ReedSqueal
299 posts
Jul 04, 2012
12:27 AM
|
Yes. No.
----------
Go ahead and play the blues if it'll make you happy.
-Dan Castellaneta
|
chromaticblues
1257 posts
Jul 04, 2012
4:08 AM
|
Everything is better with leather!
|
laurent2015
295 posts
Jul 04, 2012
8:14 AM
|
Maybe am I wrong, but you made an experiment by removing a chrom's valves to try bendings.
Is it the same chrom you try to "revalve"?
I can tell you that if you've got much patience, you could succeed finding your own matter.
If your time is precious, you'd better try asking Seydel: they sell almost the same valves as the ones used by PT Gazell on his diatonics (suede matter).
As a result, your chrom will be better than when you bought it.
|
billy_shines
662 posts
Jul 04, 2012
10:43 AM
|
drum skin is leather scraped and sanded thin i guess i will just have to try it. i had an old chromonica years back that had what looked like tracing paper valves im pretty sure this was beater skin.
|
barbequebob
1970 posts
Jul 05, 2012
10:19 AM
|
Leather has the best overall seal, but once it gets dried, it will have a curling problem much worse than plastic ones do and no matter what materials you use, they will require regular maintenance.
----------
Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
|
barbequebob
1971 posts
Jul 05, 2012
10:22 AM
|
Leather has the best overall seal, but once it gets dried, it will have a curling problem much worse than plastic ones do and no matter what materials you use, they will require regular maintenance.
----------
Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
|
ElkRiverHarmonicas
1218 posts
Jul 05, 2012
5:50 PM
|
Yes, you can and you absolutely should. I have one harmonica with leather windsavers. They have been on that harmonica since 1947. They are a lot thicker than the Hohner windsavers everybody is used to. I moisturized the outside surfaces with mink oil and it's great. I know somebody will probably say something about that, but you have to keep the leather conditioned if you want it to last - moisturizing the outside doesn't hurt.
OK, here's why you need to play leather windsavers. It totally fits your personality. I'm a bit eccentric myself, thus I prefer to play harmonicas that are not normal. If you're playing instruments from stolen McDonald's broomsticks, then you need to be playing interesting harmonicas as well, thus the need for leather windsavers - the only thing that would be more off the wall in this synthetic day and age would be if you made some from the foreskins of the endangered Aoelian Wall Lizard or something.
Leather windsavers are a pain in the ass, but no more in my mind than any other windsaver. They do have a different tone, you can hear this when you hear recordings from the 1930s - 1950s. the tonal difference is due to a difference in compression.
If you are using leather, the thinner you go, the more curl you get. There are two ways to combat this:
1) use thicker leather.
2) Use a stiffener.
Both work.
When I say thicker leather, I'm still talking about a thin piece of leather, it's just a little thicker than that drumhead. Or you could use the same thickness two-ply. Whatever floats your boat.
Here's two ways of stiffening a leather windsaver.
----------
David
____________________
At the time of his birth, it was widely accepted that no one man could play that much music so well or raise that much hell. He proved them all wrong.
R.I.P. H. Cecil Payne
Elk River Institute for Advanced Harmonica Studies
Elk River Harmonicas on Facebook
Last Edited by on Jul 05, 2012 5:53 PM
|
JohnnieHarp
122 posts
Jul 05, 2012
6:05 PM
|
Dave, does leather work better with the smoother side against or away from the reed plate?
Thanks, Johnnie
|
ElkRiverHarmonicas
1219 posts
Jul 05, 2012
6:14 PM
|
Smooth side needs to be on the reedplate.
----------
David
____________________
At the time of his birth, it was widely accepted that no one man could play that much music so well or raise that much hell. He proved them all wrong.
R.I.P. H. Cecil Payne
Elk River Institute for Advanced Harmonica Studies
Elk River Harmonicas on Facebook
"Oh, Eeyore, you are wet!" said Piglet, feeling him.
Eeyore shook himself, and asked somebody to explain to Piglet what happened when you had been inside a river for quite a long time.
|
billy_shines
674 posts
Jul 05, 2012
6:16 PM
|
yeah man mine looked like the one on the bottom the thin one looked like tracing paper exactly like my beater skin. the one on top was like a thick paper like a lamb or goatskin drum parchment. i thought they were paper but they would get soggy and they wouldnt rip. and they were fine when dry. someone stole the DAMN thing and i hope theyre still playing it.
|
