harmonicanick
2523 posts
Sep 05, 2016
10:56 AM
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Just found a Hohner International Weekender tremolo harmonica at the back of a cupboard.
It is very loud and the comb has 2 sets of holes one above another and there are 32 holes (16)
What sort of music was this made for?
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Crawforde
133 posts
Sep 05, 2016
1:38 PM
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The weekender is a Tremolo harp made in Asian scale tuning , like solo tuning without the repeated Cs, they may also have been made in Richter, I'm not sure about but I picked one up used and it's Asian.
They are nice for melodies, Folk Music
The 16 has the equivalent of 8 holes on a normal diatonic. Kind of restricting but fun to play.
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Thievin' Heathen
830 posts
Sep 05, 2016
6:52 PM
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They are real good for developing tone, transferable to 10 hole diatonics. Long tones, double the reads will deplete your lung capacity twice as fast.
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KeithE
230 posts
Sep 05, 2016
8:51 PM
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One question that I have is how you don't get lost on the large tremolo harmonicas? This is a consideration that I've seen mentioned when choosing a 12 versus 16 hole chromatic. I have an Echo that someone gave me that's two rows of 24 holes each. It just seems crazy ;-)
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WinslowYerxa
1219 posts
Sep 07, 2016
9:34 AM
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Getting lost on tremolo is double the fun (!) of playing chromatic.
Not only do you have a stack of two rows of holes, each reed is in its own hole, with a blow reed in one hole (or stack of two), and the draw reed in the stack beside it.
I found it helpful to at first narrow my embouchure to play only one stack, so that I would get a note on the exhale but not on the inhale (or vice versa). This allowed me to sound out the locations of the notes and the overall note layout.
While there are a few tremolos in true solo layout with the double Cs that keep the blow and draw notes from shifting in relation to each other as you go up, most tremolos do have shifting locations, either in a way that corresponds to standard diatonic tuning but with the blow and draw notes side by side, or in the Asian pseudo-solo setup.
It helps to try to play a scale or a simple melody in each octave to get your bearings.
Tremolo is hardly used at all in American folk music (however, Mickey Raphael occasionally uses one backing Willie Nelson) but is used widely in music of Ireland, Scotland, Northern Europe, and Asia.
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Winslow
Check out my blog and other goodies at winslowyerxa.com
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Last Edited by WinslowYerxa on Sep 07, 2016 9:36 AM
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harmonicanick
2524 posts
Sep 07, 2016
9:56 AM
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Thanks Winslow,
Also found an original XB-40 C, Extreme Bending, at the back of the cupboard as I am in the process of de-cluttering my house.
Strange harp this one, very big comb with xtra large holes. it is a big sandwich, and sounds dull and tinny to my ear, any thoughts on this puppy?
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WinslowYerxa
1220 posts
Sep 07, 2016
10:05 AM
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The XB-40 is the original X-reed harp, with additional reeds to let every note in the harp bend in true dual-reed bends. Hence the big size, essentially the same size as a 10-hole chromatic.
It isn't as bright sounding as a regular 20-reed harp, but can be played LOUD without damaging the reeds. I use them to play fiddle tunes acoustically in large groups.
XB-40s were made in keys ranging from Low D up to regular C, which to my ear gets really bright compared to the other keys of XB-40. You selling it?
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Winslow
Check out my blog and other goodies at winslowyerxa.com
Harmonica For Dummies, Second Edition with tons of new stuff
Join us in 2017 for SPAH in Tulsa!
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harmonicanick
2525 posts
Sep 07, 2016
11:55 AM
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Not selling thanks..
Just bought my first Suzuki Manji M-20 in A
Expensive, but very nice instrument, bright sounding, handles well, looking forward to gigging with it
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