CapnKen
30 posts
Feb 27, 2012
6:03 PM
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I opened up a GM to clean it and was surprised to see nails instead of screws holding on the plates.. Is it ok to drive them out and take the plates off? will they hold tight after that?
http://www.reverbnation.com/#!/mudflapnicholsandthetwistedspokes
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harp-er
32 posts
Feb 28, 2012
10:05 AM
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I have two of these older GM's, one in B and one I just acquired from a forum member in F#. I managed at one time to pry the reed plates off the comb of the B harp, and clean them and put it all back together. I tried yesterday to do the same with this F# harp and couldn't do it, and I didn't want to force/break anything. So, I just remove the cover plates and brush washed/soaked everything in water with baking soda mixed in, and then brushed everything with rubbing alcohol to disinfect. A good rinse off, let it all dry out, and put it back together. My thinking is that this is part of the convenience of plastic combs - water wont hurt them. I'm not noticing any ill effect to the performance of the harp as a result of this treatment.
I think this regimen is sufficient for these rarely used harps.
If you discover a way to get these "spiked" reed plates off safely, please let us know.
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Matthew
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arzajac
748 posts
Feb 28, 2012
10:37 AM
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Hello Captain.
I've converted a few to screws. The nails come out easily. I have a small vise that I open a little. I put the harp in so that the tip of the nail is in the space between the two sides of the vise and pop the top with a hammer. Once pushed out, the nail can be pulled fairly easily from the other side with pliers.
I don't remember if I needed to enlarge the hole or I just tapped it using the hole from the nail. I use M2 screws and they fit through the comb perfectly. The harps are more airtight when put back together with screws. As airtight as a new GM, actually.
Since you are only hitting the nail and the two reedplates and comb are stuck together, I think it would be hard to distort the reedplate by banging out the nails.
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Last Edited by on Feb 28, 2012 10:39 AM
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Piro39
19 posts
Feb 28, 2012
6:10 PM
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Put the reed plate nail heads over the hole in a socket from a socket wrench set and lightly tap the nail point till it exposes enough of the nail head so that you can pull the nail out with a pair of nail pulling pliers or even regular pliers would probably work. Do your self a favor and get a new comb from one of the comb makers and you will also have to drill and tap the bottom reedplate to accommadate new screws with 1.6 or 2 x 10 mm metric or 2-56 standard screws. You will also need to drill the top plate so the screws will have enough clearance. All this is not difficult with the right size drill bits and tools. Your harmonica should play better with the reed plates mounted on a new comb and a little reed gapping.
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