----- Original Message -----
From: "Serguei Volkov" <svolkov@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, May 07, 2007 3:10 PM
Subject: [Harp-L] Will chromatics one day be valveless?
Has there been extensive research on a valveless harmonica
design (i don't mean Koch or Seydel standard)? What I mean
is have there been efforts made to create an airtight slide
mechanism, which would render valves unnecessary?
I claim that my Hands-Free-Chromatic (HFC) is leak-free. It has no button.
The player directs air to the lower reedplate by moving the mouthpiece down
(or the harp up) by about 4 mm. Although developed as a way to play
chromatic on a rack, it has the unexpected benefit of freedom from leakage.
This is because there is no slide assembly and the mouthpiece is in direct
contact with the comb.
Whether freedom from leakage in the slide makes valves unnecessary is not
for me to say.
In the HFC, the comb is metal or plastic and the surfaces of the comb and
mouthpieces are lapped flat and smooth to .001" or better.
Several people have purchased HFCs for this property even though they do not
play them on a rack. I do not know if they have removed the valves.
In most standard chromatics, there is up to .008" of clearance (or extra
space) within the slide through which air can leak from the hole being
played to the unused holes and hence to the outside. I recently checked a
new Hohner 270 Deluxe and found .006". Both Tate's and Schackner's
maintenance books describe an operation to reduce this clearance to .002" or
.003". I made a little tool for reducing the clearance to .002" in a Hohner
270. There are a number of these modified mouthpieces out there so maybe
someone has tried to remove valves on them and will report his results.
In my opinion, the most effective thing a customizer can do to improve
chromatic performance is to reduce slide clearance.
Vern
Visit my harmonica website www.Hands-Free-Chromatic.7p.com