Re: [Harp-L] Chromatic customizing (some may consider this to be long)


On Feb 18, 2008, at 10:53 PM, David Payne wrote:

Slide work is tricky. Especially on an older piece. You could 'Jewel'
the slide.

smo-joe



Joe,

I could jewel the slide. What's that?

It's pretty much what you have already done. What I do is hold the slide in my left hand with the button on the right, and using an exacto knife, I drag it along the left sides of the holes on a 45 degree angle to (in machinist's parlance) 'Break" the edges. Then I flip the slide end to end and, with the button on the left now, I break the opposite sides of the holes. Then I do the upper and then the lower edges. (thats 48 edges).

I flip the slide over and do the bottom the same way (48 more edges). Then finish off with very fine emory to catch all the burs. Use rubbing compound to remove scratches and wax with Simonize.

Chromatic customizing isn't something we talk about a lot on Harp - L, so about all I know is what was on The Great Rupert Oysler's video and what I figured out myself, so I'm really interested in how other guys tackle chromatic problems.

We don't talk about it here because people aren't as interested as, say, on another list, where I have been posting for 8 years on these topics. As well as several publications. Harp-l seems to center on people, shows, gear, legends, etc, whereas a chromo list would be more into maintenance. This is only normal due to there being SOO much maintenance to a chromo. Whereas a diat is almost goof proof. I have worked on both since 1956, so, while I certainly don't consider myself an expert, I'm no virgin either. :)

I polished it all, of course, but What I did was, and yes it was tricky, tighten the tolerances a little between the slide and slide carriage. I --- carefully ---- sanded the carriage down to almost, but not, flush with the slide to make the slide fit a bit tighter.

The over bridgerpiece is the tricky part. Take a little off the sides and you tighten up the action. Too much and you ruin the overbridger. The very nature of the beast dictates that there MUST be some play there or unless your entire assembly is completely beyond suspicion as to flatness, you will bind up the parts. Parts that a diat doesn't HAVE.

Then it's a matter of having to dip the mouthpiece (holes DOWN) in 3/16" for Hohner, 1/4" for Hering, a tray of water, to loosen up the saliva. Which has, in time, turned into a fairly accurate mimic of Elmer's Glue. BTW, I use Efferdent to do that. Sooo, after tightening up an action, you need to be especially vigilant and on the lookout for problems. All gains come with a trade off. Then, there are tricks you can resort to.

It seems to have worked pretty well. I sanded the side of the comb a little flatter for the reedplate mate and I embossed and arced the reeds up to hole 6. I tried putting windsavers on it, that doesn't work on the inside cause the chambers are to narrow.

The channels inside ARE narrow, but you can still apply breath savers. The trick is to look at the plate. There will be 'shadows' of the comb webs ON the brass, and as long as you keep the savers inside these limits, the savers will be ok. It all comes with practice applying them.

The chambers are not much wider than the reed itself.

Actually they are at least 1 1/2 times as wide, so a saver . being only 1 1/6th as wide as the slot, should fit just fine. I have often used recording tape (cut down) to replace a saver. Also, sheared rubber from a hot water bottle. Chromos DO take some experimentation. But then it can be fun as long as your hands are steady and your eyes still work. I happen to (now) use a Dazor magnifying lamp with about 4.5x and 3 serious bulbs. But my hands are getting shaky.

On the other hand, tightening the tolerances did give the slide a tendancy to sometimes hang up when I pushed it in, cause the external spring doesn't just push the slide out, it also pushes up.

True. The first thing 'I' do with a new chromo is to throw out the original spring. They are cadmium plated and while appearing clean, the surfaces are actually pourous and will 'saw away' at the spring hole in time. Especially if, like many of the guys on this list, you use the slide a LOT. I use a #2 safety pin. They are chrome plated and slide in the spring hole better. I also put the bend you speak of in the leg of the pin.

I CAREFULLY bent the spring slightly so it wasn't pushing up as much. That seemed to work.

Yup. From what you have said so far, you sound like a person who does a workmanlike craftsman's job. I think you do just fine.

The harp plays now. Before, I couldn't play it, it was so leaky. Now, it plays pretty well, it's just not very loud.

I don't know what experience you have WITH chromos, but chromos AREN't as loud as diats. Also, a peculiarity of chromos is that you can buy 2 chromos and one WILL be louder than the other. It doesn't really mean one is better or set up better. Some are just softer sounding. What I CAN tell you is that Herings will always be louder than Hohners. They are also more 'biting'. Not necessarily sharper, but the sound is more pinchey. Whatever floats your boat.

I'm having a lot of fun with it, it looks really cool. I'm considering making an external spring and putting it on a 270. I don't think the external spring works better, it just looks so cool.

I had a friend (God rest his soul). He was a great player. His name was Jerry (Gerry Muradian). He fronted the Harmonicats. A trio that may have been before your time. We used to work on his stuff at his basement workshop. The first thing he would do was to put on an outside spring made from coil spring he got from a clock shop. He SWORE by them and while he would play any internal spring when 6-7 of us would get together at his house on Tuesdays, he always PERFORMED with an external spring. He said he never broke a spring and the main reason he used them was because of the wear the early slides would endure from the internal springs from his incessant practicing when he was younger. That and chromos originally CAME with external springs.

He literally 'burned' out the spring holes. That's not good, as the slide quits indexing correctly.

Hope you can use some of this 


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