Hi everyone, I’m looking into customizing my own harmonicas, and was wondering if anyone has any tips especially on how to start. I do gap my own harps and I’ve tuned them a little to how I currently like them, but I’d love to know for example how to make a harp sound deeper on the bottom end and so on. And tools for this I’ve got your basic harp repair kit and jewellers grinder but are there any recommendations for any specialist gear I should use? I will add this entirely for myself I’m not interested in setting up full time as a customizer my wife would probably execute me! As we only have a small home nothing I could use as a workshop. It’s just something I’m interested in learning because I want to get a certain sound.
1 Like
Hi @Andy2
Beyond making sure that the reed plates and comb surfaces are as flat as possible, you might wish to dive into reed shaping and reed slot embossing. These are both advanced techniques and can result in destruction of some reeds (until you polish your skills). So, as always, practice initially on your cheaper/older harps that you do not mind destroying as you learn the techniques.
Regards,
– Slim 
6 Likes
Andy2
U Tube has several very good post on harp tuning and trouble shooting. One thing I always check are the reed plates flat. I get some 1,600 wet and dry sand paper. With the reeds up I VERY lightly rotate the plates to make sure the entire plate shows a bit of shine from the friction. Any dark spots will show you what correction you make with claws. Given you seem to have the reeds tackled there is not much more other than making sure the reeds are centered. Hold the reed plate in front of you to make sure the slots and reeds are lined up. After that there should be nothing much to cause problems like an air leak. When cleaning I dip my harps (plastic combs) in alcohol and they dry in a few seconds. It seems harps like to be clean and warm when played, especially those draws on 7 through 10. Hope this helps.
Scott
4 Likes
Thanks guys, I have quite a stockpile of harps I’ve tried maybe didn’t like or just didn’t suit my needs. I thought I might have a bash as I’m not worried about ruing them. Thanks again
3 Likes