Ask Harp Tech Expert Kinya Pollard

Hello Kenya.  I purchased  a TurboHarp that you highlighted a while back.  Used it on my harps and for N95 and other masks. You can smell the ozone when you open tthe unit and it gives you confidence that it is working to kill a lot of the little buggers.  Recently, I had a problem turning the unit on.  I contacted James Antaki at TurboHarp and exchanged several emails to troubleshoot the problem.  He immediately sent out a new cap the has the UV light and switch at no charge.  This is a good company that backs up its product. continue reading...

Hello Harp Techs. A few months ago I wrote on this forum, about Don Makowski-Dee’s Fine Tuned Instrument’s innovative glue-free windsaver. For Chromatic and “valved” Diatonic harmonica players, this was a phenomenal idea. Gluing anything has always been a bummer for me ;o(  continue reading...

Hohner Echo and Unsere Lieblinge harmonicas attach the cover plates with nails on the side.  Is it possible to remove these nails with damaging the cover plates?  Also, since they are nailed into the ends, can the nails e replaced with screws?

Hi Harp Tech Kinya,

Is it true that sets for puchase are made with harps that didn't had "enought quality" in production? Selling them at lower price so they can still make money out of them?

Thanks 

Hi Kinya

 I'm a student of Dave's and I've been playing for a little over a year and I play every day. I have three Hohner Harmonicas in "A"  a Special 20  a Marine Band and a Crossover.  The Special 20 plays the best but I like the Crossover the best. My Crossover on 2 draw sounds like its bubbeling when I draw. The Special 20 never does this. I bought a Turbo Harp cleaner and nothing changes after useing it. I sent it to Joe Spiers on Daves recomendation and it still dose it. Is there a cleaner I can use on the reeds?

Thanks Phil 

Hello Harp Techs, 10 years ago, friend and fellow harmonica player, Brad Kava was amongst the few fortunate recipients who received their B-Radical diatonic harmonica. 

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Hello Harp Techs, I had forgotten how effective the Pelco 5394NM flat tweezers (R.Sleigh and J. Harl) were for setting the reed gap, especially after setting the zero point. This weekend, I took the Pelco 5394-NM to-the-bench:

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Hello Kenya. I trust you are doing well.  Two questions:

1.  On an A Harp (or any key harp), does the gap GENERALLY decrease in size as you go from the one hole to the ten hole?

2.  Technically, why do you have to set the tuner to 442 Hz instead of leaving it at the default of 440 Hz?

Hello Kinya,

Hree is my dilema:

I have blown out 2 reeds on different harps.

4 draw on a marine band crossover tuned in D major

1 draw on a special 20 tuned in G major

Let's say I have obatined the tools to perform the replacement but I need to order the spare reeds.

If I were using the US and Canada version of the hohner website I would have easily been able to order the replacement reeds from here https://www.hohnershop.com/single-reeds/

because there you can chose the harmonica type key, hole number and breathing direction. continue reading...

Hello Master Kinya.  If you had me on the short list for amateur brain surgery please remove my name.  When I forge weld in the blacksmith shop, if the welding gods are not with me nothing welds so I usually quit for a while and go weed the garden... Well, the harmonica gods were not with me when I tried to replace my first reed (Key of A draw 5).  I purchased the appropriate  tools, reviewed the "Master" again and went to work with complete confidence until I tightened the bolt a wee too much and stripped the screw.  Confidence went down several notches. continue reading...