Just wondering what the best way to thoroughly clean a harmonica is, with the least risk of damaging anything?

I'd like to clean my Hohner Special 20 (stainless steel cover plates, plastic comb, brass reed plates and reeds) from the inside out, but I don't want to damage any of the combs, or bend them even just slightly.

What's the safest way of doing so? Letting it sit in a cup of water for a day? Taking it apart and very, VERY, gently cleaning it?

Looking forward to hearing proper ways of cleaning my harp(s) (just ordered a suzuki olive! I'm brand new to the world of harmonicas and I'm already addicted! lol).

Thanks guys!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/20/2012 04:51AM by twitch77.

To clean diatonic harps with PLASTIC combs (DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS WITH WOOD COMBS!) you can either soak them for about a half hour in a soap and water solution (approximately 2 drops hand diswashing soap such as "Dawn" ) then rinse, rinse, rinse, rinse, rinse some more, tap out the harp, and rinse some more. Rinse! Rinse! Rinse! BEFORE YOU ATTEMPT TO DRAW, make a distilled vineger and water solution (~4 cups water to 1/4 cup distilled white vinegar) and soak/swish the harp in that for a couple of minutes. Then, you guessed it, rinse, rinse, rinse, and rinse some more.

ONLY AFTER you've done the vinegar/water solution rinse followed by a fresh water rinse should you attempt to draw on the harp. Why? Because, and trust me on this, if you don't have every bit of soap out of the harp, when you draw in, you're going to be coughing up your lungs and have a soapy taste in your mouth for quite a while. (Yes, it's most unpleasant.)

OR, you can invest in an Ultrasonic Harmonica Cleaner such as found here: http://www.turboharp.com/all-products/tha-03b-ultrasonic-harmonica-cleaner.html] and use that. Or you could go with the Delux Ultrasonic Cleaner, which can be found here: http://www.turboharp.com/all-products/tha-03c-deluxe-ultrasonic-cleaner.html]. Both are quite sufficient (and no soap needed!).

Tap the harp out several times to get most of the water out then let it air dry.

Works great. (Just be sure to rinse. Seriously. )



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/20/2012 10:58PM by EarthDogHarpin.

ok i'll do that

this is aweosme i just got the special twenty and i read this cuz i was wondring. thanks for making this!

I think that this thread has been fully answered, but will add that you can see on youtube a video of Chromatic harp dissasembly and cleaning, print in on the youtube bar,
Cleaning Chromatic Harmonica - dissasemby
The uploader is named as a Vir Leynes

This takes you through it and he uses an, ozone sanitizer, as extra cleaning.
Chromatic Honer harps have pear wood combs so do not soak with any liquid, water or otherwise,and as said before, be careful of brushing the reeds, brush from back to front, and gently, you do not want to catch the brush under the reed.

The video is in 2 parts, part two is reassembly
You can clean Diatonic in the same way but with their combs being made of plastic or metal (apart from Marine Band diatonic that is wood) and for Diatonic you can also free the reed plates from their mounting by unscrewing this can not be done with older chromatic plates as they are nailed and once the nails are prised out refitting is never as tight.

I i need some help on this cleaning topic... can someone suggest a way to clean a marine band NO 1896? It has a woden comb and i cant open it cuz there are no screws just like nails holding it plz help

That's why I don't buy Marine Band harps. I've pretty much quit buying Blues Harps also because of the wood comb. Alcohol is not good on wood combs. It will remove what ever was used to seal it and dry out the wood.