RE: Leo Shi Bass

[Pat Missin <pat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Scorcher asked:
>
>>Pat, would it be feasable to add the second reed plate to the bottom of this
>>harmonica (convert it from a single)?

... and I replied:

>Not really. At least not if you are talking about having both sets of
>reeds played by the same mouthpiece. The comb is closed at the bottom,
>so you would have to do some fairly drastic alteration to add a second
>reedplate to it.

Actually, I think maybe I spoke a little too quickly on that topic.
Looking at it a bit more closely, perhaps it isn't quite as difficult
as I thought.

I think you could cut the bottom out of each channel in the comb
without too much work. You could then take the reedplate from a second
instrument and add it to the bottom - this would reverse the reeds
with regard to the airflow, turning blow reeds into draw reeds and
vice versa, giving you a blow and a draw reed of the same pitch in
each hole. You could then retune alternate reeds on each reedplate so
that you have the C major scale as blow notes and the C# major scale
as draw notes (or the other way around, if you prefer). Then you would
probably need to add valves. At the end of it, you would have a
compact-sized 2 1/2 octave chromatic bass for a little over $100 and a
few hours work. 

An interesting idea, but I must admit that I kind of like the Leo Shi
the way it is.

 -- Pat.