W3DW

Pelican cases are made to be waterproof. My keys, wallet, phone and camera go into one straped to the deck of my kayak. Never a problem.

I'm all for experimentation! I don't see a problem with reaching the buttons with a fixed wrist strap - I expect that with 16 and 17 buttons per side, you wouldn't need a row longer than 6 buttons, as is common to duets. Obtaining a wet sound by tuning octaves a couple of hertz apart will give a different result from tuning identical reeds since the beats will be established primarily between the upper reed and the first harmonic of the reed an octave below. I grabbed a guitar to compare the result, and confirmed that the result (to my ears!) seems less like a warm vibrato and more like a tuning problem. But this is just a guess. Build it! The worst outcome would be a vibrato that doesn't meet your expectations, at which time you could easily retune the 442s down to unison.

The initial post url didn't work for me. Try this one. http://www.oldmillmusicfestival.com/?page_id=21

http://www.oldmillmusicfestival.com/?page_id=21

It seems to me that the play-by-ear versus play-the-notes depends on the person, not the instrument or the type of taditional music. They are different ways of using the brain, and we all have different brains and different ways to get to the same result. So which one are you? You don't know yet! Start to learn the basics of reading music, because a basic familiarity with written music is always helpful. See how this fabulously versatile tool works in your hands, and be patient - you're learning a new language. And do your best to hear it and play what you hear - it is also a developable skill. Neither is better, because they will both get you where you are going, and even if you favor one method, the other can still serve you as well. I'd rather just pick it up by ear, but if you give me the music and a little time, I can have the tune in hand. That said, playing by ear is more convenient because you don't need the written music to transmit the tune, so long as somebody knows the tune to start with. Enjoy the journey!

Let us know what solution you choose.

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