[Harp-L] Fwd: Sticking Chromatic Valve

[Steve Shaw]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Steve Shaw <moorcot at xxxxx>
Date: 4 October 2023 at 23:57:32 BST
To: Emily Keene <esalisburykeene at xxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Sticking Chromatic Valve


Pat's advice is great as ever. From Emily's quote:

"Firstly you can avoid condensation in the first place by warming your chrom up to just above breath temperature.
cold metal & warm breath = condensation & sticky windsavers.
warm metal & warm breath = a happy chromatic."

Steve Shaw



On 4 Oct 2023, at 23:41, Emily Keene <esalisburykeene at xxxxx> wrote:

" I have a fairly new Konsheng Boogieman chromatic harmonica the Low G blow
hole 3 has a very intermittent sticking like a delayed response. I am not
able to figure out what to do to fix it. I have soaked it in water trying
to clean it thinking it might be a dirty sticking valve but that has not
fixed it."

Does anyone have any suggestions for me?
Roger"


I have a fairly new Seydel Deluxe that I put an upgraded, Saxony style
mouthpiece on, and the better seal seemed to cause sticking when my attack
was too hard on the low notes. I trimmed about 1/8 inch off of the free end
of the clear plastic "keeper" layer that holds down the actual white
plastic material valve, and that seemed to fix it. They can stick together
as well, which might be why rinsing can help. My own theory on this is that
even though the valves are designed to be proportional to the length of
each reed, in real life the valves and reeds don't scale up proportionally
(it's a little like the reason why real ants could never grow to the giant
size that they did in the movie, "Them". Best, emily

P.S. As always, Pat Missin has some good information on this.
Harp On! Chromatic Harmonica Maintenance, Windsavers (angelfire.com)
<https://www.angelfire.com/music/HarpOn/maintwind.html#top>