Ask Harp Tech Expert Kinya Pollard

Hi Kinya

I have been watching your video on reed replacement. On the video are you saying that if a reed is out of tune by 50 cents or more then it is better to replace the reed?

Are the Lee Oskar (major diatonic) reeds interchangeable as they are with Hohner reeds i.e. could I replace the 9 draw (F) on my C harmonica with a 9 blow reed from a Bb?

Do you know if it is possible to purchase individual reeds for Lee Oskars? I have only seen replacement reed plates online.

Thanks

Hello Kinya,

I just bought some new screws for my harmonica coverplates to replace some old ones that had corroded. I am wondering if the material could be harmful in any way though. Here is a link to the amazon page where I got the screws (I bought 2-56, 1/2'').

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Hi Kinya

I have a Sirius chromatic whose 3-blow G suddenly went very flat yesterday.  It was off about 40c in the morning, then descended to F# where it has stayed.  My question is: is there any point in trying to retune it, or should I just get the reed replaced?  Is a semitone too much?  FWIW, the F# sounds very nice, not at all dead. 

Thank you

Daniel

Your Harpsmith, Kinya

Hi

I have watched your video on ultrasonic cleaners. The brand from micromark works off 120V. I live in Australia which uses 240V,

Can you recommend any other brands that may be available in Australia? There are many on ebay etc but I can not assess the quality and reputation of any of the listed products. Failing that can you tell what sort of specifications I should be looking for.

Best wishes

I want to convert some of my Crossovers to country tuned harps.  I've used the table on this web site:

http://www.harmonicaspace.com/harmonica-forum/maintenance-repair-customi...

Any suggestions for finding a similar chart for country tuning?

I don't know if Kinya has mentioned this yet but I find a magnitized screwdriver essential when installing tiny cellphone or Suzuki screws used in reed replacement. I like the Wiha brand screwdriver a lot but they don't have and magnitized screwdeivers. But they have this instead. It's fabulous... works like a charm. 

Wiha Magnetizer / Demagnetizer

Hey Harpsmith,

This is a picture of my G harmonica, Draw Reed, with the 2nd hole draw scraped almost completely. what I tried to achieve is to reach the note C and on the 3rd draw the note E to get the "Easy 3rd! Do it!" tuning, but I only got to C#, even after scraping all that metal... did I do something wrong? (although the free end of the reed looks scraped perhaps, it is not, it is scraped until the thick part)

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Hohner says this about the new Rocket and Progressive Special 20 reed plates: "Special 20 reed plates have been slightly altered to accommodate their use in the Rocket, HOHNER’s newest 10-hole Progressive harmonica.  The plates are identical except for the additional cover plate screw holes on each side needed to accommodate both models." continue reading...

Hey Harpsmith,

I got myself an SCX-48 Suzuki 12-hole Chromatic, which I really like except for when I go to the 9-12 holes, there It has softer/quiter sound, and it takes a decent amount of extra breath in order to produce that tiny sound. I tried the CX-12 by Hohner and it was "balanced" across the spectrum as you like to put it, same breath for the same tone every single note so I dont think it is mostly my embochure... are there any "treatments" I can give my 12 hole chromatic in order to make it louder and easier to play on the higher end?

Thanks in advance.