MY HARMONICAS

I wonder if you collect AND play?. If so, what do you do for cleaning?.Here are a few pictures and tips on how I clean. and restore mine,when necessary, (harps, that is!).I am by no ways a specialist in this, but I have learnt a few handy tips after restoring over 500 harps.First I strip the harp down to its consecutive parts, including the reed plates, which I start by sliding a knife around under the pin areas, and removing pins with clockmakers "snipping" tweezers.Pinned covers are removed the same way.Take notice how the covers are assembled before removing as these are all individually fitted and MUST go back the way they came off for the covers to fit perfectly! Pinned reed-plates are easily removed using a knife blade between the body and the plate, to slightly raise the plates and pins and then a pair of pin tweezers or snipes to pull them out. Heads are prone to snap off pins if you do not grip the SHAFT of the pins securely. The pins are usually rusty, so take care to withdraw them slowly, to prevent breakages .Nailed plates are a bit different, these are nailed through a plastic body, (usually), and to remove these I use a small tubular spanner, upright in the vice, with the nail head over the hole in the tubular spanner, and knock the nails's pointed side in. They can then be pulled out the other side. I reverse the process to replace them, putting the nail through one plate and the body, through to the other plate, and tapping the nail head, with the pointy end over the spanner hole with a small hammer, until tight. Ensure any pins, nails, nut & bolts, are not of varying size, if so, note where they came from to put back in order. Mark the plates with a small T or B for top and bottom, also mark the plates as you remove them to identify which way round and which way up they go. The plates are then cleaned of rust and any other oxidisation or gunk, using a rotary brush. (TAKE CARE TO ENSURE THE BRUSH (BRASS or SOFT STEEL), ROTATES AWAY FROM THE REEDS!) Any faulty reeds are then repaired, if you are adept enough!, I have replaced reeds, but not always successfully .Any obstructions in the reed aperture, will of course, impede the reed and stop it sounding, (vibrating) .Using a pair off FLAT ended small pliers you can swivel the reed left or right to clear the aperture and clean it. There must be NO rough edges or protusions, even VERY small ones,(use a mag glass). This is where the pointed scalpel is very useful. After cleaning, the reed can be recentrered with the pliers using a light shining through the plate. I have made a special tool for this which is just a piece of steel like a thin spanner with a slot cut to fit over the pivot end of the reed. (started life as a gapping tool). The body is then cleaned using, again, the wirebrush to remove gunk and debris from between the separators. Be careful!, The wood separators will snap very easily!.Any broken or missing wood separators can be repaired by using a scalpel to square off the broken section and cut a fitting replacement from an old harp.I have used wood glue and superglue, both work well. A difficulty comes if the body has got damp at any time and shrunk. This causes the body to split,usually at a pin or cover support hole. When reglued together, you will find the pin holes do not match ,and/or the reeds do not align properly with the wood slots. You then have to do the best you can in aligning them and redrilling the wood body with a drill smaller than the pins used. If the harp has tin, aluminium or zinc plates, these often distort on removal and are difficult to straighten. After reassembly, scrape a wax candle over the back and side edges of the plate to deposit some wax in the offending leak and run a hot

soldering iron along the join. This will give an airtight seal. This is especially effective in double siders. It can also be used to save disassembly of a split body that leaks. (Old Hohner Chroms are prone to this). The front of the separators is usually worn from use. These I rub down carefully with fine sand paper and re-stain to the original colour and lacquer with clear nail varnish, (dont pinch the wife's!!).You can get permanent ink markers in most colours, and these are ideal to recolor the front and sides of harps before applying a couple of coats of nail varnish to seal them. (Dont want red or blue lips!!) If the original finsh is wood, use a wood stain, a little applied on a cloth pad is enough, dont soak the wood and allow time to dry before lacquering .Nail varnish should be applied with a 3/8" flat artists brush, if you use the brush in the bottle, it dries before you can get a good finish .After cleaning off the plates of any tarnish or rust from the pins, I then dip them in a secret liquid. No, joking aside, I have found that a strong limescale remover, bought at your local supermarket will clean the plates well. Those of you who want to spend more, can use a proprietry clock cleaning fluid. Do not leave the plates in the solutions as they remove brass and can alter tunings, 30 seconds or so is long enough to clean the plates of most tarnish, brushing lightly across the reeds with a soft tooth brush. I have just started using a 'vibrating' toothbrush which works quite well. They are then well rinsed under hot water, brushing with a soft tooth-brush, ACROSS the reeds, DO NOT put much pressure on the brush or you will catch the brush hairs between the reeds and be difficult to get out. The water is then knocked off and the plates dried on a metal tray over a heat source. (I use the toaster!!). Just enough time to warm the plates, DO NOT OVERHEAT THEM ! You could also do this over a radiator, less chance of overheating. If you have an old reed plate, overheat it and see what happens! Whilst they are still warm, I then lacquer them with a quick drying clear metal lacquer, obtainable from your local modelling supplier. Take great care not to get any lacquer on or near the reeds or thier slots,as this would impede thier action. By the way, you can also get replacement pins from a model train shop, used for fixing rail tracks!. Any pins that break or do not grip on replacement, should be replaced with a slightly larger pin. Any holes that are over splits in the body should be redrilled at a secure spot. A drop of nail-varnish in a 'loose' hole will usually tighten the pin. I am no trecommending these procedures, just that it is what I do, and have found to be effective, with no damage to the plates. I do not "nail" the pins in, ie, use a hammer, I use a small vice to QUEEZE the pins in after placing them in the plates and body both side, this prevents any accidental damage to the plates, and is much more controllable. The covers I clean using a buffer and jewellers rouge or even brass polish, then a rub over with a bit of spirit on a clean cloth. The insides of the covers and plates are then given a clear lacquer coating.They can then be refitted using the original or VERY slightly larger pins. A slightly better finish can be obtained if you buff the brass that shows around the covers and the edges of the mouth piece, but do TAKE CARE. The boxes can then be restored, using various marker pens to 'fill-in' wear patches. They can then be lacquered with the same fast dry metal lacquer. This prevents any further wear to the surfaces. I repair broken boxes, making new halves or sides using a similar board, gluing with a 'UHU' glue pen and drying on the radiator. Do not try to dry out a damp wood bodied harp by any means of heating, they shrink like hell and be ruined. And there you have a nice clean, reasonably germ free harp for the collection protected against further tarnishing or degradation for the next 50 years, or until you swap or sell it. If you play them as well as collect, it is a good idea to either punch a few holes in the box or leave the box open for ventilation. (Unless of course its a rare one!) This was not done by makers until recently, now all good harp boxes/cases are ventilated to help them dry out and not rust. Hope these tips help in making your collection look better and keep them from further deterioration. Dont blame me if you cods it up!! Try it on 'breaker' first. Dave.