Re: [Harp-L] Re: Cleaning Chromatics

[David Payne <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In my chromatic harp philosophy, less is more, I think long and hard before I do something and try to be the least invasive as possible. There's the soap method, where you take a slightly damp piece of paper and run it across some soap and then work that betwixt ye old windsaver flaps. That's not really a method to clean, but it lubricates the valves. 
You can clean the slide with an eyedropper, hold the harp upside down so water doesn't run inside. Put a drop of water near the button, work the slide and watch the dirty water come out the other side. 
recent project for an example:
I did a repair/cleaning of a Hohner 64 chrom for a guy who brought it back after the war. It had 50 years of gunk in it. Visible food inside. I used like a 600 grit polishing cloth on each piece of the slide assembly, plus alcohol. Plus 600 grit paper again. He had oiled the slide for years, this made it impossible to simply wash clean, the oil and dirt fuse together like the grease inside an automobile engine. Most of your slide assemblies are all brass, there's no rust to prevent, so oiling is unecessary.  
The comb was cracked, had a big toothpick-wide crack in it. I repaired that with some liquid wood stuff and little bamboo splints without taking the reedplates off. Any dirt, etc. down inside the comb, I scraped out with tweezers. Reason I bring the comb thing up is if it's a nailed chromatic, I do everything I can without taking the plates off. Seydel chromatics are wood, but put on with screws. You can take those reedplates off with impunity, though. I'm mostly talking about Hohners in the description above. 
I'm out of my flu coma, I showered, even stropped up the old German straight razor, lathered with some of Colleen Hurley's finest Bay Rum shaving soap, shaved, splashed on some CLubman... feeling more human. 
I'll have to make a chromatic cleaning video and put it up on Youtube. I"ll pass it on when I do. 

Dave
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Dave Payne Sr.
Elk River Harmonicas
www.elkriverharmonicas.com