joeleebush
290 posts
Jul 14, 2011
9:20 PM
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How in the world do you know what you're getting into by buying used harmonicas.
How do you know who's mouth has been on that thing?
It could be loaded with every kind of germ you can think of.
Is there some secret way or some solution to put on one to escape from this?
Obviously a plastic comb diatonic could be taken apart and soaked in alcohol, but those chromatics or the diatonics with the wooden combs are a different story.
I see these bargains on there and then I think..."wonder if the guy had AIDS" or is he some nutcase and has done something else to it, etc etc etc.
Comments welcome and thank you
Joe Lee Bush
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"A man who will not FORCE himself to rise above his circumstances is doomed to a life of mediocrity"....Ty Cobb
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jonlaing
283 posts
Jul 14, 2011
10:10 PM
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Well you can always clean the reedplates and cover plates, and if you don't trust sterilizing a wooden comb, you could always buy or make a synthetic replacement... that's how I'd do it anyway... My bigger concern would be if those reeds are still any good with someone ripping on them for who knows how long. The comb may be the least of your problems at that point.
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Joe_L
1349 posts
Jul 14, 2011
10:10 PM
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Personally, I see very little reason to ever buy used harmonicas. New ones aren't much more expensive. It is rare to ever find a great deal. The price differential isn't worth the uncertainty.
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Ray Cornett
5 posts
Jul 14, 2011
11:25 PM
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The main advantage is if you can do your own customizing. If you customize your harps you are going to do so even if they are new. So, buy them used in good condition and save the money and do the customizing you were going to do anyway. This is especially the case, in my opinion, for harps such as the prewar MB's.You can't buy these brand new and are pretty much the best MB's. Show them some love and fix them up and you have a great harp usually for under $20 because they are pretty cheap to get.
The other night I scored a Hohner 64 Chromonica for a mere $5, $14 with shipping. I can do some of my own customizing so even if it is not as perfect as it looks I am still way ahead considering how much they cost brand new.
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Ant138
1019 posts
Jul 14, 2011
11:28 PM
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I recently bought my first 'used' harmonica off ebay.
It was a pre war Old Standby that i got for like $15.
It was in great condition when i got it but you could tell it had been used a bit over the years.
I gave the mouth piece a wipe with alcohol gel, then tried it out a little just to test the reeds.
I wasnt very happy with the idea of keeping it like that so i sent it to Jim for a clean up and a replacement comb.
Now it feels brand new esspecially with the new comb and it plays amazingly well.
I dont think there are many germs that can live on a harmonica for more than a few days without dying so in reality your probably not going to drop down dead or be stricken with a life threatening disease by buying a used harp off ebay but there is something nasty about playing someone elses spit layden harp lol!!
I think Pat Missin once said on his web site that he has seen insect cacoons and all sorts make their home in old harmonicas or mold spores which could be dangerous if inhaled:o(
I see no reason to buy old new harps off ebay but if your after old pre war stuff i guess you gotta take a chance, but i think if you do end up doing that, spend a little money customising them or at least replace the combs.
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http://www.youtube.com/user/fiendant?feature=mhum
Last Edited by on Jul 14, 2011 11:29 PM
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Ray Cornett
8 posts
Jul 15, 2011
1:31 AM
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Joe, I just actually read your initial post. I very strongly recommend you read up on AIDS and other diseases and how long they live once exposed to the air and which ones you catch what ways.Not judging but after all these years of AIDS existing some of the most common knowledge is that the virus dies a matter of hours after being exposed to the air.
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arzajac
572 posts
Jul 15, 2011
3:12 AM
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Ray, true, but molds or bacteria spores (think Tetanus) may still be present. I agree that it's impossible to contract HIV from a harmonica bought off Ebay, that doesn't make them healthy.
I buy lots of harps from Ebay because I like working on them.
I would think a plastic-combed harp would be harder to clean than a wood one. The reason is because wood can be sanded and sealed very easily. The scratch marks in plastic not so much.
How do you know what you are getting? I have been pleasantly surprised as often as disappointed. Sometimes, you can tell what era the harp is from the box. Other times, it's not the original box...
As for reeds, I have bought about two dozen harps off ebay and not one has had a bad reed yet. Some minor tuning, yes, but no dead reeds. I think that most of the time, if someone kept a vintage harp it's because it worked well and was special to them. I've gotten harps with the coverplates so worn out from playing that it looked like the harp was played for years straight. They are some of my favorite harps that I play almost every day.
I disassemble them and then clean the metal parts with CLR, then Brasso, then an ultrasonic cleaner.
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ReedSqueal
171 posts
Jul 15, 2011
6:33 AM
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Probably no worse that what (can) happen to food served to you in a restaurant by who knows that has who-knows-what. Hepatitis, Aids, cold, flu. "Chefs' Surprise" always concerns me. I'd take a used harp from ebay that has been cleaned with alcohol (and/or chlorine beach) any day over a fresh plate of moist, warm food ("petri dish)which could be IMO harboring more live stuff of bio-mass than an inert piece of metal, plastic and wood that can be treated. Just a thought.
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Go ahead and play the blues if it'll make you happy.
-Dan Castellaneta
Last Edited by on Jul 15, 2011 6:39 AM
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KingoBad
798 posts
Jul 15, 2011
6:54 AM
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Ray, I think he is making a point. Would you like to play a harp from an AIDS patient - even knowing what you know - or any other disease for that matter?
The harp has questionable history that you need to figure out if you can live with that and do anything to help you live with it.
Joe Lee, it is a crap shoot. There are plenty of harps that were given away that have never been played. Most people will not know if a reed has a problem or if a harp is worthless. They will say that they tested it, but they certainly did not lay a deep bend on it. If you like projects, I'd say go for it. You can successfully clean up just about anything. Whether it is worth the time and effort for the cheap find - well that is up to you. When you factor in your time, it is certainly a losing proposition unless the fun is in restoring it - then it is a hobby.
You can always boil, autoclave(if you had access to one), chemically sterilize, sand and seal, etc. Jason Ricci has a pretty good youtube on cleaning harps. I would feel comfortable using a harp after using a product like Kaboom and the rinsing and washing of a harp (provided the gunk and debris was completely removed (I use an old toothbrush and then a sonic cleaner for this)).
I think the fun part (of any ebay buying i suppose)of it is finding those "golden" harps - the ones selling their grandpa's harp they never played for cheap. Still in great shape and only needs a cleaning to be perfect.
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Danny
Last Edited by on Jul 15, 2011 6:54 AM
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Harpengr
15 posts
Jul 15, 2011
8:49 AM
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I scrape and clean with soap and water and where I can with a brillo pad. For sterilization I soak everything in alcohol for a couple of hours. Wood, I use a toothbrush and alcohol then sand and seal. I boiled reedplates once but seem like overkill if you use alcohol.
Last Edited by on Jul 15, 2011 8:50 AM
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chromaticblues
931 posts
Jul 15, 2011
10:06 AM
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OK if it is a plastic bodied harp then anybody should be able figure that out. If it is a wooden bodied harp (which are thw only kind I buy of Ebay) Then you have to take it apart. As Ray stated just the regular customizing of the comb will deal most of could be there. I sand between the tines also. There was athread about cleaning coverplates awhile back. That takes care of that. Brasso on the reedplates and polishing the reeds takes care of that.
I just finnished a pre-war Marine Band "C" harp and it is undoubtedly the best harp I have ever played! It has the playability of a great custom, but has the tonal character of an old Marine Band without the wind storm!
Now its not germs that I worry about its the fact that most of the old Marine Bands I buy of Ebay aren't worth a shit! I get 1 good one out every 5. I look at this way. Where are you going to buy a 1942 Marine Band? A little known fact. Most of the "prewar" Marine bands were built after WW2 with parts left over. I have a Marine Band with the star of david on the lower cover, the cover are not opened and its in the original box that has Hicksville NY printed on it. Yes it the original box because I got it from a person that sold it because his father died. In 1962 there weren't suppose to be any star of David coverplates on Marine Bnads? Prior to 1962 the box would not have Hicksville NY it would say NY NY. That is a given. Thats the only thing you know for sure when you buy an old Marine Band. You can date the box, but the harp and/or the parts that made that harp is impossible to pin point.
You just don't know what your getting!
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florida-trader
20 posts
Jul 15, 2011
12:08 PM
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Couple of thoughts.
Every time you eat in a restaurant, you use a fork and drink from a glass that countless other people have had in their mouths and we don't give it a second thought. And how are these items sanitized? By running them through a dishwasher with some detergent. Assuming you did buy a used harp, you would probably be a bit more thorough than that in your cleaning methodology. I learned how to clean my harps by watching a Jason Ricci YouTube video. He uses Purple Kaboom followed by a bath in a 50/50 alcohol h2o solution. I added Barkeeper's Friend to the mix after reading a post on a website. The results you will get are absolutely amazing! You can take a crud encrusted reed plate and in a matter of minutes it will shine like new. Soak it in the alcohol/h20 solution for 10-15 minutes and I challenge any microorganism to survive that process.
And now for an amusing story. A least I find it amusing. I bought a bunch of old Golden Melodys off eBay a while back. They all had combs with nails which had to be pried out. Some of them were pretty tarnished and I didn't feel like scrubbing them at that moment. So after labeling each reed plate by etching the key on it I threw them all in a jar and added some vinegar, thinking that the acid from the vinegar would eat away some of the discoloration on the metal. I forgot about them for about a week. Then I noticed the solution in the jar was getting darker so I figured it was time to take the reed plates out. I was shocked when I took out a few of the reed plates and all the reed were gone! Gone! My first thought was that the vinegar dissolved the reeds, but upon further inspection I found all the reeds laying in the bottom of the jar. The vinegar did not eat the reeds - it ate the rivets holding them on! That was not the case on all the reed plates - just half of them. But on the plates that had the rivets that could be dissolved by the vinegar, 100% of the reeds fell off and on the other plates, none of them did. Somewhere along the line, Hohner used a different kind of rivet to secure the reeds to the plates. So now I have plenty of extra reeds if anyone needs some and I have some reed plates that I can use to experiment with double reed plate harps.
Are you amused?
Last Edited by on Jul 15, 2011 12:10 PM
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toddlgreene
3128 posts
Jul 15, 2011
12:26 PM
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Don't eat pickles and play one of those harps unless you want to swallow a reed!
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Todd L. Greene
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clyde
125 posts
Jul 15, 2011
2:04 PM
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you don't do you...if it worries you don't buy them...simple as that
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clyde
126 posts
Jul 15, 2011
2:07 PM
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florida says...."Soak it in the alcohol/h20 solution for 10-15 minutes and I challenge any microorganism to survive that process"
then why don't dentists just soak their tools?
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Miles Dewar
1007 posts
Jul 15, 2011
2:25 PM
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Do Not use the comb!
Just strip it and steal the reeds.
Last Edited by on Jul 15, 2011 6:52 PM
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AV8R
155 posts
Jul 15, 2011
2:52 PM
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@ ChromaticBlues You can date not just the boxes, but the coverplates as well, right? (even if the harp was assembled after WWII a Star of David coverplate=prewar coverplate)
Thanks
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groyster1
1174 posts
Jul 15, 2011
5:46 PM
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bleach will kill nything-if you are germophobic(which Im not) use a qtip dipped in bleach and put it down each of the 10 holes believe me it will kill alll
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chromaticblues
932 posts
Jul 15, 2011
6:18 PM
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@ AV8R Yes your right, but like I said I have a harp that was sold in the US some time from 1962 or latter that had a str of David on the bottom plate. The plates were not opened. I'm guessing it was made with parts from the forties and maybe the fifties. It doesn't really matter, but my point is people sell these as prewar Marine Bands, but it was sold here in the US 20 years latter.
I think there is a good chance they made alot of those coverplates before the war and maybe the war slowed production and these plates went on harps for years. I do not know this for fact, but I have seen MB's before in Hicksville NY boxes and just figured 30 40 years ago someone put there harp in a new box. Well I know for a fact that that is not the case with this harp!
To me what is more important is the reedplates. When were the bell metal plates/reeds discontinued? When was the stock of them used up after the war?
I know some of the brass changes are easy to see by the colour. I'll have to see if I can see any difference.
Anyway if you are good enough to know the difference and have owned a good prewar Hohner than you know the answer. Is it a pain dealing with these? Yes! I get sick of it sometimes and mostly only play my new MB's away from home. I'm trying to get enough of them so I can just play them exclusively.
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Miles Dewar
1009 posts
Jul 15, 2011
6:52 PM
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Bleach will kill everything! Even destroy DNA.
But the problem isn't getting a good antiseptic, the problem is getting the solution to the surface. There are an incredible amount of grooves and crevasses on the surface of everything(Besides things like Newtonian Telescope mirrors).
If you increased the scale of the surface metal of your harmonica, it would look like a mountain range. In the valleys of the "Range" is air. Now you have to ask yourself, "When I place the metal in the bleach, how is the air getting displaced? Is it getting displaced? If not, the organisms are still alive.
Even by rubbing the metal hard and long with bleach, there is no assurance that the bleach or even the object you are rubbing with is actuall reaching the "Real" surfaces and not just the mountaintops.
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zipperhead16
34 posts
Jul 15, 2011
6:58 PM
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I picked up 2 MB's on ebay last week. Both c and in boxes that looked new. When I got them, one was a pre-war? with star and the other probably from the 70"s.
Both boxes were like new including the pre-war (NY city, all markings correct) both look completely un-played, like they were setting in a drawer.No swelling or spit in them(took them apart to seal combs)
Bolts and sealing for the newer one and leaving the old one alone.
$20 for both. That's why I buy them. Fun to work on cheap and you can find a real piece of history .
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7LimitJI
523 posts
Jul 16, 2011
2:13 AM
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I've bought a few used diatonics and 6 chromatics. All very old. Scrubbed with soap and a toothbrush, sanded and sealed the combs.I'm still alive and kicking.
You're more likely to catch something during kissing, or other oral,sexual activities ;o)
I have let other people play my harps, but hate the fact I can usually taste them on it. Especially as I'm a tongue blocker.
But as I've said ,no difference from kissing.
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"Why don't you leave some holes when you play, and maybe some music will fall out".
"It's music,not just complicated noise".
Last Edited by on Jul 16, 2011 2:13 AM
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chromaticblues
933 posts
Jul 16, 2011
3:53 AM
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Thats cool zipperhead good for you! I like to hear that stuff.
It's a crap shoot, but as zipperhead said It's possible!
The thing that we forgot sometimes is 99.99% of the population couldn't give a rats ass about prewar Marine Bands! So they are still out there sitting around waiting for someone to sell them on Ebay for $25.
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