[Harp-L] Lee Oskar harmonicas are not in equal temperament

[Winslow Yerxa]

I keep seeing statements that Lee Oskar harmonicas are in equal temperament (ET). However, if you examine Lee Oskar's tuning scheme, you'll see that it's a compromise temperament and not equal temperament.

Most compromise temperaments start with some flavor of just intonation and make tweaks to bring it a little closer to ET while keeping away from the harsh chord sounds of ET.

Lee's temperament starts with equal and makes tweaks.

-- He tunes 15 of the 20 reeds in the harmonica 10 cents sharp from A440.

However, he tunes the other 5 reeds to a lower pitch.

-- He tunes Blow 2, 5, and 8 two cents lower (i.e., 8 cents sharp). These are the thirds of the blow chord.

He tunes Draw 3 and 7 also two cents lower (i.e., 8 cents sharp). These are the thirds of the draw chord formed by Draw 1 thru 4.

Apparently he's trying to sweeten the chords ever so slightly while not getting too far away from being in tune with a piano or other ET instrument.

He's tuning 10 cents sharp overall, I'm guessing, partly to compensate for the pitch depression caused by breath pressure, and partly because in the real world, a lot of musicians tune as high as A444 (standard in Germany) or even A446 (US orchestras, not that most of us will spend much time playing with symphonies).

Winslow
 
Winslow Yerxa
Producer, the Spring 2014 Harmonica Collective
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[rex]

Thanks for this info, Winslow. I play LO harps almost exclusively. I wonder if this is the tuning they have always used or if it has changed over the years. I have thought that some of my Oskars have slightly nicer chords than others and always thought it was due to the slight differences that may occur in mass production. Maybe it is. Or maybe it's my imagination and I can't hear 2 cents difference. Some of my LOs are over ten years old with original reeds and some are less than a year old. Perhaps the older ones are true ET. Just went over to the LO web site and it says "Equal Tuning by Octaves".  Not sure what that means.