Fwd: [Harp-L] Paddy Richter

["Tim Moyer" <wmharps@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

larryboy wrote:
> I use to know this, but didn't write it down, and now its 
> evaporated from my brain.  The Paddy Richter tuning has the 
> 3 hole blow raised. I don't know if its a half-step or a whole 
> step. You can make one of these easily with a pair of Lee Oskar 
> harps.  I think the bottom (draw) plate is a standard Richter
> diatonic plate.  I think you replace the top (blow) plate with a 
> top plate from a Melody Maker.  Is this right?  Is it a MM?
> 
> What are the two Lee Oskar reed plates used?  I also remember 
> that for a given key you have to get the right LO plates.  LO 
> names their "other than standard richter tuned" harps in second 
> position, a fifh from the natural note.  Thus, to make a Paddy 
> Richter in A, you would use a standard diatonic A for the draw 
> plate.  The other plate would be marked as an E.
> 
> This is all that I remember. What am I not remembering?

You pretty much got it all right, Larry.  The Paddy Richter tuning 
raises the 3 blow by a wholetone to give you the 2nd note in the 2nd 
position scale (e.g, an A in the G scale on a "C" harp) without a 
band (it would take a wholestep bend of the 3 draw on standard 
tuning).  This is the same modification that is used on the blow 
plate of a Lee Oskar Melody Maker (r) tuning.  The draw plate is 
unaltered from "standard".  

So, you CAN make a Paddy Richter tuned harp by combining the draw 
plate of a standard tuned harp with the blow plate of a Melody 
Maker.  You are correct in noting that these two harps are labeled 
differently in the Lee Oskar system, unless you use the 2nd position 
labeling for both.  Melody Makers are labeled primarily in their 2nd 
position key, so for example, if a standard C tuning is altered to 
Melody Maker it would be labeled in the key of G, and noted as 2nd 
position tuning.  The standard tuning is primarily labeled in it's 
first position key, so you would need the draw plate from a C 
(1st)/G (2nd) to combine with the G Melody Maker blow plate to make 
this harp. 

This is also pretty easy to just retune for yourself.  Its only one 
reed, although it is a blow reed (meaning you have to remove the 
plate), and you do have to move it a wholetone.  

This is the tuning I play primarily, and it's great for me.  You 
lose the I blow chord, and the 3-6 blow octave, but having that 
natural A is worth it for me and the material I play. 

-tim

Tim Moyer
Working Man's Harps
http://www.workingmansharps.com/