How to Fix a Harmonica

By Marc Bristol
Published on December 2, 2011
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PHOTO: FOTOLIA/EVGENY RANNEV
Learn these three basic steps on how to fix a harmonica and make it sound as good as new!

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:

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