Windsaver care, issue prevention
After less than a week of playing on my new chromatic the 7 blow was getting no sound. From doing a little research I suspected one of the wind-savers was either not opening or closing off properly. The one on top of the plate was easy to get to and loosen up, but that did not do the trick. The other one inside was hard to access. I was hesitant to take the harmonica apart. I managed to get a plastic toothpick in the cavity to loosen up the wind-saver and press it down a little bit. That eventually helped. From this experience, I had a few questions regarding how to deal with wind-saver issues.
1. I know wind-savers are sensitive, but was it unusual to get an issue this early?
2. Besides what I did with the plastic toothpick, are there better ways to clear up and quickly correct the wind-saver without taking the harmonica apart.
3. How often would a wind-saver hang-up? I don't think it feasible to have to take the harmonica apart every week to free up wind-savers.
4. What would be good preventative measures?
4. What would be a good time frame to get full wind-saver replacement done?
Thanks
Brian
If the outside valve (windsaver) was not the issue, then the inside one was not the issue either. By pressing the toothpick in the blow slot, you most likely freed the reed itself.
When you play a blow note, the blow reed, on the inside, gets pressed through its slot. The outside valve, mounted on the outside of the same slot, gets blown out of the way unless it's stuck to the plate.
The inside valve is mounted on the inside of the draw reed slot. When you play a blow note, the inside valve gets pressed against the draw slot, preventing any air from leaking through the draw reed and directing all the airflow to the blow reed. If it's stuck, it will have no effect on the blow reed because it is mounted on a different slot and will still be doing its job.
It's also possible that you worked on the wrong outside valve, one place to the left or right of the one affecting the 7 Blow.