How do I clean my harmonica without taking it apart?

Question

I have seen many videos on "how to clean harmonicas", but in all of them, you have to take the harmonica apart, clean it and reassemble it.

The thing is there's no marine band harmonica in my country. I bought it from the US on Amazon and I can't afford to take it apart. If something bad happens while taking it apart and putting it back together, I can't order another one easily. Besides, when you take the harmonica apart, you might have to retune it, and I don't know how to do that. Again, I can't afford to take the risk.

So is there any way to clean the harmonica without taking it apart, and without damaging the holes or changing the tune? I used to clean my Chinese haps with alcohol or water, but I don't know if it's the right way to do it for this one.

EDIT

Would putting some water or alcohol in every hole and then drying it with a hairdryer work? The hairdryer would remove the moisture from the water or alcohol.

score 6 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 08 '19 at 00:18

6

I think it depends if you want to have it as an "active instrument" and play with it, or just keep it as a nice harmonica for memory/collection.

I play in one of my projects with Filip Jers. He was sponsored by Hering harmonicas and now Suzuki harmonicas, and he tunes his harmonicas every other show. To clean his harmonicas he opens it, cleans the reeds, scratches them to fix tuning, oils it and then puts it back together. He is a world class player and is very careful with tuning/performance of the instrument. I've seen him open/close harmonicas a lot and they don't get broken.

If you want to have the marine band harmonica as an active instrument, I would not be afraid of it, it's more complex with a chromatic harmonica. Just open it, blow on its reeds and clean what you see as dirty.

(This does not answer your question in the way that you ask "how to clean without taking them apart", still it's the experience/knowledge I would like to share with you)

edited Apr 08 '19 at 00:18

AduyummY

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answered Jul 22 '13 at 06:58

Sergio

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+1 Fully agree. Harmonicas are really simple. Taking it apart to clean is easy and necessary. – slim Jul 22 '13 at 09:14
the marine band is my active instrument and the thing is, i don't want to mess with the tuning, i don't know how to retunne, it's not like the guitar, you can't use a metronome right? you have to use your ear and i'm not trained enough to know the right tune for each hole, i don't know flip jers, but he seems very professional, he could retune his harp blindfolded, i can't. – Lynob Jul 22 '13 at 13:43
@Fischer taking it apart, cleaning, reassembling will not affect the tuning. – slim Jul 22 '13 at 14:02
@Fischer, (like slim also wrote) opening does not affect tuning. But not cleaning does actually, the reeds gets dirty with time and using and get lower in pitch, so opening and cleaning is recommendable. If you want to train tuning them then it's better to buy more common harmonicas and try on them. You can find videos on youtube with tips on that. – Sergio Jul 22 '13 at 14:09
@slim [see this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3RwSiMEQvg) see the end of the video – Lynob Jul 22 '13 at 14:14
@Sergio please watch the video in my previous comment to understand why i'm worried so much – Lynob Jul 22 '13 at 14:17
@sergio watched the whole video. I don't see why you're worried. There is no risk to the tuning in anything he does. – slim Jul 22 '13 at 14:45
@sergio Oh, he does mention a tuning issue at the end. That's not related to the cleaning he's just done. – slim Jul 22 '13 at 14:48
@slim, I supose you ment Fischer in your comment :) – Sergio Jul 22 '13 at 16:25
@Fischer, harmonica gets dirty by playing. Cleaning is a part of the routine of a professional player. I would say you should get familiar with tunning so you feel you have control over the instrument´s health. Cleaning a harmonica can untune it? yes. Not cleaning can untune it? yes. Cleaning without opening is cleaning? no. (this is my opinion as I said from touring with 2005´s harmonica world champion). – Sergio Jul 22 '13 at 16:29
one last question. how often should it be cleaned? i play usually like 2h a day, maybe less because i'm busy these days but lets say 2h per day, how often should it be cleaned? – Lynob Jul 23 '13 at 21:22

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 03 '20 at 14:45

Don’t take apart a marine band. They're put together with nails, not screws. After playing take a dry soft cloth and carefully dry it then let it air dry. Don’t close it up in the box. Mine only gets closed in the box if I’m transporting it to a gig. I use the box at home to store it in always opened as sort of a cradle plus it’s easier to find. Personally I wouldn’t use any type of liquid on it. If you play enough for it to become that dirty it’s likely that it’s out of tune and time to replace it.

score 2 · Answer 3 · edited Sep 24 '18 at 18:27

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Take your favorite mug fill with about two thirds tepid water from the kettle and about one third vinegar - place your harp in the solution for twenty to thirty minutes - rinse thoroughly with clean tepid water - tap out both sides onto the palm of your hand - your harp will look and sound bright!

Don't use oil; it attracts dirt, dust and fluff.

edited Sep 24 '18 at 18:27

Glorfindel

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answered Sep 23 '18 at 21:38

Lawrence Mitchell

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score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 25 '18 at 00:11

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Us peroxide for 3 min in a cup full of peroxide, rinse with water, tape it in your hand, to take as much water out, put it in a front of fan to dry.

answered Nov 25 '18 at 00:11

user54517

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How do I clean my harmonica without taking it apart?

EDIT

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