Many of us here in the UK are having to pay record amounts for space heating - thanks to Putin - so are running our homes cooler than ever before. Many Old-Age Pensioners can’t afford to do both: eat or heat. And many citizens of all ages are heating low and piling high - on insulation - Clothing!
So my practice room has been noticeably cooler when I practice the Sax - with the concomitant increase of condensation in the Sax - and with noticeable saturation of the leather pads.
When I was searching for my lost cards wallet (don’t ask!) I came across my old heating pad that was used for a bad back!
In the UK we’ve always had hot-water bottles to take to bed on cold winter nights - so Slumberland made an electrical equivalent of the hot-water bottle (it was a flat rubber ‘bottle’ filled with water as hot as it would take - and slipped inside a cover - and would last at least until the occupant was asleep!). Sometimes accidents caused severe hot-water burns. At least with the electrical version you would only burn your house down (!) if left unattended.
Are you still reading me?
Well I have been using it to warm my sax (only lightly) in my practice room - and to my amazement it starts off in tune - and really reduces condensation. Very effectively - no puddle at all on the floor!
At this point the intelligent anticipating reader is already ahead of me!
Yes! What do you think happens when you play a cold harmonica? And where does all that condensation go… And stay? Yes inside. I reckon it does more damage to the harmonica internals - than a Sax’s pads.
A (slightly) warmed harmonica doesn’t suffer nearly as much condensation - so nor would I imagine, not so much internal damage from condensation either. I’ve warmed the ones I am playing for a few minutes on the (low-wattage) heat pad - up to about 18°C for red wine! (OK if you’re across the pond that’s about 60°F. Why don’t you use the sensible range of 100 being boiling and Zero being freezing over there? It’s barmy!)
And a (relatively) warm Sax is more pleasant - with no finger slippage! - to practice on.
So my therapeutic heat pad is preserving me - my Sax … And my reeds. OK my case of harmonicas
I know … You’re thinking that heat (maybe in Summer) may do just as much damage.- or more! And you’d not be wrong!
My fiddle (and amazing US Collings mandolin) are very sensitive to heat - so each case is equipped with a Thermo-King sensor that sends out a minute-by-minute temp signal inside the case. It’s proved very useful if you are stuck in a traffic jam with the sun beating down. It sends a Bluetooth warning to your phone app so you can prevent it overheating. It also records the temperature range over weeks.
So you’ve probably got your own solutions - but in these high cost-of-living times we can slow the internal damage to our chromatic harmonicas - with their sensitive valves - and blues harps too - as long as we consider the consequences.
The only oxidation (rust) I have on my harps is the ‘tin’ Hohner Blues Harps. EastTop’s seem to be made of stainless steel covers - and my Hering is in mint condition. My Hohner XB-40 is in amazing new condition without any decay (mainly because it’s not played much!) - and my Suzuki MR 350s are Blingy Blingy shiny!
But but but!
I don’t know - nor do you! - what’s happening inside.
But I know in these cooler climes we maybe aren’t considering the actions we can take to minimise internal - invisible - damage.
But maybe you are? Tell me what else we should be doing please?