New Crossover G harmonica
Sun, 04/22/2012 - 08:52
I am a beginner and just received my new Crossover Harmonica. I noticed that I could not draw a note on the five hole. Thinking it might be me, I blocked the 4 and 6 hole with my fingers and I cannot get a sound when I draw. Is this a defective harmonica? Is there anything I can do to fix the harmonica? Thanks.
Gordon
Defective harmonicas are very rare. In most cases it's the player causing the reed to stall due to tongue location (when this is the case, the tongue is in a location in the mouth where the player tunes their mouth... unintentionally of course... to a pitch that offends that reed). The way to check is to play a chord... holes 4, 5, and 6 blow range... then draw softly... if you hear the reed vibrate (or see it if you take the bottom cover plate off), then the harp is fine. You can also try playing the 3 draw single hole gently (if you know how to play a single note at this point), then sliding up the harmonica to play 4 draw, then 5 draw... sometimes this helps. The key is to experiment with the tongue location in your mouth, and playing softly. If all of this fails to produce a sound, then you can explore sending it to Hohner, but again, be aware that it's almost always player-caused.