Re: [Harp-L] Small mp leak

[Music Cal <macaroni9999@xxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks Joe. Sounds like you are addressing leaks between slider apparatus
and comb rather than slider apparatus and mouthpiece (my present interest).
Is that correct?

Your general construction of the gasket is in-line with what I am thinking
except for the material.

I clean my harps regularly by dripping water on the slider and by placing
the harp mouthpiece-down in a shallow pan of water. IMO maintaining a clean
slider is important for hygiene and slider function. So a paper gasket
seems out-of-the-question as a long-term solution. When it gets wet it will
fall apart and while intact the porous material will be a nice milieu for
bacteria.

Therefore I am presently considering using 1mm thick (hopefully thinner if
I can find it) silicone rubber sheet and cutting it in the manner you
outlined.

Has anybody here worked with thin silicone sheets? Any suggestions?

Music Cal



On Fri, Mar 9, 2012 at 4:00 PM, Joseph Leone <3n037@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Uh-huh. What you do is take construction paper (blotter paper is
> unnecessarily thick). That's the stuff your children used to bring home
> that became refridgerator art. In Pittsburgh we called it Fridgedaire art.
> So....you cut the holes out FIRST. Why? Well the paper is a loose fiber
> pressing and isn't that sturdy by itself. So you leave the paper around the
> holes till you cut the holes.
> Then you cut the strip the same size as your mouthpiece. Next you take a
> small paint brush and dip it in a puddle of 50/50 Elmer's glue & water. You
> deftly pick this gasket up and apply it to the bottom of the over the comb
> bottom metal piece. Next comes the slide, then the mouthpiece itself. For
> leaks between the over the comb gasket/slide/overbridger, you need to:
>
> reduce the clearance of the overbridger, OR make sure the slide is totally
> flat, OR make sure the over the comb metal bottom gasket is totally flat.
> OR any combination of these.
>
> On Mar 9, 2012, at 6:06 PM, Music Cal wrote:
>
> > A little follow up on my question about air leaks between the mouthpiece
> > and slider apparatus.
> >
> > Last night I took a small strip of binder paper and slipped it (with
> > some effort) the undesirable gap between mouthpiece and slider apparatus.
> > I then trimmed off the excess with a razor blade and tamped it into
> > the groove with the razor blade. In this manner I managed to plug up
> > a significant part of the leak - maybe about half the total leak surface
> > area (perpendicular to air flow).
> >
> > Wow! What a difference this makes in an already nice instrument. The
> > difference is as one might expect: The reeds respond better and a fixed
> > volume can be obtained with less effort.
> >
> > This is only a temporary fix. I am really motivated to find a long
> > lasting fix and a fix that will eliminate the leaks on all four sides
> > of the rectangular mouthpiece hole (presently I am only blocking two
> > sides - top and bottom). A gasket seems to be a good idea. Surely
> > somebody has tried something like a gasket between mouthpiece and
> > slider apparatus. I would really like to hear from you if you have.
> >
> > Music Cal
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >> Hello
> >>
> >> Recently, while cleaning my chromatic harmonic, I noticed a small gap
> >> between the mouthpiece and the slider apparatus. I think the gap may be
> >> responsible for the decreased reed response of some of the reeds of the
> >> lower reedplate. The gap is bigger on the underside of the harp
> relative to
> >> the top side.>
> >>
> >> Does anybody know of a good way to fix this? The mouthpiece doesn't have
> >> much a bow in it (as mentioned in Douglas Tate's books) but I don't
> want to
> >> try bowing it. Has anybody had any success with some sort of gasket?
>
>