h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

How the hell do you clean a harminica? (Mine happens to be Hohner's "American Ace")

The guy who taught me to play reckons that you never should. He reckons all the old bits of bacon sandwich and beer-breath seasons the reeds.

B

Well, that's wonderful.

Seriously - I don't believe there is any good way of cleaning the things. Those wooden reeds are very fragile, and any absorption will make them sound rubbish.

B

All harmonicas have wooden reeds?

I would imagine so - all that cost more than a couple of quid, anyhow. It's the only material for getting the right sound.

B

I read somewhere that in order to tune a harmonica you add or remove some kind of metal from the reeds, so is it just a cover for the wood?

No idea. I find it easier to buy new harps than try to re-tune the ones I've got.

B

OK thanks

cleaning is possible and occasionally desirable, depending on what you have dropped your harp in, Try unscrewing the outer plates and scrubbing it very very very gently with a toothbush. You can tune old worn out harps by sanding down the reed with an emery board too, but why you would want to do these things when a new blues harp or marine band is only about 25 dollars is a mystery.

by the way Master B. the best harps do not have wooden combs, they have metal ones　- like the oh so expensive hohner meisterklasse harp I was given as a gift for performing a wedding ceremony. About 100 dollars for a simple diatonic harp, but what a tone!!!!

Metal reeds

B