Hole 5 draw broken

Your not alone Mr. B. It is a common occurrence to have the #5 draw reed give out before the other reeds on our harmonicas.

The reason for this is that there are no bendable notes on the #5 draw (a little bit for expression, but not a real note). Until we discover this, we tend to "over draw" (over stress) this poor reed until it fractures and goes flat. It's almost as if we are "willing" the note to magically appear ;o)

Ten Second Music Theory (relative to a C harmonica):You can only bend down notes that are a "whole step" or more apart from each other in the same chamber (blow reed and draw reed). On the #5 hole, the blow reed is E and the draw reed is F. This is a natural half step (same as between B & C), not a whole step.

So let's check out hole #4, for example: C is a blow reed and D is a draw reed, which is a whole step apart. This is why you can bend D down to the note that lives in between the D and the C, which would be Db.

On the #3 hole it gets more interesting, because there are actually 1 and a half steps (1.5 half steps); G on the blow reed and B on the draw reed. This means I can bend down the G note and play: Ab, A, and Bb. Amazing isn't it!

So my advise to you is ease up your breath on the #5 draw, and/or increase the gap to around .007'

Let me know how it works for you.

Your Harpsmith,Kinya