i have been playing the harmonica for about a mounth. my first harp was a hohner silver star. one of my biggest problens was the threats keep on cloging up. i have tried running it under water and this only temporarily fixes the problem. can anyone tell me how to keep the threats clean.

i have also purchased a hohner marine band and as it has a wooden base i cant run it under water. any advice will be much appretiated

Beat the harmonica against your palm. Again, only temporary, but it's easier than running to the fossit. It knocks everything off of the threads, you actually want to do this regularly to keep water off of the threads, I don't think it's a very good idea to put it under water because it will rust. Not trying to make you feel bad. That's just what I've read.

It isn't good to wash a wood comb in that fashion because the wood will end up swelling up. In fact when you are done you should tap your harmonica on you palm to try and get out as much saliva out as possible to prevent the comb from swelling as well.

thanks heaps. i think my old harp may have starded rusting. thanks for the advice

no problem, it will give you more life on your harp.

More reasons to get Plastic Comb harmonicas.

That is true, but some people think that after the wood comb has swelled a little the harmonica produces a better sound. So it really comes down to personal prefs.

Swelling wood is a tricky thing. It tightens up the harp, this can improve the sound, but the swelling will change the way a harp feels in the mouth, ( it bites my lips). This is the main thing I don't like about a wooden combed harps harp.

I like my plastic combed Lee Oakars better than any wooden comb harp I owned before. They never bite my lips. They seem to last a LOT longer than my other harps did.

So how long does a cheap Harp last? My original £5 ($8) G has been sat on and blown now for 18 months, I actually reckon it sounds better now than it did when I bought it despite my best efforts to make it sound bad!

Depends on the harp, and how you play it. A good harp will take more abuse. It is made of better stuff. It has more quality control in manufacture.

One thing you will notice with any harm, mightyjimbo, is that any harp will sound better after it's been played a while than straight out of the box. As far as how long a harp lasts, well, that depends on a number of things, just as chibluesteve said. I've had some that were cheap harps that have lasted me quite a while. I've had some not-so-cheap harps die on me within 3 months. Likewise I've had cheap harps that have died quickly and more expensive ones that have lasted longer.