Re: [Harp-L] Country tuning specs and recommendations?

In a message dated 12/16/06 8:36:35 PM, amsterdamoffice@xxxxxxxxx writes:


Hi guys,

Could somebody give me the specs and possibilies rundown
on this monster?

Thanks,
Jerome

Phil Harpn wrote:

Just buy one from Hohner -- they come in all 12 keys. If you want to retune,
just change 5 draw from F natural to F#. 


Hey Jerome, here's the deal and probably more than you wanted to know.
Phil is correct. Just go and get one from the supplier.

It was 1959 and I was a young lad of 17, had just come back from Paris and was living on Staten Island, New York. I belonged to local 802 and was trying to get into the business. I had a sour reed and upon trying to tune it, I found that no matter how much I filed with an emory board, the reed wouldn't go up to where it was supposed to be.

Eventually I discovered that I was filing the wrong reed and I was working on #5 draw instead of #4. It was almost a semi tone too high by the time I realized this, I kinda liked the sound, so I took it all the way up to a SHARP. Eventually I had to change the #4 (cracked at the rivet boss) with a cut down half of a Gillette super blue blade.

Back to the #5. I found I was able to play pop tunes on ONE harp instead of the pre-requisite two. Example: 'Travellig Man' (by Rick Nelson), or 'Let it be Me' (by the Everly Bros). If you try them on a standard diatonic, you can't do them. You NEED that sharp. A few days later, I decided to cut the #9 up also which gave me a melodic chord at the top of the harp instead of the dis-chord. I am not versed on structure or theory, so have no idea what I was getting 'technically' wise, but I liked the sound.

I printed a list of 2o some tunes the other day that are all fairly easy on the 'Smokey' tuned harp / NOW known as 'Country Tuned'. In fact MY version is actually now known as 'Double Country'.

I found these changes opened up a whole entire RAFT of tunes that had heretofore been unattainable on a diatonic (by ME... as I'm sure there were guys who might be able to over draw the #5 UP... but I hadn't heard any).

Somewhere along the way I decided to put a windsaver on the #5 BLOW because I needed a FLAT there for some tunes. A flat that I could blow DOWN to and allow to gradually go up to the natural sound of the note. But that's a whole different story.

The nice thing about the #5 draw is that you can always get the NATURAL note by using a first step bend. It can be caught 'on the fly', but I wouldn't try it at great speed. 'Rocky Top' would be such a no no.
But most country can also work on a country tuned harp. As well as a large number of 30s 40s & 50s tunes. Maybe not the BEST choice of stuff for a younger player, but works for me.

Let's jump ahead to the mid 70s. I was a guest of Ernest Tubb at the Ryman for his Christmas show (75 or 76, I think), and my tune was a shuffle beat version of 'Frosty the Snowman'. There was a fellow there who was a little like me inasmuch as he was a chromatic player who also did a little diatonic. He was very interested in how I was able to go up and down the harp hitting chords along the way without a dis-chord. I was abt 33 and he was more like 50?. I think his name was Jim Redell, or Rydell,

I showed him what I had been doing to some of my harps. Now I don't claim to be the first, and I have no proof, but unless someone can come up with someone who used this tuning before 1959, I claim the honor.

Now they MAKE country tuned. A bigger supply house may have several of the 12 keys in stock. The price is reasonable and the same as a regular spl-20 (which they are made on).

smokey-joe p,s, I would STILL tune up the #9...like chicken soup....couldn't hurt









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