Tip of the Week "How to Iron Your Windsavers Flat"

Happy New Year Harp Techs!

When servicing chromatic harmonicas it could be inevitable that the Harp Tech will encounter windsaver (valves) issues. Either by “accident” or by player attrition.

This tip of the week works extremely well for correcting minor problems. The idea came to me from my boyhood memories of building U-Control (tethered) model airplanes. After gluing the balsa wood sprues in place, I would stretch and iron out the wrinkles of the mylar sheet over the wings to create the outside skin.

Direct your attention to the fourth windsaver (counting from the right), and you’ll notice there are unwanted creases and curvature.

Heat (hot, but not glowing red hot!) the flat blades of the Pelco 5394 -NW tweezer

Insert the hot “iron” in-between the upper and lower windsaver. While holding the windsaver down with your thumb (not shown)--at the rivet end, squeeze the tweezers onto the upper windsaver, and draw it away from the rivet. Repeat until you are satisfied with the reshaping. Note: inserting the tweezer directly over/under the crease, then "breaking it" (folding) it in the opposite direction is also an effective technique.

Insert a .001” shim underneath the lower windsaver (directly on top of the reed plate). This will act as an ironing board and help “smooth out the wrinkles”.

Voila! Mission accomplished.

Happy New Year from your Harpsmith, Kinya