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

Joe and Cass Leone <leone@xxxxxxxx> · Tue, 17 Feb 2009 15:06:37 -0500

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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