Re: [Harp-L] Air leakege between comb and reedplate

[fmajor7 <fmajor7@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Boris,

It is quite reassuring to read about the leakage problem you have
discussed. I recently had a very similar experience with a brand new Seydel
Baritone Chromatic. As soon as it arrived I discovered that it requires a
huge amount of air to blow and draw. I discovered that the air leakage is
between the gap of the cover plate and the slide plate. I tried to refit
them but I had no luck.
I wrote to Seydel and they asked me to send it to them which I did. I got
it back after two weeks but sadly the problem remained - probably a little
less leakage.
Last month I was attending the National Harmonica League in Bristol, UK and
I took my Seydel with me. There I met James Bolan from Seydel who was
repairing harmonicas (Seydel and other makes). It took him a while before
he found out that the cover plates are not sitting 100% on the groove and
he decided to replace the cover plates. Obviously it was a manufacturing
defect - may be 1 in 1000 - I don't know. Watching him and talking to him I
learnt a lot - hopefully I can now use that knowledge to solve some of my
problems. James himself is a brilliant Chromatic player and a very talented
technician.
My next big problem with quite a few Chromatics is the slide - in some they
make a hard hitting noise and in some they are a bit slow or drags a bit. I
have quite a few Hering Chromatics. They are really fantastic to play but I
noticed that they use the small plastic buffer only on one side  - nearest
to slide button. The other hole has no plastic buffer ! Could that be the
reason for this hard hitting noise ?
Would appreciate your advice.

Gautam


On Sun, Nov 10, 2013 at 9:11 PM, Boris Plotnikov <ploboris@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> I always customize harps for me very deep. I flatsand combs, reedplates,
> embosse slots for full lenght using microscope, recently started to polish
> reeds. So actually I feel it like my fault that I didn't care a lot about
> coveplates leakeges. I always thought that as reedplate have a rail for
> coverplate it's enough airtight and never worried about it. I was a bit
> shocked when noticed what a big amount of air goes between coverplates and
> reedplates, especially at 1st and 10th holes. Checking all my harps using
> light I've even found some of them (I was not completely happy with!) with
> leakege in the middle (because of coverplates which a formed not perfect,
> e.g. corner steps outside rail). Using light, vice-grip, pliers and sanding
> paper I make much coverplates much better, but I'm also thinkin of some
> other way to make this connection more airtight. I see one guy use a strip
> of duct tape in the rail of coverplate, but I think it's not good for
> coverplate vibration (it seemed to me that harmonica sounds duller,
> possible nocebo effect). How do you solve it?
>
> PS Does modernbluesharmonica.com down?
> --
> Thanks, Boris Plotnikov
> http://borisplotnikov.ru
>