On Jan 3, 2010, at 2:40 PM, Michelle LeFree wrote:
Vern Smith contributes:Joe: I have been treating my ultra suede for years with a can of water
You guys just can't bear to let a fellow keep a proprietary secret.Me: ... Personally, I've been waiting for PT Gazell or Brendan Power to
I clamp half of a one inch wide strip of Ultrasuede between two pieces of very flat steel with many 10-32 bolts pulling it together. There has to be over a thousand PSI of pressure. Then I cook the whole thing for about half an hour in an oven at about 250 degF. Then I apply fabric guard waterproofing to the half that is not compressed. Finally I cut the strip into valves. See...nothing to it.
The compressed part is thinner, stiffer, and springier. The uncompressed part retains its soft texture and cannot become wet. I claim that it is the perfect valve. Used against a waxed reedplate, it eliminates sticking, popping and rattling. If you don't believe it, send for some free samples and try them for yourself. Then report your results...good or bad...on Harp-L Hey...they work for me.
Now that you have the "formula" and can make them for yourselves, will anyone be interested in buying them from me???
There, SSSOB, goes my dream of becoming rich and famous as the valve king of the chromatic universe!
Vern
chime in on this thread, as they are both expert Ultrasuede
valvers. World travelers that they are, I suspect that they are
incommunicado right now. In their absence, I'd like to humbly
mention what I've learned directly from PT, whom I think learned
from Brendan. Interestingly, in contrast to Vern's method, PT
doesn't go to the trouble of heating and compressing the Ultrasuede
or treating it with fabric guard. Nor does he wax his reed plates
as far as I know.
repellant I got at the Walmart and used on the canvas Bimini canopy
that was on my old sailboat. For pressure I was using 120 lbs of
barbell weights and a golf cart battery (180? total), Certainly not
as much pressure as Vern.
Me: ...[PT] cuts his valves a
tad short of the opposite end of the reed slot, leaving about 1 -
1.5 mm or so of the end of the reed slot exposed. I don't know why
he does that, so I haven't felt the need.
If, and I say if, the valve would even have an errant thought of sticking, the little bit of breeze blowing by the tip of the valve will discourage it from doing so. Also, it is sometimes a toss of the dice as to whether you will get a clear note from a blown DOWN valved reed. Sometimes they have jet lag. The little space seems to give the reed a jump start. Catching a note already ON the bend (without walking into it) can be challenging...for some.
Me: One practical tip I can offer is that I have found that cutting the
strips of Ultrasuede with a roller-type fabric cutting wheel avoids
problems I have encountered in cutting them with scissors.
Joe: Right on. Even my very sharp barbers scissors won't do. Mama Cass is a quilter, cross stitcher, and etc., and I use her rotary cutter. Since I have a sharpener for the blades, and have been sharpening them for years, she doesn't mind.
Me: Cutting them with scissors can tend to impart a twist across theJoe: Yes, you are torqueing the material. In the tool world, scissors are
short dimension of the valve and a slight curl to the long dimension.
classed as '2 wedges' and work by opposite shear directions. Not a
good deal for thick fabrics
Me: Of course, my experience valving with Ultrasuede is limited to half-Joe: Maybe, but I think (and I'm not presuming to think for Vern), that
valving diatonics, but I don't feel there would be any particular
or unique issue that would make it any different with chromatics.
Bottom line, with all due respect to Vern's sage advice, I'd first
try using plain, carefully cut strips of Ultrasuede to valve your
chromatics. No doubt, Vern's method is sound, but IMHO going to the
length of making a special compression jig and baking the material
to compress it and then treating it with fabric guard may not be
necessary.
Vern is mainly concerned that the longer valves common to the chromo
ad also the most troublesome ones need a little extra bracing or they
are too floppy over that length. On diatonics, the reeds seem to be
shorter for a given pitch. Except the very low keys..of course.
I am presently studying Hypalon. It is a fabric/plastic with a waffle
pattern that is used to repair rigid inflatable dinghies. I also have
a few sheared rubber valves I got from Joe Picarrilli. Those are
nice, They tend to 'cup' when sheared. I guess it all depends on the
shearing.
You see pretty da** good. :)I usually make it a rule to avoid even mentioning my name in the same discussion with PT Gazell's, but plain old Ultrasuede seems to work fine for us. :-)
At least that's the way I see it,
smo-joe