Hi,
I got my brand new harmonica now for two weeks. Quite a piece of art

Its a Hohner brand, Diatonic I believe, C-Key. They call it the Blues Harp. They said it was the best to study with. So I got it.

Apperantly, I'm having problems with "severa" drawing notes. Holes 8 for example, it either takes 0.5 seconds for a sound to be achieved, or a harder draw .. otherwise, hole 8 is totally ineffective!

If I try playing America the Beautiful for example, when I get to the part where 8 and -8 take an important part of it, I always fail playing it. tone 8 just comes out too late (drawing air for 0.5 seconds and then a tone comes out), or comes out when I really draw hard ...

Should it be like it?

Theres also a slight problem with hole 5. After playing a bit (drawing/blowing), I get the sense of hole 5 being "chocked" when I draw from it. As if, when I start drawing, the air supply is being cut off and the tone drops ...

Any ideas?

Hello Foxtrot1, what you have is a common problem. It is the reeds getting gummed up with dried spit. Harps need to be cleaned out from time to time. I do this by flushing them out with running warm water. "DO NOT SOAK IT" in water. You do have a diatonic harp. The Hohner Blues harp having a wooden comb will swell if it get to wet, so do not soak it but you can run some warm water through it, shake it out real good and let it dry.

If that does not help, then you may have a burr on the reed plate. This can be corrected but should only be done by some one who knows what they are doing.

Thanks for the tip mate
I ran it through warm water for about 10-15 seconds (ehh, on both sides). It took it about 1-2 mins to dry completely. The general sound was better, but hole 8 still gives me a hard time. I really have to make an effort to draw air for it to make a sound. If I simply draw air as I do in other holes, nothing comes out.

This phenomenon is taking place now in hole 7 as well, and starting to show signs in hole 5 aswell !!

I'm not being rough with that harmonica I hardly even make any effort to blow/draw in the rest of the holes. ..

ideas?

I've had a similar problem with my Blues Harp on the 8th hole but it's on the blow note. My problem is that regardless of how softly or how hard I blow the note is just sour.

The tolerances between the reed and the reed plate are pretty tight on the high notes and I think you might actually have some dust or really fine grit in there. I had the same problem you're having with multiple holes, I wound up having to take appart the whole thing to clean it out (very gently with a soft toothbrush). If you do this be sure to have a little container for all the little screws because there's alot of them.

Maybe your harp needs to be granted, I think this link (sorry, in french)
could help you :
[pc.leclerc.free.fr]
If you know someone who speak french, you can ask him to translate it for you...
I'll search a page in english...
Milamber



Post Edited (01-13-05 20:21)

Here is the page in English using Google's Language Translate feature. [translate.google.com]

Hi, it's me again, now I have a new harp, a hohner pro harp, it's a good harp.
But I have the same problem as foxtrot, in the drawing 10 hole:
I must draw very very hard (raaaaaaa) to have a little piece of sound
But I have the answer, i know why it is.
As I said on my last message, a harp needs to be granted, and you need to move the "plates" (?) to change your note's "air-needing" (?)
So I tried to do it:it's very very very difficult, but i think in 3 centuries it will be done lol...
GOOD LUCK
(I didn't success yet)

Milamber

Sometimes the solution can be easier than one thinks.
I am not saying that is a fact here, but it could be.
Test your breathing....
With the harp I mean.....
The air that we either inhale or blow is the source of the sound.
If you don't breath correctly, your stomic should move, then the air is pressured and you won't get a sound or the correct sound.
I had that problem myself....
Good Luck!
Harp on Foxtrot1!