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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
True Harmonic
True Harmonic
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jim
74 posts
Jun 01, 2010
8:07 AM
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My humble take on the "Misirlou":
http://vimeo.com/12150650
Played on a Low C "true harmonic" diatonic. It's a circular tuning with a cool twist that I designed adapting my "True Chromatic" tuning for diatonics. Actually it's a true chromatic + harmonic minor hybrid, thus the name:
- full chromatic scale across 3 octaves with draw bends alone (no overblows needed)
- 16 chords from a ten-hole (or 20 from a 12-hole)
- very coherent logic and position playing - i.e. it has 7 positions only
- full arabic scale on "open" notes from any odd draw hole (from 1, 3, 5 draw etc)
It has a distinctive Klezmer/gypsy feel similar to harmonic minor. I think if someone gave it a go for jazz stuff, it would sound fantastic. I'm not very good at jazz unfortunately...
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www.truechromatic.com
Last Edited by on Jun 01, 2010 8:08 AM
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DirtyDeck
47 posts
Jun 01, 2010
8:13 AM
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That was amazing. Where can I get me one of those harps?
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jim
76 posts
Jun 01, 2010
8:55 AM
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Er... good question.
There are three options here.
1) Make one yourself. You'll have to file some reeds down, and add solder on other reeds. Any model. No guarantee though :)
2) Get one done by me or other customizers who would agree to do that. Takes quite some time to tune some reeds. I can make one virtually in any key possible, and from any model. You'll need to wait a bit though. Costs money, but is guaranteed to play great.
3) Get one done at the factory in the Seydel Configurator option. That will limit your choice to several Seydel models (1847s, Solist Pro, Solist Pro12, Favorite, Session, and Fanfare). But that will be reeds in native keys, which is good. It will also cost you less than a custom harp of another brand.
Tell me what's best for you, and I'll give you some more specific advice.
there's also more info about the tuning and the work I do on my website:
http://www.truechromatic.com/true_harmonic.php
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jim
77 posts
Jun 01, 2010
9:16 AM
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I think I'll just give more details on all 3 options...
1) If you're making one yourself, you might want to avoid filing higher reeds up IN ANY CASE.
So if you're tuning using solder/file, then you should calculate -1semitone to the final key of the harp.
To take a C, and make a B "true harmonic", one should alter the notes this way:
-1 -2 -1 -3 -3 -3 -4 -5 -4 -6 BLOW
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 HOLE
-1 -2 -3 -2 -2 -2 -1 0 0 0 DRAW
So you'll be soldering 4-10 blow, and filing the rest.
Another option you may consider is swapping the top 4 reeds (7-10blow and draw). That requires a lot more skill to do, but you'll save yourself from soldering then! If you swap those reeds, you should aim at a +1semitone result.
So out of C we'll make a C# "true harmonic" (swapped 7-10 reeds)
+1 0 +1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 0 -1 BLOW
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 HOLE
+1 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 0 -1 DRAW
The perfect compromise intonation set-up will look like this (in cents):
0 +16 0 +16 0 +16 0 +16 0 +16 BLOW
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 HOLE
+16 0 +16 0 +16 0 +16 0 +16 0 DRAW
2) If you get one from me or another customizer, all you need to do is wait and relax.
3) A couple of tips on the Seydel Configurator:
*Get all draw notes valved. You won't need overblows with this tuning, and the valves will give an extra punch to the chords.
*Write intonation on the comments (see above)
*You can customize the reedplate material for Session/Solist Pro (I suggest German Silver)
*You get ask any covers. That's a config, and you're the boss. Write in the order comments how exactly you want it packed. As long as it's not a more expensive part (i.e. a metal comb or steel reeds for Solist) - you can get it.
You can view the tuning in all keys here:
http://www.truechromatic.com/harp-o-matic.php
Last Edited by on Jun 01, 2010 10:11 AM
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jim
84 posts
Jun 03, 2010
1:56 AM
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I hope I have answered the question...
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jim
92 posts
Jun 04, 2010
3:13 AM
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My current project is making one long 14-holer in that tuning... from two sp20's cut in halves, with chromatic covers on top.
I think Brendan Power could give me some advice on that. He did those when he was doing custom harps.
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