Harmonica Valves - Why?

00:00 Opening titles
00:18 Intro
00:52 What windsaver valves are
02:02 Reedplates, reeds, slots, and valves
03:28 How reeds work
04:07 How valves prevent air loss
05:26 How valves change blow reed volume, tone, and bending on diatonic harmonicas
07:45 Problems of valves
08:18 Warming up a valved harmonica
08:45 Chromatic harmonicas and valves
10:38 Advantages of valves on chromatics
11:58 Valves and bending on chromatic
14:14 Different qualities of single and dual reed bends
15:26 Valves and overblows
15:38 What about unvalved chromatics?
16:20 The typhoon
17:05 New valveless models from Easttop and Seydel
17:51 Easttop Forerunner (original model shown by mistake, not the 2.0 - sorry!)
19:10 Comparison with valved Easttop EAP-12
20:45 Commercial disclaimer about review instruments
21:07 Seydel NonSlider
22:53 Overblows on the Seydel NonSlider
24:24 Summary
25:31 Closing Titles

[@bergethomasian2431]

I have been wondering about this topic for years! Nicely done. Thanks Winslow.

[@AdamWestUS]

Informative as always. Thank you Winslow!

[@ramblin_harp]

Very informative video! Answering a lot of questions I had concerning the harmonicas you showed. Thanks for the video! 🙏🎶

[@Norlo28]

Very interesting! Keep these videos coming.

[@GeekandUke]

So useful, Winslow! Thank you so much!

[@FrankDudgeon]

Really well done and informative video. I just today received an Easttop Forerunner 2, and a diatonic on the way. I’m a total newbie trying to decide which type to play - or maybe both. I’m leaning toward chromatic but diatonic looks like such fun. Of course I have your Harmonica for Dummies book. Research came up with so many positive reviews it was an obvious necessity. Still trying to decide on a chromatic method book. Thank you so much for your excellent videos.

[@krishnanRan]

Very informative. Thank you.

Amazing content!

[@Jack-fs2im]

briliant

[@jeremyhoyland3229]

Thanks for the video Winslow. I have a Foreunner that I use a lot for practicing simply because it doesn't need warming up, I play an SCX 64 when performing and the Foreunner doesn't sound as good as that, but it's fine for use at home. Any tips on stopping valves sticking would be welcome.

[@BobU2b1]

great info and presentation. Are you related to Cabot Yerxa of the museum in Desert Hot Springs?

[@winslowyerxa8505]

Thanks. All Yerxas are descendants of a man who arrived in New York in 1642, so yes, distantly related.

[@bilbowaggins3036]

Very informational, thank you. I recebtly bought a chromatic, and on the three lowest notes, i hear a very audible flapping sound that sounds honest after i play the three lowest holes. It doesn't sound like a buzz and it's not stuck -- it just sounds like something flapping its wings. Any idea of what i should do to fix this?

[@winslowyerxa8505]

Do you hear the sound while you're playing the note or after. If aftr, it may simply be the reed vibration dying down. It'd be helpful to hear a recording of what you're talking about.

[@bilbowaggins3036]

@@winslowyerxa8505 I responded with a link to an audio file, but youtube deleted it for sone reason. Anyway, the noise is after I blow or inhale, like an echo. It's a very fluttery sound, not harsh or metallic, but clearly audible to other listeners ears, like the rapid fluttering of eings echoing back at me

[@Raj-ym4cu]

I have the Forerunner version 1.0 ... I really wish I could bend and pulse the notes like you did. I can somehow manage to bend some draws but the blows are hard. Real hard, to me that is.

[@winslowyerxa8505]

The blows won't bend un an unvalved harp like the Forerunner. But you can pulse your breath with your throat muscles to create a type of vibrato.

[@swinginonthespiral8765]

Thank you for this explanation. I was confused on the difference of technique and tonal qualities of isolated vs dual reed bending, but hearing you say that it's a tradeoff between range and volume/stability/complexity, it makes more sense. When you say dual reed bending has more complexity, you mean to say that there's more notes heard (the other reed + overtones)? What about stability? I would think that more valves would add to stability, but the inverse is true. Why is that? What, other than tuning/temperament, is the difference between a diatonic and chromatic, if neither has valves or a slide? Similarly, what's the difference between a diatonica half-valved and a chromatic half-valved? And what makes a harmonica fully-valved vs half-valved? Thanks

[@winslowyerxa8505]

The complexity and stability of dual-reeds both come from the fact that two reeds are cooperating to sound the same note. Two reeds producing the sound creates more complexity in the overtones heard and overall tone color. They also reinforce each other in both achieving the same result. Valves take away that dual-reed relationship, resulting in a simpler tone color and, because one reed is acting alone, in creating a stable bend, where you're persuading a reed to do something it doesn't otherwise do - vibrate at a rate different from what its length and weight distribution do naturally (when you pluck a reed and let it vibrate, it sounds esssentially the same note you get when you activate it with airflow).

[@winslowyerxa8505]

Half valvewd is where only half the reeds are valved and the other half aren't. Usually this means that the draw reeds are valved in all holes of a chromatic and in HOles 1 thru 6 on a diatonic in standard tuning (in Holes 7-10 the blow reeds will be valved and not the draw reeds.) Valving the draw reeds mans the blow notes will be louder, as no air leaks out through the draw reeds, and also means those notes become bendable, as the draw reed has no influence on the pitch of the blow reed.

[@swinginonthespiral8765]

@@winslowyerxa8505 Thank you for your answers, Winslow. Cheers

[@douglasmochinski8234]

Isn’t that the original EastTop Forerunner you’re using and not the Updated 2.0 ? The updated 2.0’s have a transparent, white looking comb.

[@winslowyerxa8505]

Yeah, you're right. Somehow I picked up the wrong harp. I have them both, and I don't find much of a difference between them. But still, I should have gotten that right. I'll see what I can do to correct it in post.

[@NiekopTube]

Seydel non-slider; the best invention since the chromatic harmonica was devellopped! B.t.w. your miking (very close up and loud) could make a big difference in sound 😞

[@winslowyerxa8505]

The NonSlider is very airtight but suffers from the extra work to move between top and bottom rows (slide is a much more elegant mechanism) and different timbres for blow and draw notes, which are made more even by valves. My mic was at the same distance for all played samples, so was not a factor in any differences in loudness.

[@danielsheltraw1270]

When am I going to see someone really play the non slider chromatic? Can it be played a fluidly as a slider chromatic? None of the very few KZbin demos answer this important question.

[@winslowyerxa8505]

I think the slider is a more elegant way of playing as it requires less motion and less interruption in air flow.

[@brunobeckers4702]

You're showing the Forerunner 1.0. NOT the 2.0!

[@winslowyerxa8505]

Yeah, I know. I put a title under that part to make a correction. Is it not visible? That said, for me there is little difference in sound or response between the two.

[@garygullikson6349]

Why does his hair undulate like that?

[@winslowyerxa8505]

It's a byproduct of the green screen that is replaced with an artificial background of artwork. I hope you find the actual content more interesting than that.

[@garygullikson6349]

@@winslowyerxa8505 The guy's knowledge and technique are beyond "amazing"

[@winslowyerxa8505]

@@garygullikson6349 Thanks. You're talking to "the guy."