Changing range of Yamaha P37D

Viewing 4 posts - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #14431
    Abram
    Participant

    I’d really like to drop the range of my Melodica one octave. Any thoughts on how to do this? Based on YT videos, the top octave of the Hammond 24B sounds great (the bottom half is a bit too “quacky” for my taste), so it should be possible to substitute reeds like those for the bottom octave of the P37D, and move the existing reeds one octave to the right. Where could I get a set of reeds like this without buying a whole melodica?

    #14434
    Daren
    Keymaster

    There’s a few problems with this:

    The reed cavities, below the reed plates are sized to fit the reeds. This would cause problems when shifting different pitched reeds around.

    Lower reeds are bigger, higher reeds are smaller.

    There’s extra problems when using reeds from one make and trying to fit them into a melodica of another maker, as they have their unique sizes and spacing within the reed plate.

    There’s also the alignment of the screw holes to fit the reed plate, which will be different for each make/model.

    But in principle it works, though I think you’d have to make a new melodica 🙂

    #14436
    Abram
    Participant

    Thanks, I was afraid I’d run into details like this. The next obvious question (and based on a fair amount of searching I think the answer is no) is there a melodica on the market with this range? The next option is of course building it from scratch which I’m not quite ready to jump into. Perhaps a more reasonable option is 3D printing a new reed block that fits into an existing case, and ordering a set of reeds that fits it.

    #14437
    Daren
    Keymaster

    Just the Hammond 44, which goes to the C below the F on the P37D. Yes, 3D printing an adaptor section could work….

Viewing 4 posts - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Back to top button