Re: [Harp-L] 270 Super Chromonica troubles

["Vern Smith" <jevern@xxxxxxx>]

A food particle, hair, or textile fiber can jam a reed and
prevent it from sounding.  This is the most likely cause of
blow reed stoppage.  Valves mis-behave but rarely prevent
sounding entirely.  The precautions are obvious.

Dropping the harp or otherwise jarring the reed out of
alignment can prevent sounding.  Prevention of that is
obvious too.

I don't believe that gentle playing is a necessary
precaution to avoid such problems.

Less likely but possible is too low a gap or none.  Compare
the gap with the gaps on the reeds to either side.

Whether or not you send it off for repair depends on how
comfortable you are disassembling and re-assembling the
harp. Clearing the "fried chicken" from a reed or
re-aligning it in its slot isn't too tough once you remove
the reedplates to gain access to the blow reeds.

Removing the covers is fairly easy and allows you to work on
the draw reeds and the valves on the blow reeds.

In order to work on blow reeds or valves on the draw reeds
it is necessary to remove the nailed-on reedplates.  This is
more of a challenge on the Super Chromonica.

IMO, every chromatic player should be able to dis-assemble
and re-assemble his harp to gain access to the reeds and
valves.  He should be able to replace valves, clear
obstructions from reeds and re-align reeds.  If you can't do
these operations, you will be sending it in more often and
spending more money on repairs than you like.

Tuning is fairly easy to learn but requires some practice on
"junker" harmonicas.

Reed replacement is useful but requires a lot of practice.
If you can replace reeds, you won't ever need to send your
harp off for repair.

How to do the actual repairs is beyond the scope of this
email but there is a lot of information available on the
internet.

Vern


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Vern Smith" <jevern@xxxxxxx>
To: <bradford.trainham@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, September 11, 2009 4:42 PM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] 270 Super Chromonica troubles


> A food particle, hair, or textile fiber can jam a reed and 
> prevent it from sounding.  This is the most likely cause of 
> blow reed stoppage.  Valves mis-behave but rarely prevent 
> sounding entirely.  The precautions are obvious.
>
> Dropping the harp or otherwise jarring the reed out of 
> alignment can prevent sounding.  Prevention of that is 
> obvious too.
>
> I don't believe that gentle playing is a necessary 
> precaution to avoid such problems.
>
> Less likely but possible is too low a gap or none. 
> Compare the gap with the gaps on the reeds to either side.
>
> Whether or not you send it off for repair depends on how 
> comfortable you are disassembling and re-assembling the 
> harp. Clearing the "fried chicken" from a reed or 
> re-aligning it in its slot isn't too tough once you remove 
> the reedplates to gain access to the blow reeds.
>
> Removing the covers is fairly easy and allows you to work 
> on the draw reeds and the valves on the blow reeds.
>
> In order to work on blow reeds or valves on the draw reeds 
> it is necessary to remove the nailed-on reedplates.  This 
> is more of a challenge on the Super Chromonica.
>
> IMO, every chromatic player should be able to dis-assemble 
> and re-assemble his harp to gain access to the reeds and 
> valves.  He should be able to replace valves, clear 
> obstructions from reeds and re-align reeds.  If you can't 
> do these operations, you will be sending it in more often 
> and spending more money on repairs than you like.
>
> Tuning is fairly easy to learn but requires some practice 
> on "junker" harmonicas.
>
> Reed replacement is useful but requires a lot of practice. 
> If you can replace reeds, you won't ever need to send your 
> harp off for repair.
>
> How to do the actual repairs is beyond the scope of this 
> email but there is a lot of information available on the 
> internet.
>
> Vern
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Bradford Trainham" 
> <bradford.trainham@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: "'Harp L L'" <Harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Friday, September 11, 2009 2:57 PM
> Subject: [Harp-L] 270 Super Chromonica troubles
>
>
> > Now, I'll probably end up sending this back for repair 
> > (as Michael Rubin
> > suggested !!months!! Ago) but I wonder what I might be 
> > doing to cause notes
> > to stop sounding on my Super Chromonica.
> > First, the 10-blow with the button stopped sounding.
> > This was inconvenient, but not a show-stopper since we 
> > can achieve the f
> > through other means.
> > But now, my seven-blow (no button) stopped sounding.
> > What harp-destructive novice habit do I need to break?
> > I don't think I'm blowing the reeds out.  If anything, 
> > it's taken me a while
> > to work up to a sound with volume.
> > But I have two other chromatics that I occasionally play 
> > and they've
> > survived my evolution as a player just fine.
> > Any ideas?
> > Brad Trainham
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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