Re: [Harp-L] Chromatic customizing

[Joe and Cass Leone <leone@xxxxxxxx>]

On Feb 20, 2008, at 1:57 PM, Vern Smith wrote:

> The most important modification by a wide margin is to reduce the  
> clearance in the slide to about .002".  Tate and Schackner's books  
> describe the process.  This is because the worst source of leakage  
> in a valved chromatic is from hole-to-hole through the slide.   
> Leakages under the reedplates and under the bottom-plate of the  
> slide are negligible in most 270s.  Unless you fix the through- 
> slide clearance, there is no point in grouting or gasketing under  
> the plates and slide.

I must agree. I have a slide by Vern Smith and it is a work of art. I  
have to admit that I never risked going to .oo2. The most I ever  
reduced an overbridger was from .oo7 to around .oo4 or 5. Having  
worked on chromatics for over 50 years, I pretty much follow a set of  
procedures that nearly match those of Tate, Schackner, Timler. I just  
didn't know it at the time.
> Timler of Harponline said that if a chromatic is not valved, other  
> efforts to reduce leakage are like weatherstripping the windows  
> with the front door standing open.  In a valved harp, a stock slide  
> acts as an open window in Timler's analogy.

Michael Timler is seldom (if ever) wrong.
> I posit that the precisely-made, low-leakage slide is the only  
> thing that distinguishes the performance of the Renaissance from an  
> ordinary 270, assuming that both are well tuned and gapped.  The  
> Renaissance is, however, much prettier and easier to maintain.

I tend to agree. That and the reeds (themselves) are very precisely  
gapped. In fact, the customer must fill out a sheet so that this can  
be accomplished on a custom basis as per the player's style.
> In cutting down the flanges of the U-channel to reduce clearance  
> you don't expose much brass compared to the area of the brass  
> reedplates.  Exposed brass will tarnish but will otherwise not do  
> any harm.

The tarnish is a good thing. It will actually attract crud quicker  
than the slick chrome will. This will tend to seal-up that hairline gap.
> Except for the height of the U-channel flanges, the Hohner slide  
> parts are very uniform and flat.  I rub them with crocus cloth to  
> smooth off any burrs around the punched holes but not enough to  
> remove the plating.  Then I give them a thin, hard coat of  
> Johnson's paste (carnauba) floor wax to suppress saliva sticking  
> and they work great.
>
> Gasketing or grouting of the plates and slide bottom-plate is much- 
> discussed but largely inconsequential. Hole-to-hole leakage through  
> the slide is the seldom-mentioned but egregious thief of breath and  
> resonance!
>
> When Tate was among us, I was awed by his musicianship but argued  
> that he placed unwarranted importance on silver plating.

I did too. It's hard to beat chrome plating. Chrome is very very hard  
and slick and is used inside the bore of the otherwise sloppily  
constructed AK47. That one item makes it possible to operate one even  
after it has been buried in a pile of highway snow plow truck ashes.
Chrome is also much more anti corroding than silver. There are NO  
silver plated propellers for salt water.

> Neither one of us ever changed his opinion.  I am saddened that he  
> is not available for more such arguments!

A true gentleman of gentlemen.......my opinion      smokey-joe
> Vern