and recently mentioned that they could be used to shift pitch up too.



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Nate
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First Post- May 8, 2009
IaNerd
54 posts
Nov 05, 2018
5:09 AM
Check this out: http://www.brendan-power.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=267


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