Just opening a thread to update while I mess around with a PowerBender.
I had a spare SP20 in A with a reed blown out, and a desire to try PB. I swapped in a new reed and got to work.
Silver solder worked really well for dropping the notes. The final product is a small flat silver circle on the end of the reed which looks nice. Hadn't used it before but I will again.
I ended up filing right through 10 draw (my last reed too!). Had to swap in another reed closer to A. I would recommend swapping the last 2 blow and draw reeds.
My initial noodling was positive. 2nd position (E) plays nice in holes 1-6. Moving blow 5/6 to draw 5/6 creates a nice glissando, although the 6th gives it a major feel. Many riffs transpose easily. Unfortunately, the 4/5 warble is now blow notes, which lessens the effect in my opinion. Playing upper octave in 2nd is very similar to lower octave. It's intuitive, but doesn't have the change in character in the top octave like Richter. This can be seen as pro or con. I'm leaning towards pro. I would not say 2nd is better or worse than Richter.
First position lives! While skilled over blowers can nail a first position blues scale on Richter, I can't make it sound good. Brendan gives the third and fifth as draw notes, allowing bending to the flats. This is an advantage over an over blow to me as you can dip in and out of major and minor.
Third position (B) takes a hit in my opinion. No flat 5th is really too bad, or it's a required OB. The blow draw pattern is a bit odd here too. Third was sacrificed a bit for first. My familiarity in 3rd was most confused so far with this tuning. ? However, 5th position is the new third. On the A harp this is C#m which is a shame because no one wants to jam in C#m. This position gives similar playing options to Richter 3rd position. Really looking forward to playing around here.
I really wanted my flat 5th in 3rd position and inflection for the 4/5 (now 5/6+) warble. I figured since Brendan plays half valved, I should go all in and try it out the way he uses it. Just installed a set of Gazell method valves tonight but couldn't test because my baby was sleeping.
The redundant 4 draw / 5 blow makes more sense every time I play. It transitions the octaves nicely. I'm still getting used to it but I can see how much thought went into this tuning. The tuning would probably work nice on a 12 holer with a repeated middle octave. Haven't tried 4th or 12th position yet, but I hope to soon. Also haven't tried the new major/minor scales available much. I'm thinking I need to save some cash and get the book.
I'll post again once I put some kilometers on this tuning.
EDIT: C E G C D F A C E A D G B D E G B D G C
A C# E A B D F# A C# F# B E G# B C# E G# B E A
Last Edited by Tyler on Aug 31, 2015 9:50 PM
Very interesting article! thank you! I've tried powerbender and have had the same feelings and thoughts about it. But unfortunately it did not work for me (that's only my problem not powerbenders). So I decided to make my own tuning. I love different tunings and I've tried a lot of them. So if you interested here is layout for my tuning (I call it "Easy Chromatic" because you can play chromaticaly with only draw bends): https://www.dropbox.com/s/pvobrf9lelt4r8n/chart.png?dl=0 here is some examples: juke riff in 12 positions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJRg_v2vz3g low F in 12th : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YQjUk8q3XU
P.S. Sorry if I'm hijacking your thread :) I'm just happy to find someone who loves alt tuning too :) ---------- Konstantin Kolesnichenko(Ukraine) my new studio album on CDBaby my music on youtube
Last Edited by wheel on Sep 01, 2015 8:06 AM
For those who would like to try PowerBender tuning but don't want to do the solder thing... I have a pretty liberal exchange policy... if you try it and don't like it..
---------- Greg Jones 16:23 Harmonicas Seydel Sales and Service greg@1623customharmonicas.com 1623customharmonicas.com
PT Gazell's valves are fantastic. I actually forgot they were there which never happened on my promaster. No sticking, popping, rattling, or "pressure". Obviously breath control plays a big part and likely the 1mm gap between the end of the valve and get end of the slot. So far my valve bend technique has not returned, but it's getting there.
Just browsed by MBH for the first time in a while and found this thread.
Good analysis there Tyler, especially that "5th Position is the new 3rd". Absolutely! Sure it gives you C#m on an A harp, but it's Em on a C harp, Dm on a Bb harp etc. More expressive than 3rd position on Richter in some ways, as you can bend the minor third down to the 2nd (hole 6 draw).
With half-valving the blow notes get some extra soul, and this is how I started playing PowerBender. However I now take it further and use PowerBender in x-reed setup. That makes all the blow reeds holes 1-10 easily bendable as interactive reed bends. 3rd Position now has has that bend you were missing Tyler, plus lots more. The instrument becomes fully chromatic too. You can hear the sound of this setup here (forgive the commercial angle):
I use the x-reed PB setup in my "Lucky 13" harps, which combine a Suzuki SUB30 with OverValve Plate retuned to PowerBender holes 4-13, with a Thunderbird lower end in holes 1-3, for a 4 octave range.
For those who find PowerBender too much of a stretch, I suggest try PowerDraw. Holes 1-6 are bog standard Richter, and holes 7-10 are PowerBender. The best of both worlds if you like the traditional tongue-blocking sound, as you still get it in the lower two octaves plus the draw bend wailing of PowerBender up top, including good octave splits most of the way. You can hear PowerDraw on a Seydel here:
Konstantin's tuning is very nifty too!
Last Edited by Brendan Power on Sep 02, 2015 9:58 AM
