Harmonica Maintenence and Repair

[jbone]

I tend to work my harps hard sometimes and it results in a reed getting tired and going flat.  Sometimes I've been able to file a bit off a reed and get it back in tune for a little while but usually once it's flat it's near the end.

For may years I just tossed a harp with one bad reed.  Then I began buying new reed plates for some harp models, and it was a decent solution.  About half the cost of a new harp.  But on some special harps, like the low octave Suzuki Manji in D, the plates are pretty expensive.  I also have had chromatics flat a reed here or there and a reed plate set can be real high $$ wise there.

Last year I sent a couple of harps out for repair and they came back like new.  Not dirt cheap but not too spendy, and it saved buying a whole new reed plate set.
 So when I have to I'm going to have harps repaired in the interest of economics.

Something else I have decided I need to do is, if a harp isn't playing how I need it to out of the box, I will go in and change the gaps on the reeds to open them up for more air flow.  I recently did this with a nice harp that would choke under fairly normal use.  The first test yesterday was successful and it took just a few minutes and very little work to get it working better.

[whitefang]

Hmmm... So, opening the reeds don't affect the pitch? Interesting....

Whitefang

[jbone]

No it does not. If one goes too far they won't make a sound since it's all about vibration in the air passing through the reed slot. If you file some material off the free end it raises the pitch. If you take some off the end attached to the comb it lowers the pitch. It's pretty delicate work and a whole culture has grown, of people who work on their own harps up to customizing harps for whoever wants them.

For me the less I have to do to a harp the more I like it. But then I'd rather drive the race car than build or repair it!

[whitefang]

Nov 11, 2019 14:34:47 GMT -5 jbone said:

 But then I'd rather drive the race car than build or repair it!

Me?  Well, I go along with what Bob Dylan said about sports cars in "Bob Dylan's Blues" (from FREEWHEEIN')  To paraphrase.....

I ain't goin' down to no racetrack to see no race cars run;

I don't have no race car 'n' don't even care to have one;

I can walk anytime around the block!   

Whitefang

[jbone]

No doubt Bob has not ventured into guitar or harp repair.

[whitefang]

Dunno.... but he did get to a place where he wouldn't have to. Just go and get another. Maybe write it off on his taxes("tools")

In the movie "Hail, Hail, Rock'n'Roll" Chuck Berry alluded to that as why he didn't mind checking his guitars with the baggage on plane trips. If anything happened to them, he said, "I'll just go get me 'nother one. Write it off on my taxes, "tools"!

Whitefang

[jbone]

Wouldn't that be nice! But other hand there are guys like willie Nelson who kept the same little acoustic guitar until he wore a hole in it.

[whitefang]

I heard a story that back about the early 2000's MARTIN gave him a brand new limited edition "signature" re-issue of the worn out Martin N-20. He thanked them and a couple of days later gave it away to somebody. Don't know if it's true, but it does sound like Willie. And didn't he name the guitar "Trigger"?
Whitefang

[jbone]

You know more than I do on that!

By the same token, of loving a particular guitar, some harps become favorites and it's not just the model. There are harps that were just built on the right day with the right parts and the right technique. I have a Special 20 that's about 10 years old now and it's still hitting on all cylinders. I use it once in a while. Wife got me a rosewood comb/covers Suzuki Pure years ago and while I finally had to replace the reeds plates it is a favorite very sweet sounding harp. I keep it for one song in particular. It can't get played loud. I have a dilemma currently about a big Hohner 365, which is like a Marine Band on steroids. No longer made and it's lost a reed. No idea if I can get it repaired without breaking the bank. Perhaps when I start getting an hourly wage again next year.

I know guys who buy every pre war Marine Band they can find and then customize them. Not even to sell but for their own use.

For years I had no clue about repairing a harp. Not many people did that level of work on one until about the '80's and then a few guys who worked on their own harps began getting requests from other players to build them harps as well, and the art of repair and customizing was born. Early this century I began doing seal jobs on Marine Band and Blues Harps since the combs would swell and warp over time- cheap wood and no seal-, but I didn't do any retuning and I still had the bad habit of sucking reeds flat pretty quick. I put the seal thing aside. It was a difficult process and dangerous since I was using heated beeswax. Low flashpoint. Hohner does make sealed wood comb harps these days.
Ultimately Hohner and then other makers wised up and began making better harps. Which for the most part my budget has me buying stock but upper or middle tier instruments. As reeds go flat I send them for repair since it's less expensive than keeping reed plates on hand, and some harps you can't get what you need for low $$.

There are people out there making harmonica combs out of different metals, woods, and even stuff like Corian. I have no idea if they make a harp better and I don't want to spend that kind of money to find out.

Being working class kind of player, and with limited space as well, I can't afford to collect a lot of harps, mics, amps etc. What I have needs to be and stay functional!

[whitefang]

I don't get the bit about buying "all the pre-war Marine Bands they can find" and then customizing them. Seems to me that the desire to buy anything "pre-war" would be because of that item's particular uniqueness. Like I would want to acquire a "pre-war" Leica 35mm camera because of it's rareness and quality construction compared to other 35mm from the same period. And with NO good reason to "customize" it to operate as a modern day camera. Or(as this is a music forum) hunting down a "pre-war" Stromberg arch top acoustic guitar only to take it to a luthier and have him "customize" it to sound and play different than the playability and unique tone it had in the first place. Which would be the only sensible reason I'd want one to begin with!
Whitefang

[jbone]

It's like buying a Model T. If you want to drive it much you have to upgrade some stuff or at least knock the patina off it.
The pre war MB's had a different recipe brass in the reeds which was supposedly superior. WWII changed that since that brass was needed for cartridge casings I guess. So prewar is desirable to some part of the harp playing population. Personally I want instruments that perform. I wish I'd put away my first harp, which was sold to my Gramps in about 1954. I blew that one to shreds. Some of today's pros could have resurrected it.

[whitefang]

I think I can see that, but still seems to me that to "upgrade" a pre-war Marine Band to be able to play it means it's practically the same as just buying a new one. But I'm not sure if the pre-war MB's are different cosmetically than what's on the market now, which would add some sensible reasoning in my case. Like for instance(and guitar-wise) if I wanted a pre-war Gibson ES-150 and found one that was made pre-war, to make it playable might require my replacing the pick-up which in the old guitar might not work anymore. And I don't think the original pick-up is still available, so I'd find a suitable replacement. But the pre-war ES-350 is different cosmetically than the ones Gibson still makes, so the way it looks is the major factor. See?
Whitefang

[jbone]

I do see. And I'm guessing that the bell brass reeds and plates and maybe the old covers have some superior sound. Or mojo. Or something. To me if you play from the heart and have a halfway decent quality instrument, brand or model does not matter so much. End result is the thing. If the Marine Band had been made with exotic wood comb or something I'd believe that the old harps might have a better tone but if you've ever heard a guy like Blind Mississippi Morris do things with $5 Johnson POS harps that you can't do on a $60 Suzuki you get the point.

[whitefang]

Yep. It goes to my old story about the photographer's camera and the dinner party hostess's pots and pans.
Whitefang

[jbone]

So I sent 2 harps out about 3 weeks ago for repair. Each needed a new reed. They are done and the cost is less than the price of one new harp. There are both high end stock harps, one of which retails at about $75 and one at about $90. So $50 to get them back in good shape is def worthwhile!