Skalbal
1 post
Mar 26, 2012
5:07 PM
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I have only been playing the harp for about a month and i love it. I have been playing for hours and hours daily. But yesterday my four hole draw started rattling and i tried running water through it and it didn't help. So i took it apart and cleaned it hoping that would solve the problem but it did not. I ordered six harmonicas last week and It will be at least another week before i get them back and i want to be able to keep playing until then. Btw I am playing on a special 20. Any help would be greatly apperciated. Thank you
* sorry for the spelling mistake in the topic i don't know how to change that n e more... oops.
Last Edited by on Mar 26, 2012 5:09 PM
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Todd Parrott
899 posts
Mar 26, 2012
5:32 PM
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Welcome Skalbal!
Sounds like you may have a misaligned reed which may require a reed wrench.
Anyone else, please feel free to chime in!
P.S. (I fixed your typo.)
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Skalbal
2 posts
Mar 26, 2012
5:57 PM
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Thank you for the help Todd. After reading your post I checked again and realized you are correct and a slightly misaligned reed is the problem. I am just wondering seeing as i do not yet own a reed wrench is there any chance that i can just sort of gently push it over or will that make it worse
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Todd Parrott
900 posts
Mar 26, 2012
6:00 PM
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It is possible, but you risk breaking the reed. Be careful!
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arzajac
765 posts
Mar 26, 2012
6:04 PM
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You can use a thin feeler guage to "scootch" the reed over. You can also push the reed out from the back with one finger and with a finger on your other hand, gently ease the reed aside. But if you apply too much force you risk twisting the reed and you will then need to replace it.
For misaligned reeds that have that annoying rattle, I find you can provoke the rattle with very gentle airflow. Harder airflow will make the rattle go away, so if you are checking to see if you "got" it, check with gentle airflow.
Also, you may think you got it just right, but when you put on the screws and the coverplates, the rattle is back. That's because the reedplate is not perfectly flat unless it it secured onto the comb and what is centred when the plate is off is not centred anymore when the plate is back on.
One last thought - if you put the reedplate on a hard surface (like a metal bar) and give the rivet a forceful tap, it may fix the problem. Then again, it may make it worse.
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Last Edited by on Mar 26, 2012 6:12 PM
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billy_shines
320 posts
Mar 26, 2012
6:36 PM
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i use tweezers a wrench can get lost and they dont carry wrenches at a drug store. i use an angled kind they have what looks like hooves not pointed. like this \__\. i move it slightly and look at the light if it has equal light on both sides i test it. if it still sounds funny i look again. if theres hairy bits of metal i profile it. i do this with an exacto knife. take a brand new exacto blade put it in the knife handle and drop the point on a peice of wood so the knife sticks in and wobbles a bit. take the handle and bend it over so the point breaks off. if you want to you can sand the flat tip a bit but i dont.then i hold the blade with my thumb and finger using my thumb as a depth gauge and scrape the side of the reed hole till the burs are out. scrape in one direction from the rivet end to the free end. check the light test etc. you can also use and exacto as a screwdriver to get the reedplate screws off. just put the blade in backwards. i always put the blade in backwards when im done. i had one roll off a table just missed my dingdong and stuck in my leg deep. always get a tetanus shot if you have a very deep wound.
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Skalbal
3 posts
Mar 26, 2012
6:44 PM
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Ouch... Sorry to hear about the leg but its a good then for the ol' ding dong. Thanks to everybody's advice I was able to very slowly and carefully nudge it back in place. Thanks a lot guys as I wouldn't have know what it was or what to do. I haven't been playing very long (2 and a half weeks of learning actual proper technique) but I am absolutely hooked). Don't know what I would have done if I wasn't able to get in my daily practice. also loosened up some of the reeds for the higher draw notes while i was at it as they were sticking like crazy and they play great now. Cheers
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