Ask Harp Tech Expert Kinya Pollard

Kinya, continue reading...

Hello Harp Techs,

Mastering reed plate slot embossing (sizing) is a mandatory skill for all Harp Techs. For many of us, this skill was developed over thousands of reed slots--by trial and error. With each one, your X-ray vision became sharper and more accurate. continue reading...

Hi,

I have been playing Hohner Special 20 harps for quite a few years now. It's my favorite harmonica because of the slightly darker and mellow tonality. But the new progressive special 20 harmonica just feels......different. They just do not sound and feel the same as the old version. Has Hohner done something different to the reed or something? I really don't like the new model.

Thanks.

Hello Kinya.

As you probably know, when you buy a guitar from some shops, you can pay to have guitar setup by a luthier before the guitar is sent to you.

Are there any harmonica sellers you know with a tech expert on staff who will setup the harmonica (for a fee), checking reeds, airtightness etc., before shipping the harmonica to the buyer?

Thanks,

PJH 

Hi Kinya

Sorry I'm bugging you again. 

I play mainly Deluxe/Crossovers, but I'm after building a Marine Band with a Blue Moon Corian Comb so I can leave it in my car for any playing in the car - whilst not driving of course ;-) I'm hoping that a Corian comb will be a bit more stable for the humidity/temp changes that will happen in the car and possibly not be good on a wood comb. 

My first thought was the issue of replacing the cover plate nails with screws, so I managed to find some for the Deluxe/Crossover on the Hohner C-Shop site.  continue reading...

3'' whole step bend on F harp, i cant play it at low volume, the aloud note is ok but if I decrease the air flow it stops playing.

Any suggestion ?

i been working on one of the harmonicas that am trying to restore. and i got all the over blows working on holes 1,4,5,6. the zero point on the draw reed on hole 5 wont set. i put the draw plate in a vice and tried setting the reed. The 5th hole draw reed zero point would not set. Then I tried setting the individual reed with richard sleighs reed shaping tool using the knife edge. And it still wont set. and it causing my over blow on hole 5 sound week and harder to play. Any suggestions.

Hey there kinya,

i'm looking in hohner's website and as the headline says i'm trying to understand Hohner's tuning chart. can you perhaps explain? or direct me to an explanation of their own cause I can't find it on their website :) 

thanks.

http://s15.postimg.org/4sotaxbbf/hohner.jpg

Hi there,

On my suzuki harpmaster, happens in the last days that the 3 draw is so sensitive,

bend is became difficult becausecause It goes very easily from half step to one and half, making

almost impossible to bend only one step. Is there any setup action i can do for that ?

Thanks

Luciano.

Hey Kinya,

I got a low tuned C harmonica and I opened it up and saw that the reed plates don't look new. I ordered it from ebay straight from Japan.. is there anyway to know for sure I was not tricked? Is it common to receive reeds in this condition? 

http://s14.postimg.org/43e471cun/20150422_001243.jpg

http://s14.postimg.org/g7tdo0pqn/20150422_001300.jpg

  continue reading...