How to Fix a Harmonica

Enlarge Image Image Gallery Learn these three basic steps on how to fix a harmonica and make it sound as good as new! PHOTO: FOTOLIA/EVGENY RANNEV

How to Fix a Harmonica

Just about everyone that I've talked to really enjoyed Ken Hall's article on "Hard-Core Harmonica.” However, once you take Ken's advice and really start to wail, sooner or later you'll "blow out" your first harp, one hole won't work anymore on either blow or draw, or a note will go flat. This, of course, is part of the dues you pay for soulful playing, but — when it happens — don't throw the broken harmonica away, recondition and recycle it instead!

Jim McLaughlin, a good friend of mine, recently showed me just how to fix a harmonic. It seems that Jim picked up his technique from Chamber Hwang (who happens to be head of research for the M. Hohner Company) and — as you'd expect — Hwang's harmonic repair methods really work.

McLaughlin claims that 9 times out of ten a "broken" reed is actually just full of grunge (it can happen no matter how careful you've been), or simply in need of being bent further out from the reed plate (if it's a blow note) or further in (in the case of a draw note). And, even if your harp has actually gone out of tune, you can fix it if your ear is good enough to tell you when it's right again.

Here are Jim's harmonica repair techniques:

1. First, remove the appropriate cover plate (the top if you need to fix a blow note, or the bottom if a draw note is out of kilter) from your harmonic. Some harp covers are held in place with small screws. If this is the case with your instrument, just remove the fasteners and lift the plate free. Covers (like the Marine Band's) that are secured with nails can sometimes be pulled off by hand but will usually have to be pried free (don't bend the cover!) with a knife blade or small screwdriver.
2. Once the "lid" is removed, check the "bad" reed for gunk or corrosion. You can clean these deposits from the inside of your harp with a toothpick or small screwdriver, but be careful not to scratch the reeds. While you're at it, you might notice — if you hold your instrument up to the light — small scratches on the reeds that look like they were put there on purpose. If so, don't worry about them, because the factory tunes notes that are sharp by making a light scratch across the reed (near the point where It is connected to the reed plate). This "modification" makes the thin metal vibrate more slowly. To raise a flat note, on the other hand, the Hohner folks file just a very little material off of the end of the reed.