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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
SPAH 2010 and Seydel Half- Valved Diatonics
SPAH 2010 and Seydel Half- Valved Diatonics
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PT
40 posts
Aug 23, 2010
5:54 PM
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What a great convention! My highlights had to be Clint Hoover with the band “Eastside,” Bart Leczycki, a really great new player from Poland, and Tiago from the Bends harmonica company who played rack mounted harmonica and guitar. The hallway jams with Chris Bauer, Phil Caltabellotta, Bob Herndon, and Jelly Roll Johnson. Not to mention having Greg Heumann next door to me at the Seydel booth....we had some nice jams with folks like Rob Paparozzi, Jimi Lee, Rupert Oylser and Alec Paclin joining in. And of course just hanging with Tom Albanese and Rosco. Finally, hearing Howard Levy is really special, because whether or not you like his playing, it is truly fortunate to witness what audiences must have seen when Paganini performed...unbelievable!
For those of you who did not get there, I also introduced the Seydel half-valved diatonic that is fitted with the same valve material I use in my Seydel instruments. For those of you who tried half-valved harmonicas in the past and were turned off by the buzzing rattling and sticking of plastic valves, this new valve solves those problems. Visit http://www.ptgazell.com/ for a downloadable PDF of the three octave note layout, some tips and a tabbed version of “Take Me Out To The Ball Game,” which utilizes blow bends 5 & 6. Contact me offline for more info on these diatonics from Seydel.
Make your plans now for SPAH 2011 in Virginia Beach.
pt@ptgazell.com
http://www.ptgazell.com
http://cdbaby.com/all/gazell
http://www.youtube.com/gazell
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"Life...10 Holes & 20 Reeds At A Time"
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Greg Heumann
723 posts
Aug 23, 2010
6:03 PM
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PT's new design is worth a look. As a heretofore almost purely diatonic player, when I first picked up the half-valved diatonic I couldn't get the blow bends. Within 30-45 minutes I was getting them pretty well. The technique is slightly different than a standard draw (or high end blow) bend in that it takes LESS energy. But unlike overblows, it is logically in the right place on the harp (i.e, draw the higher note, blow the lower note, blow-bend it even further down) so the transition is easier. And the technique is more accessible than OB's. Both techniques will surely have their place, but this is a pretty cool one. And you should hear PT play it - gorgeous.
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/Greg
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PT
41 posts
Aug 23, 2010
7:01 PM
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Just to be clear about this...half-valving is not my idea. A lot of the older players like Bernie Brey used to put one or two valves inside their diatonics but were very secretive about it. Brendan Power is responsible for introducing valves over the first 6 draw slots and the last 4 blow slots. 10 valves out of a possible 20 or half-valved. My contribution is the valve itself. As I said earlier, this material solves the problems inherent with plastic valves, buzzing rattling and sticking. I will also be working with Seydel to set up the reeds so they are better suited for half-valved playing. I also noticed that there is one correction that should be made to the PDF I posted. I will correct it and re-post it to my website in the morning. I'll let you all know when that is up.
Thanks again,
PT Gazell
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"Life...10 Holes & 20 Reeds At A Time"
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Todd Parrott
177 posts
Aug 23, 2010
8:12 PM
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I played one of these at SPAH, and I liked it much better than harps with the standard plastic valves.
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Kyzer Sosa
757 posts
Aug 23, 2010
8:54 PM
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After a brief email exchange with PT some time ago, I FINALLY found the material he uses, or at least a decent substitute, and the whole time im sticking these strips to my harp im like: no way this is gonna work. what the hell am i doing.
To my sheer amazement, after 20 minutes of gapping work, all but two holes acted EXACTLY like my valved promaster. for a day... then i started having the "havent done this before" blues...
I, for one, have thought all along that there was a market for better made valved harps, and look forward to chatting you up about it.
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Kyzer's Travels
Kyzer's Artwork
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PT
42 posts
Aug 24, 2010
2:46 PM
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I put up the corrected and final version of the PDF. If you downloaded it last night, please replace it with what is there now. You can find it at http://www.ptgazell.com Thanks and let me know what you think.
PT
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"Life...10 Holes & 20 Reeds At A Time"
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