What does Dynamic Range mean? It's how much room there is in between how softly and how hard you can play a particular reed/note/hole/harmonica.
Here's a description of a harmonica's dynamic range and some of the things that improve or worsen it.
Take my Skype lesson. Tweaking your harps should be a positive experience. Stop guessing. Stop fighting with your harmonica. Learn to do some real reed work!
This video is part of the preparation work you need to do before we have the live session.
That is a very informative illustration on reed shape and gapping. A really good explanation on the interplay of draw and blow reeds when bending and how it affects dynamics. Thank you! ----------
Andrew after watching your video it made me remember something I thought of years ago. When I stumbled onto what I thought was the best way of shaping and gapping. I always hear people say customized harps are harps that are set up for the individual. Well for years I've thought that is backwards! I believe there is an optimal shape and gapping to get the widest frequency response (what some people refer to as the reeds are singing) for each reed. Your video basically just confirmed what I've been saying for years. I guess the exception to that is people that what to be able to bend overblows and overdraws. Now to make a harmonica capable of doing that you change the frequency response of each reed. Hence the harp sounds brighter. That doesn't make it bad just different. Just depends on what is more important to you.
