Re: Suzuki 2 Timer Full Review

thanks a lot steve that clears some things up for me.

This talk about tuning has got me to thinking.
Can an octave tuned harp be turn into a tremolo?
has anybody tried that stunt?

On Thu, 13 Jul 2006 15:53:48 -0500, Steve Shaw <[email protected]> wrote:

> I can't speak for all tremolos, but with the Hohner double-sided Echo the
> setup appears to be the top reed being the lower-pitched one of the pair.
> The top reed is the one I want "in tune" with the tuner, or whatever, and
> the bottom reed is the one I want to be tuned slightly sharp to give the
> tremolo effect.   If I'm doing extensive retuning I block off the bottom
> reed with my thumb so that only the top reed sounds, then I can tell if  
> it
> needs fine-tuning or not.  I never bother with the tuner for the bottom
> reed, as  when I have the top reed in tune I simply tune the bottom reed  
> by
> ear to give me the tremolo I want. Trial and error.  If you're happy with
> the overall tuning of the harp but just want to adjust the tremolo, you  
> just
> need to work on the higher-pitched of the pair and you can do it all by  
> ear.
>   Occasionally the lower-pitched reed of the pair goes slightly flat, and
> you notice this by the fact that the note in question suddenly acquires  
> very
> "wet" tremolo.  In this case you will have to retune that lower-pitched  
> reed
> first to get it back to pitch, then, if necessary, adjust the other reed  
> to
> get the right degree of tremolo.    The big hassle is the fact that your
> embouchure is different when you have the covers off, and this affects  
> the
> degree of tremolo, so you may ~think~ you've got the tremolo right - but
> when you replace the covers....aargh!   The only reliable way to test  
> your
> handiwork is to hold the covers loosely in place as you play.  Adjusting
> tremolo is the least aggressive action in maintaining the harmonica -  
> you'll
> be surprised at how little scraping needs to be done to get the desired
> effect.  If you can work on 10-hole harps you won't have trouble with
> tremolos. One of the worst aspects of the Echos is those darned nails  
> that
> hold the thing together- they don't exactly make working on the harps  
> easy!
>
> BTW, I don't know why, but I didn't get my own message in my inbox,  
> though I
> got Dave's reply to it.  Have I upset my settings?!
>
> Steve
>



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