Re: [Harp-L] Re: New wind saver valve leather




On Feb 17, 2009, at 1:22 PM, Brendan Power wrote:


This thread caught my attention as I've been experimenting with a
synthetic leather valve material.

Actually, it's closer to felt.


I believe it was first used by my friend
and fellow half-valved harp player PT Gazell.

The information on the material was discussed publicly in Sldemeister a
few months back (valve issues are a hot topic there, as you'd expect!), so
I hope PT won't mind if I follow up here on Harp-L. It was that discussion
which prompted me to seek it out and give it a try.


There are lots of synthetic leathers on the market, but the one mentioned
on Slemeister was Ultrasuede, invented in Japan in 1970:


http://www.ultrasuede.com/

I ordered some and tried it out in my harps, all of which (chromatics and
diatonics) are half-valved. For me, I find it works better in diatonics
than chromatics. On my diatonics, I had trouble with buzzing valves in the
lower holes, which was difficult to fix.

Reason being: It is hard to cut cleanly. Scissors are not the way to go. I use a rotary cutter. My wife's rotary cutter..in fact. Also, the longer you cut the strips, the harder it is to keep them stiff enough to stay flat. Ultrasuede is very supple. One way to fix that is to install a cat whisker on top as a spring tension. This is done with accordions I have worked on and in accordions, they use a thin flat piece of steel. I used a cat whisker until I found out that bristles from a paint brush will also do the trick (not everyone HAS a cat). lol

Valving the lower holes with Ultrasuade cured that problem. It also gives
a slightly softer tone to the valved reeds, getting closer to the sound of
an unvalved harp. I presume this is because the seal on the reedplate is
not quite as perfect as with a conventional valve, so a tiny bit of air is
seeping through - but that's just conjecture.

No, it's not conjecture. Ultrasuede is pourous and will not stick to the reedplates easily. Microfine pores of air/wind/breath will let air seep out. This gives the benefit of the aforementioned plus it gives a softer attack. Then when using the material to close off a draw reed, subsequent blowing on the BLOW reed will close off the draw reed but still allow just enough breath to get through the suede to take the 'edge' off of your attack. You get a muted effect.

You have to cut out your own valves (I use a steel ruler and a sharp
blade, but scissors are fine too). I attach with a tiny drop of Superglue.

I use thickened fingernail polish, but superglue is fine. I would use the gel type, but that's just me. I'm clutzy with dribbly stuff.


On longer valves I also attach a light plastic spring on top of the
Ultrasuade to ensure the valve instantly returns to its seating position
with breath changes.

Plastic, cat whisker, bristle. Whatever works.


smo-joe (the McIver of harmonica manipulators)

If Rick's leather refurbishing fix doesn't work, Ultrasuede could be the
solution for Paul's problem with his old leather-valved chromatic.


Brendan Power
WEBSITE: http://www.brendan-power.com
YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/BrendanPowerMusic

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