Raise the Ceiling and Stop the Noise!

I remember back in the 70’s hearing the distinct “thump-thump-thump” sounds come up through the floor of our practice room located over the kitchen of of my buddy’s parent’s house. When the band got too loud, his Mother would thump the ceiling with a broom handle (followed by expletives) to alert us we were too loud.

This is not all that different from low tuned harmonicas, such as G, A, LowD, LowEb, LowF. Reeds 1 and 2 are heavy and long, and have a tendency to swing in/out of the slot and hit the “ceiling”--that would be the inside of your cover plates! The resulting annoyance would be a “clicking” or “buzzing” sound.

The goal is to “raise the ceiling”--so that Mom can’t reach it with her broom handle ;o) Here is a proven technique you may want to try to eliminate this problem:

You will need to invest into Vise-Grip (Irwin 23EL5) tool. I adhered non-scratching suede onto the jaws of my tool, but you can protect your cover plates with Blue Painter’s tape.

Here is a “before” shot of a Hohner Special 20 cover plate. Notice the huge gap on the leading edge.

Evenly align the Vise-Grip tool across the front of the cover plate and lock the jaws in place.

While holding the cover plate level to the workbench, pull the tool downward to close the gap. Repeat for opposite cover plate.

The finished process will look like this. When you reattach the cover plates, you will find that by “raising the ceiling” of the cover plates, you had created more clearance for the swinging reeds. One final thing, the mouthpiece will feel fatter in your mouth, because it is ;o)

Your Harpsmith,

Kinya