Chromatic 3 draw rattles / Chromatic Maintenance
Hello!
I have a Hohner 270 Super Chromonica & I love playing it & have completed the first 3 Chromatic studies. I've had it for 6 months or so and set it down for a couple weeks while concentrating on diatonic. When I picked it back up the 3 draw rattles really badly when the slide is pressed in.
I looked at the Hohner website video on taking it apart and it talked about buying a toolkit for like $150 that they offier. This made me wonder if I should just take it in somewhere instead of trying to do it myself.
Do you recommend buying any special tools to maintain or work on Chromitics? Any easy way to fix these? Or do people just bring them in /send them in somewhere for service when needed?
Thanks in advance!
Thank you very much!!
Thanks for posting the question Mike and for your detailed answer Winslow. My 280 - 64 Chromonica is having a similar problem with a couple of windsavers rattling. I also have one that seems to stick a bit. So your advice is very timely. I was going to post a similar question myself. I have not opened mine up yet, though I've looked in it and there are a couple of the windsavers that are not laying flat, so I'm guessing those are the rattley ones.
When you say to moisten the paper, will simple water do? I had thought about using alcohol (either just isopropyl or maybe Everclear) or a mixture of alcohol and water to act as a better solvent, would this be a workable idea?
Thanks again.
I followed Winslow directions. Using the moist paper was easy I glad I know that trick but still rattled so I disassembled the slide assembly and poked at it gently with a small screwdriver and that fixed it.
Good to know that worked Mike. Thanks for posting this.
I've always use just water, but anything that won't act as a solvent on the valve or its glue, and won't poison you if you ingest or inhale it, is probably fine
Well, I guess Bourbon won't poison me, but I'll probably just drink that and use water on those wind savers then. ;) Thanks again.
What you're hearing is probably a rattling windsaver valve. Valves are the thin strips of white or tan plastic mounted on each reedplate slot, on the opposite side from the reed. Sometimes a valve fails to seat flat, or it may get coated with something from your breath that makes the underside of the valve stick to the reedplate (in which case it pops) or makes the two layers of the valve stick together, in which case it rattles or buzzes.
If you remove the covers, the draw reeds are on the outside, side by side with the valves for the blow reed.
On the straight-tuned 270, all the slide-in reeds are on the botom reedplate. (Not true of all chromatics; some, the cross-tuned ones, the slide-in notes alternate between the top and botom reedplates, hole by hole).
Check the outside valve next to the Draw 3 reed. If it's twisted, sticking up, or stuck in some grnarled position, try gently releasing it and see it it will lie flat. Check to see that it's not sticking to the reedplate and that the two layers arent' stuck together.
You can clean a valve by moistening a strip of paper - preferably something robust and rough textured, such as a piece of a brown paper grocery bag - sliding it under the valve or between the layers, applying light finger pressure from above, and sliding the paper out to pull away any foreign matter.
Once the outside valve is clean and lying flat, try playing the note. If it plays clearly, you're good to go.
Also, check to make sure that the draw reed itself isn't obstructed by any foreign matter that might impede its free vibration.
If the outside valve and the reed seem OK and you still get a rattle, the problem could be the insde valve that's mounted opposite the draw reed itself. The 270 reedplates are nailed to the comb, just like on the basic Marine Band. This makes serviceing the underside of the reedplate tricky. You can either remove the mouthpiece-slide assembly (takes a simple screwdriver) and try to poke at the inside valve with something like a straightened paper clip, or take a large knife and pry off the reedplate, then try to get the nails re-installed and the reedplate seated in an airtight manner once you're done.