valved harmonica ?
I heard that with a valved harmonica you can bend all the notes,Would that allow it to be played chromtically,if a person was not OB yet?Whats are some of the pro's and con;s of the valved harmonicas,such as longivity,ease of use,I havent decided to get 1 or not but I am curious about the chromatic use of 1.
Not all valed harps are created equal. Some are fully valved and some only partially. If you do decide to get, or make one, use "The Gazell Method". PT Gazell is definitly the guy hear if you want to know what sort of things are possible. His set up allows you to blow bend on holes 1-6 and draw bend on holes 7-10, as well as still hitting all of your normal bends(not the case with fully valved). This allows for full chromatic flexibility throughout the range of the instrument, w/o OBs. They also add some overall airtighness. Both of these are obvious pros. Now for the cons. Valves wear out and need to be changed every so often. This can be a tedious act in itself (depending on how much harp work you do yourself). They can also be noisey. Buzzing and popping. My expeirience with this problem has been solely with plastic valves, like those on Hohner and Suzuki models. At SPAH this year, I had a chance to try the Seydel session steel with what appeard to be leather valves. I only played it for a min but they were very quiet. I don't play valved harps personally, but I work on them and add valves to harps for people. I much prefer the tone of a nice fat overblow, to the sound of a choked, valved bend. but that's just my opinion. I hope this helps,
Check out the interview with P.T. Gazzelle on this site. He's awesome on that thing.