how do you clean a chromatic harmonica

Chromatic Harmonica Cleaning

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How to Keep Your
Chromatic Harmonica
Clean

This covers everything from daily habits to a thorough clean, but please if you own a Customised Harmonica ask your customiser for guidelines on safe cleaning habits as they may have different design features that are vunerable to some products. eg. Bleach, solvents & detergents could be a problem for certain designs.
* Bleach will ruin and discolour any silver plating or components.
* Some custom designed harmonicas rely on certain adhesives which solvents and detergents could ruin or remove.
* Wood if submerged in water will swell, warp, and later on shrink and possibly split.
* Some solvents (and solvent glues) can ruin certain types of plastic on contact.

NB. This page currently does not cover Bass & Chord harmonicas despite their chromatic nature.

Guide to Cleaning your Chrom
Treat your chromatic harmonica with respect.
Keeping your harmonica clean keeps it playing better & you healthier.

I think it is important to thoroughly clean my chromatics from time to time for health reasons, as well as to avoid a sticky slide action and reduce windsaver problems.
Thourough cleaning is especially important when you sell or purchase a second hand harmonica.
By its nature the harmonica is an ideal breeding ground for little nasty cultures, when food debris and sticky saliva is blown through with a players warm breath. In the past I have been disgusted by the green fuzz & other unmentionables I've found under the covers after a few months of playing. Hopefully that's enough motivation for you to get the covers off your instrument.

Food for Thought

An ounce of prevention is worth a ton of .... well you know.
What you put in your mouth will end up in your harmonica when you play it.

Don't play during or after eating.
Avoid beverages while playing other than water.
Ideally brush your teeth and even floss before performing.
I carry a little traveling toothbrush in my harmonica bags so I have no excuse.
Failing that keep Wrigley's Extra Sugarfree gum with you and use a few before performing.
Give the mouthpiece a little wash under a tap with the mouthpiece facing down after performing and wipe dry.
Do not let other people play your harmonicas unless you trust them and have a means of cleaning your harmonica afterwards.
Individual alcohol wipes are a good for this.

Remember: Confectionary foods are our number one enemy!
IE. Roasted peanuts, chippies, popcorn... etc.

Daily Cleaning

Unsticking the Slide, Errant Windsavers and Keeping the Mouthpiece Clean
When you go to play your chromatic you may find the slide is stuck, usually its due to dried saliva and residue from playing that makes the slide stick.
There are a few things you can do to free up the slide action:

Give a gentle but firm push on the button, but don't force it.
Play softly providing warm air & moisture to free it up.
Facing the holes downward at 45 degrees dribble tap water across the mouthpiece and angle into the button end of the slide. Alternatively dip only the mouthpiece (holes down) into water until the water level reaches just over the slide. The moisture should help release it with a short soak. Give the button a few firm pushes to free up the slide. Then shake out the excess water.

If a windsaver sticks to the reedplate, the comb, the coverplate or sticks up and you can get at it easily. Get a toothpick or pin and use it to pull it away from the stuck surface. If it is a two flap windsaver then you can pry apart the two sticking flaps with the point. This is a quick fix until it becomes terminal and requires a better clean.

After playing clean the mouthpiece with a little water after every practice. Either wipe it with a damp cloth or dip only the mouthpiece (holes down) into water until the water level reaches just over the slide. Shake off excess liquid, give it a wipe with a clean dry cloth and let it sit for while before packing it away in its case, just so it can dry out.

Monthly Cleaning

Cleaning the slide assembly & windsavers on a fairly regular basis will avoid problems. I figure about once a month is close enough, but whenever troubles begin is a good indicator anyway.

Cleaning the Slide Assembly

When the slide resists pushing, sticks regularly or has sluggish reaction its time to give the slide assembly a good clean.

Disassemble just the mouthpiece & slide assembly as described above.
You can use a damp rag, an old toothbrush dipped in water or paper tissues at your discretion.
With each part laid carefully on a hard flat surface clean off any debris & goop that has collected.
With the slide take care to ensure the button hangs over the edge of the surface to avoid bending the slide.
Dry off each part with a clean rag or similar.
You may want to do the same with the front of the comb & covers as a film does form here.
If you are using a toothbrush take care not to poke it into the holes because of the windsavers & reeds.
Reassemble the mouthpiece & slide assembly.

As a general rule water is the best lubricant for the slide action. Other lubricants can be poisonous, and also can cause collection of food particals and bacteria. Its better to keep the slide mechanism clean and use a small amount of water.

Cleaning Windsavers

When you start getting regular popping and buzzing from your harmonica its time to give the windsavers a good clean.
Following the disassembly instructions above, remove the covers & reedplates from your harmonica. (The mouthpiece & slide can stay)

Get an old toothbrush (relatively clean) & a mug of warm water and possibly a little dishwashing liquid, isopropal alcohol or a few drops of bleach. Do not mix bleach, with dishwashing liquid in water as it produces chlorine gas. Bleach will discolour any silver plating or components
With the reedplates and windsavers you want to take great care. Initially clean the reedplates with gentle strokes from the center of the reedplate to the edge following the line of the reeds & windsavers, this way you don't mess up the windsavers or bust reeds.
Soak the reedplates for two minutes in (prefeably distilled) water
Put news print between the windsavers & reedplates and very slowly pull the paper out, repeat a few times.
This is to clean the remaining gunge out and help dry them off.
If you have two flap windsavers you can also use this procedure between the flaps as well.
If you like give the comb a quick going over with the toothbrush as well.
Rince everything else except the reedplates under the tap.
The simply sit the reedplates by a dehumidifier or in the hot water cupboard and let them dry out naturally.
DO NOT PUT IN DIRECT HEAT!
AVOID HEATERS, HAIRDRIERS AND HOT DASHBOARDS
Once dry gently pat off any residue.
Reassemble harmonica.

Polishing Out Corrosion

The only times I'd recommend using any kind of polish on your harmonicas metal parts is if light rust is begining to form, or you are about to sell the instrument and want to give it a nice finish, and of course if you are customising or repairing damage.
By no means do I recommend regular polishing as I have found out the plating eventually wears through.
Anytime the covers are off I look out for any spots of corrosion on any of the metal work. If it can't be scratched off with your finger nail or a rag, only then using a fine metal cream polish (like AutoSol, Silvo, Brasso, etc) to lightly polish out the rust in the immediate area.
Toothpaste used lightly in the same manner is a safer method of removing tarnishing and light rust. Thanks Ken

However with Gold or Silver plated parts typically the mouthpiece, DO NOT use abrassives. You can safely use PURE lemon juice and water with a soft cloth, this can also remove mild tarnishing.

Sanitising

This is a full blown routine I follow when I receive or sell a second hand chromatic harmonica. Its also good to do once in a while just to keep your harmonica healthy for you. The idea is to wash out or kill anything that can breed and make it nice & clean so it works smoothly. If you own a customised harmonica please ask your customiser on safe methods, some bleaches & detergents can cause problems for custom harmonicas. Don't use bleach with silver plating or components.

Get a relatively clean toothbrush and a big mug of warm water. Put in a short squirt of dishwashing liquid into the water. Alternatives are bleach (but don't mix with dishwashing liquid or silver plating or components) or better yet isopropal alcohol in a spray mister.
The solution is up to you as long as its safe for the harmonica and you, but if it effectively cleans & sanitises the instrument then this is ideal.
Take chromatic harp apart, covers, reedplates, mouthpiece & slide assembly, the spring & cover struts can stay. As described above.
This is a good point to remove any sad looking windsavers, once the harmonica is clean & dry you can replace them before reassembling.
Windsaver replacement instructions are in the Windsavers section.
Any rust can be removed from metal parts at this point as described in Polishing Out Rust section above.
Using the toothbrush & water solution clean into the mouthpiece, covers & comb until clean, really getting into every nook and cranny.
Refer to Cleaning Windsavers and Cleaning the Slide Assembly for instructions on how to clean these parts as they require a lot of care, use the toothbrush with the solution though.
Rinse everything off gently with clean water, except if you have used the distilled water routine with the reedplates then just let them be.
Gently pat everything down gently with clean cloth to dry the worst off and leave everything out & apart to let the rest evaporate. DO NOT PUT IN DIRECT HEAT!
AVOID HEATERS, HAIRDRIERS AND HOT DASHBOARDS
Once dry gently pat off any residue.
Isopropyl alcohol is especially effective if used in a spray mister. A light spray over a disassembled instrument, give it 12 seconds to evaporate will kill any germs. Gently wipe off any residue and theres no after taste.
You can now replace any windsavers as described in the Windsavers section.
Reassemble the harmonica as described above ...And if you are selling it ... don't play it!

After using either dishwashing liquid or bleach solution, which leaves a slightly odd taste for a short time, but its harmless and goes away. Dishwashing liquid and bleach produces chlorine gas. Bleach will discolour silver plating and components.

I do NOT recommend
general use of
Denture Cleaning Tablets
on
Chromatic Harmonicas
I have personally done my own experimenting as well as had personal discussions about them and found:

They remove windsavers from the reedplates, but not reliably or efficiently unfortunately.
It leaves a residue behind which is bad news for the slide & windsavers.
Possibly could react with the various metals & plating used with Chroms, especially in custom models.

However Denture Cleaning Tablets are useful for sanitising certain parts of the harp depending what they are made of. For instance a chrom plated mouthpiece would be a good candidate since matter gets caught in nooks & crannies. However I wouldn't put a silver plated components in with these tablets. If you're not sure, then don't do it.

Sanitising Diatonic Harmonicas

As a side note, its a lot simpler to clean diatonic harmonicas:

Take diatonic harp apart.
Clean everything with a toothbrush & the solution described above.
With the reedplates gently stroke from the base of the reeds to the tips and on to the edge of the plate.
If you go any other way you can end up loosing a reed (this is from experience).
Rinse everything off with water, shake the comb & coverplates off.
Let the reedplates drip dry.
Isopropyl alcohol is especially effective if used in a spray mister. A light spray over a disassembled instrument, give it 12 seconds to evaporate will kill any germs. Gently wipe off any residue and theres no after taste.
Reassemble.

AND With plastic comb (non-valved) diatonic harmonicas:
You can simply drop a Denture Cleaning tablet into a tub of water with up to six harps per tablet for about 20 minutes.
Then rinse out the harps with tap water and pad dry with a cloth or drip dry.
NB. This process discolours the brass.

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