Posted by Stan Besaw on December 15, 2002 at 01:49:55:
In Reply to: valved diatonic posted by David on December 04, 2002 at 11:14:36:
David,
I agree whole heartedly. I don't care for the valved diatonics, I play chromatic as well and don't have the need for a hybrid, but at some point, players need to try new things out for themselves to know for sure whether it makes a difference in their playing or if it's just a new toy. Sometimes new toys are cool too.
Good luck,
Stan
: A while back I posted a request for advice on the above (thanks for the replies) and after searching other sites (HarpOn and ironmancurtis were most helpful) I finally got around to doing the work. It was pretty easy but you do have to be pretty precise. It gave the harp somewhat of a chromatic sound which is less pronounced when playing w/ a handheld mic. The main advantage that I can see is that you get blow bends in 1-6 and seven draw can actually be bent a complete half step. As only 1-6 blow and 7-10 draw are valved the low end draw and high end blow bends stay just how you are used to them. I would recommend that any one who enjoys tinkering w/ their harps check out the sites I mentioned and try out a valved diatonic for themselves.