RE: [Harp-L] 270 Super Chromonica troubles

["Bradford Trainham" <bradford.trainham@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks!
While I'm not in the least offended by your opinion, let's have "every
chromatic player" turn off the lights and disassemble his instrument.
 (Some of us see with our psyches.)
Your hypothesis about a hair is probably right on.
A mustache with the tenacity of bamboo is front runner on your list of
culprits.
And again, thanks,
Brad Trainham


-----Original Message-----
From: Vern Smith [mailto:jevern@xxxxxxx] 
Sent: Friday, September 11, 2009 6:45 PM
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx; bradford.trainham@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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: "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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>