[Harp-L] Re:Chromatic customizing

[Snaruhn@xxxxxxx]

This is a subject just right for me and as usual I wait a little to  spend my 
2 cts.
 
As Blackie and Doug showed, one can write books about customizing harps,  
specially
chromatics.
 
Blackie once said that every harp right out the box has to be worked more  or 
less.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
If one were to plate a slide, the plating would take up space, therefore  
making the tolerance better, right? Maybe that is what Doug was talking about.  
It's a shame he's no around, I miss him. 0

Dave
_____________
Dave  Payne Sr. 
Elk River  Harmonicas
www.elkriverharmonicas.com
_______________________________________________
Harp-L  is sponsored by SPAH,  http://www.spah.org
Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l
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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Vern

----- Original Message ----- 
From:  "Iñigo García" <iruiz2@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To:  <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 6:07  AM
Subject: RE: [Harp-L] Chromatic customizing


> Hi  everybody:
>
> I recently bought (and read) Douglas Tate's book  "Make Your Harmonica Work
> Better", and among other things I was  discouraged to read that after doing
> most of the improvements on the  mouthpiece, slide movement, etc (metal
> parts) he writes that you have to  plate those pieces (chrome plate, silver
> plate). Does anyone know the  reason for this? The only one I could think 
> of
> was maybe health  related, due to the possibility that tiny metal pieces 
> make
> it  to your lungs if you do not plate the pieces after working on them? Do
>  you people do this plating process or not?
>
> In addition, on a  Hohner 270 (chromonica) what do you think it is the most
> important  customizing job to do (the one that improves most
> responsiveness/air  tightness)?
>
> I appreciate any comments on this...
>
>  Thnaks,
>
>  Iñigo.

_______________________________________________
Harp-L is  sponsored by SPAH,  http://www.spah.org
Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l