Anyone out there with me in saying the most frustrating annoying thing about harmonica is when notes stick!!! GAHHH!! I would throw my golden melody across the room right now if I wasn't sure that would cause more me problems.
I'm have a serious issue with my 7 hole blow note continuing to stick on me. When I gap it to make it play easier I end up losing the overdraw.
I've seen all the customizing vids out there but I just don't think I have the touch for it yet.
Is it my technique, my harp, or somewhere in the middle?
If you play after eating without brushing your teeth, or you take sugar in your coffee, that could cause the problem you describe. I'm being serious. ---------- YouTube SlimHarpMick
High Asilve3,i have the same problem with holes 7 & 8 blow and draw on all my harps so it is obviously a playing fault with me. Just recently i found that i can get a good full toned note from these holes by placing the harp deeper into my mouth, the down side is that the ajasent holes bleed in a bit so i am trying to learn to tounge block when i play above hole 6 which does'nt come easily but i can see a way foward from a really frustrating problem so give it a go and see if this helps
I have had this problem where all of a sudden the reed just seems stuck. It seemed to happen with the blow reeds more often (like the 4 or 6 blow). I reduced the occurence of this issue greatly by waiting to drink my margarita until after I practiced and not during. Sorry... true story.
nacoran > I think you will find the covers on a Puck simply slide off ie they (front & back) are slotted into grooves in the reed plate.
Some of the other problems I have read on this thread come down to cleanliness. Harps do over time collect a lot of gunk building up on the reeds, reedplates, comb & inside the cover plates. However hard you try ie avoiding food and drink whilst playing it still happens.
I've adopted a regime of regularly stripping my harps and giving them a thorough clean using steradent denture tablets and then washing in dishwashing detergent then a rinse. I hang the parts on a line in the shade using paper clips. I have found that harps that sounded a little flat respond by sounding good as new. It must remove some build up on the reeds.
This works for most modern harps ie wouldn't try it with a wooden harp.
A note of caution. I always mark the reedplates with a permanent marker as without any markings it's a jigsaw trying to reassemble. I recently purchased a different brand of denture tablet -polident & found that it dissolved the permanent marker & made it a nightmare trying to reassemble 2 harps an A & C. Difficult enough to work out which was top or bottom but I finally got it sorted.
I'm really paranoid now about the sugar in my coffee thing... I guess I wouldn't play guitar with bbq sauce all over my fingers either so the same should apply to harmonica.
I frequently clean my plastic combs with toothpaste and a toothbrush but never do any work on the actual reed plates. Mostly because I worry I'll knock the reeds out of alignment and then have more sticking problems.
Any cleaning tips out there?
I'm thinking of trying jason ricci method out on my GM
Here's 2 different situations , asilve's problems is different than just a reed sticking on a regular blow or draw note .He has the harp setup for the overdraw , therefore he has to keep a very low gap .Asilve , you know that you walk a fine edge , you gotta find the compromise ,try not to attack the note very hard , and to not lose that overdraw that easy try to remove the reed and emboss the whole slot , than it will allow for a bit of a wider gap ,and make sure you emboss the top of the slot , not only the sides , also try tip scooping .
A lot of crap just to get that b5
Last Edited by on Oct 26, 2009 9:28 PM
I think what he's talking about is when you gap really tight, but it's not sticking because he's blowing too hard. It's sticking because of saliva, that can be a problem on low gapped harps, especially up high. You can clear it by playing a soft chord usually. Tap it out and watch the saliva going in. The problem can be made worse if you are playing the harp to where gravity makes saliva run in. Hold the harp at a 90 degree angle from ground. Maybe that will help. Maybe it won't. ---------- www.elkriverharmonicas.com
Thanks Aussie. I think it was just a case of me not wanting to push too hard and breaking it. Now all I have to do is figure out how to get that permanent marker off my teeth!
Last Edited by on Oct 26, 2009 9:28 PM