Chord Harmonica
Hi, Winslow. I recently came into possession of a large Hohner chord harmonica. I'm blown away by the sound this thing produces. It is to harmonicas what a violin is to stringed instruments; beautifully depressing, you know? Although I think it sounds great, it's around 40 years old (no idea how to figure out the date) and in need of a deep cleaning. Is there any advice you can give me on cleaning this instrument, preferably with the cover plates (and possibly reed plates) removed, or even a general direction you can point me in. I know Hohner offers a reconditioning service, but after looking at the prices listed (orchestral quality not listed) I noticed it's roughly 75% of the item's total cost, and at $2000 new, would be currently unaffordable. I would like to just clean the instrument myself to make it playable (God knows what I'm breathing in), unless it may have inherent value due to it's age/model. Any information you could give me would be greatly appreciated, thank you for your time.
I live in Michigan in the Detroit area if you know of any techs I could contact. I appreciate your help, thank you.
Wally Peterman is an excellent tech and a chord player himself. He's in Indiana, but at least it's in the midwest;
Leo -
Where do you live? A number of independent harmonica techs can work on chord harmonicas. One reason it can get expensive is that 48 different chords, each with something like 8 reeds, gives you something like 384 reeds, each with its own valve, like a chromatic has.
If you're handy with a screwdriver and careful about assembly/disassembly and keeping screws from rolling away, etc., you can get it apart.
Cleaning the covers is fairly straightforward but you have to be careful not to use pressure that would bend and deform the covers.
Removing the reedplates may be daunting just by dint of their length and the number of screws involved. I've never disassembled a full-sized chord so I don't know whether it has several smaller reedplates along its length, but it makes sense.
Removing reedplates and doing any cleaning you have be super careful not to snag reeds or windsaver valves.
First, brush any crud out of the comb and reedplate front edges with a toothbrush. I'd definitely avoid getting the wooden comb wet in any cleaning effort.
You can clean reedplates with various metal cleaner/polisher solutions, as long as they're not abrasive (or minimally so) and don't leave toxic residues. Again, not damaging reeds is critical. Windsavers can be replaced - and that large-ish chore might be a good idea as they may be filthy anyway.
That's a start anyway. If you want names of some techs, let me know.