Removing coverplates from Marine band
Hi
I have 3 marine band 1896 harmonicas. I found one whilst doing a clean up around the house that I can't remember buying and is quite old. I couldn't get some notes to play. I tried to remove cover plates but couldn't undo the screws with my precision screwdrivers. I even took it to a jeweller but the they couldn't remove them either. I then purchased another but accidentally put it through the washing machine and could not get cover plates of this one either. I put it down to either age of harmonica or damage done in washing machine. I now have a recently purchased another MB which has the same small screws which are much flusher fitting than the screws seen in the Videos. Is there a trick in removing the screws?
Thanks
Dave is correct. In order to keep the nostalgic attributes of the Hohner Marine Band 1896 intact, the reed plates and cover plates are actually nailed into place (I saw this process when I visited the Hohner factory in Trossingen, Germany). I will be demonstrating a variety of techniques for working with those pesky nails in the upcoming harp tech series, "Marine Band 101"
In the meantime, grab a coin from your tip jar ($0.25 works well) and slip half of it into the back opening of your harmonica--closet to the ends of the cover plate. Next, give the coin a quarter turn. This will lift the cover plate and nails off the comb.
Your Harpsmith,
Kinya
excuse me for butting in, but maybe you'll wait a little while for Kinya to see your question, so in the meantime maybe this will help:) Those are nails, so you have to prise the covers off with something. have a look at this, starting about 2:45 in:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkqmXP9IVyg