Bike&Harp
1 post
May 13, 2016
6:15 PM
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Hey guys a question has been on my mind about do players set all their harps up to be responsive to OB playing or just one or two or whatever? Say someone like Adam or Jason Ricci; will they set up every key harp they use in their playing for OB's?
Also i notice that a C harp seems to be easier to set up for OB playing than say an A harp. In your experience are the lower key harps harder to OB on? I find hole 4 on an A is a real hard one to nail consistently when i want it but on the higher key harps i can get it easily. I vowed i was gonna give up trying OB's. But no matter what, i always seem to get drawn back into their evil realm!
BTW i had to make a new account on here as i forgot my old password! LOL! I used to be 'Gary 62'. I clicked the button to get an email to reset my password from my previous account but i never received any mail from the site. I tried numerous times but didn't get any contact so i had to register again under a different name and email address. Don't know if that has happened to others or not. Thought i'd mention it in case there's a fault in the system or something.
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SuperBee
3719 posts
May 13, 2016
8:01 PM
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i dunno what those folks do Gary. I expect they probably have horses for courses,
i think its generally thought that higher harps overblow easier and lower harps overdraw easier.
my first was on a D harp. the only overdarw i can obtain is 7 and only on g harps...i can do it on several G harps, never managed on anything else. and ive only been able to do it tongue blocked..
Chris Michalek said he didnt bother setting up for overdraws, becaus ehe thought they were weak notes at best. he made the point that when you set up a harp for a particular thing, you inevitably compromise its ability to do something else. ive seen some players carry 30 harps and more...and yet i know pro players who use 4 keys only...of course they carry backups...but what are those guys with a big box of harps doing? special tunings, different setups..thats my guess.
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Killa_Hertz
1371 posts
May 13, 2016
11:33 PM
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That's interesting man. Different tunings, different reed setups. That's cool. Wish i was good enough to do anything with that. Lol.
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Bike&Harp
2 posts
May 14, 2016
9:44 AM
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Bee: Yeah i spend time when i can't stand the idea of OB's and hate them with a passion but then something makes me think about the notes i'm missing out on and i go back in tighten up the gapping and adjust it to OB again.
You know i tend to agree with Chris i do think the OB's sound weaker and not as good. They can sound good played as quick chromatic passing notes but...!
I've also lately been thinking of buying a chromatic. I looked at the Suzuki one. The big on the 64 i think it is. It's been on my mind that hey if you want all the notes why not just bite the bullet and buy a chromatic instead of all this OB nonsense! LOL!
OB's do annoy me. You have to spend time mucking around with the harp, setting reed gaps, embossing sometimes. You know i'd rather just be playing! That made me think about the chrome.
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SuperBee
3723 posts
May 14, 2016
3:11 PM
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Makes sense to me.
Oh yeah, Chris M was speaking about OVerDRAWs as weak...he did set up for over BLOWs but he was specific and choosy about which reeds he set up to use. For instance, he tended to play the 9 hole loudly, so he didn't want to set those reeds close...
It takes a while though to learn what you want from the harp...I guess the point is that you can and maybe should set it up to suit what YOU need it to do, and if that means having more than one harp in a key, harps set up for certain numbers, why not?
Obviously it could get cumbersome but within reason...I carry a country-tuned low F for instance...
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Bike&Harp
3 posts
May 15, 2016
7:53 AM
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Yeah it's funny i can get a really loud overdraw from hole 9 on an A harp but on a higher pitched one it feels damn near impossible. That's another thing that makes OB's and OD's difficult, the difference in response depending on the key of the harp. I think that's a reason a lot of people don't bother with them because it's a lot of work and bother. On the other hand i find myself wanting those notes sometimes and knowing they're in there and i'm not using them starts to irk me and i say "i should be using these things and working them into melodies and stuff."
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