I had some old pre war harps in good condition.. I decided to swap the combs and clean them a bit. When the nails were removed I found the draw reedplates to be bent/curved ( dipping at the middle and raised at both sides) . Now I wanted to flat sand the draw plates. I need some help on this. What is the best way to do that ? How does one straighten the reed pate and will I be able to flat sand it?
Also once the reedplates bent like the way it is now..will that affect the playability?
Don't worry about the bend. The sheet of brass from which the reedplates were made probably had that curve. Once the reedplate is attached to the comb, it becomes as straight as the comb. The same goes for flatsanding it. You will apply downward pressure which will make sure that there is even contact with the whole surface of the reedplate with the sandpaper. It doesn't matter than when you let go, the reedplate will curve back up.
Here is video one of three on the topic of restoring a Vintage Marine band harmonica:
If you really like these harps, put them aside and buy a few $10 used MBs on ebay and practice on them before you work on the real pre-war ones.
Also, in the video I use a few cleaning products to get the reedplates to shine. I don't do that anymore. Just use soap and a toothbrush and ignore the fact that they reedplates are tarnished. Just get the dirt off and don't try to get them to look new. I find they play better if you do less to them.
I think I remember Chris M saying somewhere that at one point the thinking was to put a slight bend in the reed plates (so the middle of the plate was bending towards the comb), as it was thought that the tension would add to the airtight-ness. I think the thinking has moved on now but I can't imagine in can hurt too much.
One thing to remember with the pre-WWII Hohners was that the brass being usd, the famous bell metal brass was a softer brass to begin with and when you remove the plates from the comb, extreme patience is need or you will warp the plate easily. What I always used was an old shoemaker's knife and rather than pry the plate off by going between the plate and the comb, what I did instead was to get under each individual nail head, and gently pry the nails up one by one, which again, takes tons of patience (if you tend to be impatient, you wind up screwing things up easily), and by doing that, I avoid warping the plate.
When Hohner retooled back around 1995-96, one of the things they went back to was using a softer brass, wheras from 1981-95, they were going to stiffer, harder brasses, plus they returned to using long slot reeds, and that's what's also in the pre-WWII harps as well, tho the reed metal is different. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
"when you remove the plates from the comb, extreme patience is need or you will warp the plate easily. What I always used was an old shoemaker's knife and rather than pry the plate off by going between the plate and the comb, what I did instead was to get under each individual nail head, and gently pry the nails up one by one, which again, takes tons of patience (if you tend to be impatient, you wind up screwing things up easily), and by doing that, I avoid warping the plate."
BBQBob, i do that too, but use a mini wire cutter with a flat edge on the bottom side and bevel upside so i can get under the nails w/out even bending the nail heads most of the time. you can use a knife but it's easy to slip and kill some reeds along w/ bending the plates. ---------- MP affordable reed replacement and repairs.
"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"
click user name [MP] for info- repair videos on YouTube. you can reach me via Facebook. Mark Prados
