Chromatic Notes Sticking?

Hi, Taylor.

Good thing you have the 270 Deluxe and not the classic 270, as it's easy to disassemble for service, with its screwed together construction. (I play a lot of classic 270s but drill them out for screws after flattening and sealing the comb).

The reed reluctance you're describing has three possible causes:

-- Breathing issues

-- Reed gapping issues

-- Valve sticking issues

Let me treat them in that order.

=== BREATHING ISSUES

The chromatic differs from the diatonic in that, thanks to valves, each reed is isolated - your breath goes to that reed only, without any access to the other reed in the same hole. That is, when you play a blow note, all the air goes to the blow reed and not to the draw reed. Likewise, when you inhale, all the air comes through the draw reed, with none coming through the blow reed.

Because of that isolation, chromatic reeds are more sensitive to two things:

- Excessive breath pressure

- Mismatched mouth resonance

When you breathe a little too hard through a diatonic, some air will move through the opposite reed, even if that reed doesn't sound. This acts as a sort of shock absorber, taking up the excess and allowing the note to sound. This makes the diatonic more forgiving than the chromatic, which will clam up if you use too strong an attack. The solution is to simply learn to modulate your attacks when you play chromatic.

Mouth resonance is where you tune your mouth to a note. You bend notes this way, but you also do it either without intending to or as a way of enhancing the sound of a note. When your mouth resonance is tuned to a pitch that differs from the one the reed is designed to sound, you'll get either shrill noises (typically on the high reeds), depressed pitch (more typical on the low reeds), or a note just clamming up and refusing to speak (most typical on the chromatic).

The solution to mouth resonance problems is to cultivate a neutral, open mouth and throat cavity to let all
pitches sound well. Reserve dialing in your mouth resonance until after you can get the note to sound clearly.

=== REED GAPPING ISSUES

A reed gapped too low will refuse to speak, or will speak only after a delay. Check the gapping on the reeds that refuse to speak. If their gaps are significantly lower that those of the neighboring reeds, you may wish to raise them slightly until they speak normally.

=== VALIVE STICKING ISSUES

Valves stick. It's fact of life when you play the chromatic harmonica. A valve that's stuck to a reedplate may prevent a note from sounding, or pop open with application of breath force, or after application of moisture as you play. A valve whose two layers are stuck together may buzz or bray or otherwise introduce unwanted noise effects into the sound of a vibrating reed.

What can you do to reduce sticking?

- Keep sticky stuff out

- Clean your valves

- Treat the reedplate to prevent sticking

First, don't breathe sticky gunk into the harmonica. Rinse your mouth before playing and don't eat while playing or drink anything except water.

You can clean sticking valves by making your own cleaning strips. Make the strips using rough-surfaced paper, such as construction paper or grocery bag paper. Cut the paper into strips about 1/8 wide (slightly wider that the valve) and about 4 inches long. Moisten the end of the strip and insert it under the valve as far as you can go without damaging the flatness of the valve. Apply light finger pressure to the top of the valve, and drag the paper out to scrub off any residue. Tear off that now-dirty bit of paper and use the next bit as a dry scrub to remove moisture and any remaining residue. Do the same between the layers of the valve, each time using a fresh bit of strip.

You can treat the reed slot with wax to prevent sticking. Wax makes moisture bead up so that it can't create the surface tension that causes valves to stick. Use paste wax, not liquid wax, so that you can control precisely where the wax is applied. Apply the wax to the surface of the reedplate along the edges of the slot - the areas where the valve makes contact. Use a q-tip or similar applicator to apply a small amount of wax, then polish it so that it's smooth and hard.

Let the polish outgas - release all its fumes - by letting the reedplate lie exposed to air for a few hours.

Hope this helps.

Windavers are best when lying flat but they often don't. This will not cause sticking, and if the sound is otherwise not affected, I wouldn't be much concerned.

That said, make sure that the two layers of the windsaver are not sticking together, as the upper layer can pull the lower layer up off the reedplate.

You can get paste wax at you local grocery or hardware store.

Lift the valve up from the slot with a toothpick or something similar, but be sure not to bend it out of shape or compromise the glue seal at the base of the valve.

Apply the wax with a q-tip or similar soft applicator, just to the edges of the reed slot. You don't have to apply it to more than about a third of the length of a medium-length slot, o again don't push the wax so far that you deform the lay of the windsaver

To polish the applied wax, rub it with a clean q-tip. Then let the reedplate outgas for a few hours before re-assembling.