Harp cleaning

How to Clean a Chromatic Harmonica by Cham-Ber Huang.

It does not matter which make your chromatic harmonica is, there is a double layer plastic valve behind every reed (except a few short reeds in the highest holes). All are dirty players (including myself). Once a while you got to clean your harmonica regardless which make you have. I emphasized mentioning double layer plastic valve because sooner or later when you blow into the harmonica, the dried up salivation deposit will also accumulate between the double layers of the plastic valves. It is difficult to separate the said double layers and clean up the dirt between the layers.
This is what and how I do to easily clean my chromatic ever since then and proved that it worked really well.

  1. Disassemble your chromatic into parts.
  2. Use a brush to clean the comb in a sink of soapy water. Rinse it clean, towel dry, and have it ready for assembly later. (NOTE: If your comb is wood this is not recommended - use a swab and alcohol to clean the comb.)
  3. Do the same to the slide parts.
  4. You cannot easily or practically clean the dirt in between each double layer plastic valve. Therefore, I suggest that you prepare a sink of hot soapy water hold the reed plate at two ends, shake it in the soapy water. Then hold the plate with the tip of plastic valve facing up under the faucet against the current of hot running water. The hot running water will open up the two layers of the plastic valve and flush away the dirt accumulated in them. Don't be afraid that the hot running water way flush the plastic valve off the plate. The hot water cannot damage the valves. You can always glue the valve back to the reed plate.
  5. Hold a clean and dry towel on your hand. Hold the reed plate at one end. Lightly pat the plate against the towel. This will make the excess wetness on the reed plate to be absorb to the towel. The plates are now half dry and you can tell that all valves are now as good as they were new. If you are careful, you would not cause any damage to plastic valves and/or plates.

Created on ... aprile 09, 2002