Ask Harp Tech Expert Kinya Pollard

Hi Kinya, 

I consider myself your online fan, I love your teachings and your overall style as a person and have seen all your videos and posts!

I practice the teachings a lot, but one thing I just could never get right ,partially due to technique but not only, is how to work on a great 10 blow bending harmonica.

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Here is a little home made lightbox in a pinch made from a Victorinox box, cut with a Victorinox multitool unskillfully

Haha

By the way, not being able to cut hard plastic is the reason I went out and bought a Dremel with a gazillion heads... nothing like buying tools after failing at something

Show us your DIY/Repurposed harp tools!

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I've got an A harp with a 5 draw that sticks, and when it does play it's flat by about a quarter tone (my tuner app reads about 577 hz, closer to D than Db, but noticebly flat nonethelss). Any suggestions on how to correct this? I've got the basic Hohner tool kit. The harp is a Crossover, so I'd love to get it fully fuctional.

Hello Harp Techs, don’t be surprised if what you will learn here today will soon become your default method for tuning harmonica BLOW reeds.

What's the biggest bummer about tuning the hidden BLOW reeds? Most people will respond that it is very time consuming to remove/tune-replace/blow check-remove/tune-replace/blow check-remove/tune-replace/blow check … repeat about 20 to 40 times!

Try this: continue reading...

Hi there harp master Kinya! Love your videos on youtube!

Glad to be here, hoping to stay in the long run!

May I ask about the order of operations when coming to treat a harp.

It is my understanding that for the "common" setup you first:

1. Shape the reeds straight if they aren't (with that clamp you found is best, yes?) 

2. Size the slot

3. Gap the reeds properly

4. Tune

5. Let is (how long before re-tuning again?)

6. Fine Tune

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Hi Kinya and fellow harpers.

I've recently got Horner CX-12 and was quite impressed with its air tightness. Especially on lower end compared to Larry Adler 16 hole.

So, after recent reassembly, I have a feeling that higher holes became much more leaky.It feels that harp progressively leaks air from lower end (which is ok) to higher end (which sounds all airy and breathy)

I seriously can't figure out what's wrong. It's not such a complex assembly to mess it up:)

Any ideas? continue reading...

Hey, Kinya, hope all is well.

I posted this in Winslow's forum and he suggested I repost here.

I just recently bought a Hohner Rocket in B in order to record one song but I find the 3 draw sticks in unpredicatble ways. I'm slapping and drawing but all I get nothing until a moment passes and then it works. Unfortunately, this delay is enough to completely break my timing. continue reading...

Hello Kinya,

Thank you for the superb videos in which you explore three different harmonica tool kits.

Have you tried the Seydel Tool Kit? If so, what do you think of it?

There appear to be two versions:

https://harmonicaland.com/en/389-seydel-toolset.html (a whopping $200!)

There's also a less expensive version that I think has the same tools (it's the same unit #) but a cheaper carrying case:

https://harmonicastore.com/product/seydel-basic-toolset-harmonica-repair... continue reading...

Hello Harp Techs, the Peterson iStroboSoft tuning app[1], with two of my favorite “upgrades”; Harmonica Sweeteners and Harmonic Tuning can take the guesswork out of harmonica tuning. I use this on my iPhone as a Chromatic Tuner.

The Peterson iStroboSoft works well with all types of tuning modalities, including;

1. Tuning Table by Master Harp[2] 

2. The French Tuner by Andrew Zajac[3]  continue reading...

Hello Kinya,

Here's a tough one. I just discovered an issue with my Seydel and wonder if you could help.

My G harmonica has a matte finish on the top and bottom cover plates, which is more resistant to my sliding up and down the harp than the shiny finish is.  continue reading...