Re: [Harp-L] Soaking harps




It'll probably perform pretty badly until it warms up. When your hot breath hits the cold reeds, moisture from your breath will condense on the reeds, making them wet, sluggish, and perhaps completely unresponsive.

This is why Robert Bonfiglio warms his harps with a small electric blanket or heating pad before he performs. You want the reeds to be as warm as your breath to prevent condensation.

Any appreciable condensation on the reeds is shaken off by their vibration. The reason that Bonfiglio and others warm their harps is indeed to suppress condensation. However it is not for any "sluggishness" affect of the reeds.. They play chromatics where the condensation can cause the windsavers to stick and pop.


Visit my harmonica website www.Hands-Free-Chromatic.7p.com
Vern

I think I may have mentioned this before, but a cheap and convenient way of keeping your chroms warm and ready to play all night is to put them in a bag of some sort with one or two of those gel hand-warming packs, the sort that have a little disc in them which you flex to activate the gel. They give out gentle heat for a couple of hours, and when you get home you restore their heat-giving powers by boiling in water for a few minutes. I've had a pair of these for two years and they cost me three pounds the pair and they're still going strong. I've forgotten what popping valves are.


Steve

http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/trad_irish_harmonica
HEAR my CD clips: http://www.gjk2.com/steveshaw/cd.htm

_________________________________________________________________
Watch all 9 Live Earth concerts live on MSN.  http://liveearth.uk.msn.com





This archive was generated by a fusion of Pipermail 0.09 (Mailman edition) and MHonArc 2.6.8.