I cant figure out how to clean and then put back together a harp without ruining the internal settings. I have tried 3-4 times and cant get the plates to work properly. I have bought new harps and find that some of the tones are not playing ‘clean’ so have tried to “fix” and then occasional mess it up. I have used the Hohner SpeciaL 20 so far and I wonder if its just a matter of time before you toss them out and buy a new harp and simply stay out of the inner workings of the harp, or is there a straight forward process to clean and tune them properly? any help is appreciated, thanks.
OK, first thing--don't throw them out. Second thing, are you sure it's the harps? Certainly, practice will help you get better with regard to gapping and tuning, but cleaning should be pretty straightforward. Soak all parts (except for wooden combs, but you are using SP20s, no worries there), wipe them clean, and "plink" the reeds to make sure they sound clear and have no detritus blocking the reeds in the slot. Reassemble and tune to your liking, again, something that gets easier the more you do it.
If you are new you may be drawing and blowing way too hard. Very common issue. When you had your harp apart you saw how small and fragile the reeds are. Very little disturbance can knock them out of alignment, and if they have been drawn too hard they will fatigue and flat out, which is difficult to remedy short of having a reed replaced. For a time some years ago I went to the trouble of filing down flat reeds to get it back to good pitch, but my efforts were for nothing. The offending reed was usually a goner and never lasted long. Someone can repair a reed or on some models of harp you can replace the reed plates. Hohner has the MS series, Suzuki along with Lee Oskar and Seydel all have replacement reed plates as well. If you play as if there was a baby asleep in the next room that's a good way to start out. Past a point no matter how much air you try and suck or blow through a harp it will get no good results and will flat a reed. Maybe you know all this already. Over many years- about 45- I have killed many reeds especially before I learned that focus of air is superior to force of air. Voice/breathing lessons helped me access my air column in my torso and I learned to breathe deeper. Relaxing my throat etc. was also a plus. These days I do occasionally wreck a reed, and it's a matter of swapping a reed plate or two and I'm back up and running. Hopefully you are finding some good lessons from say, Adam, our host here, or several others who can be found on youtube and other places. It's much better to develop good habits now rather than try to quit bad habits and replace with good later. ----------
If you are only cleaning the harp, and it's not a wooden comb, drop it in a tall glass of water and throw in a couple of Polydent denture cleaning tablets. Give it about 6 hours and then run water through the glass for a few minutes. Voila, clean harp(s)
Thieven', I'd add to be careful running the water through the harp. You don't want full blast with good water pressure, just enough to carry out the loosened gunk. I haven't tested it, but I'm guessing with my water pressure I could mess up the gapping.
thanks for all the advice, really appreciate it. The overblowing is definitely an issue, I think, because I come from a Japanese shakuhachi flute background. I must have bent the plates somehow so we will see. I already ordered a new Hohner Marine Band C harp so the one I have can be a backup if I can fix it. And the glass of warm water for 6 hrs is perfect.
I like your video on taking apart harmonicas. Years ago, when I started opening up harmonicas, I would take a Sharpie and put a "T" on the top reed plate and a "B" on the bottom reed plate after I took the covers off but before I removed the reed plates. I do not need to do this anymore, but it helped me early on.
