I was wondering what to use to clean my harmonica without ruining the reeds. Does anyone have any suggestions or tips? Thanks
2 answers, one for harps with wood combs and another one for plastic or metal combs.
For thorough cleaning a wood comb harp you first have to carefully remove the cover plates and Reed plates. The covers can be cleaned up with 3m pads and your favorite cleanser. Rinse thoroughly and polish them dry and set aside. The wood combs will take an old toothbrush and alcohol (whiskey will work) don’t soak the combs just use enough liquid (not water) to clean off the dryed spit.
Now to the Reed plates, these can be soaked for an hour or so in whiskey and vinegar 50/50 then carefully brush any built up crud that’s left . Be careful with the reeds you don’t want brush hairs stuck in them. Rinse with water and dry. You don’t want to smell the vinegar or whiskey when you’re done, it you can smell some Rinse more. Reassemble carefully big reeds correspond with the low numbers on the Reed plate. Note that air tightness may be affected by dis-assembly and reassembly. Many people sand the plates and combs to assist in airtight assembly… others will paint beeswax on the comb, I don’t recommend that you do this your best harps the 1st time try this all out on an older harp.
Plastic comb harps can be soaked in vinegar and whiskey with out disassemblally and rinse with water until you can’t smell or taste the whiskey/vinegar. This is much simpler than what you do with wood combs.
Side note. Wood combs can be made almost water proof with spray lacquer or spray polyurethane or a number of other varnishes. If you choose to do this because of an irrational love of wood combs please air out the combs before you play. If you try varnishing you will need to flat sand…
Please remember that less you do the less chance you have of needing to buy a new harp.
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Hi Pat,
I soak my harmonicas (plastic combs) in hydrogen peroxide for 5-10 minutes, rinse with tap water, tap the excess out and let dry.
Some say hydrogen peroxide is not good for reeds and use isopropyl alcohol.
Ciao
Stefano 
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I use 70 pct alcohol and it works great. I do not have any wooden combs but if I did alochol would still be my choice. I dip the harps for about 15 seconds and if its hot outside I place them in the sun for about five minutes. Typically they are dry well before I get them back in. If its humid and/or cool I go over them with a hair drier on low and they are warm and dry. They play well and are always clean. haps seem to b like to be as warm as your breath and mine do not like chilly ,cool days. The big difference is how much easier they are to bend and play well. I do not take them apart unless a reed needs attention. Never had any problems with alcohol as far as damage or it attaching any pat of the harp. When you take the face plates off look the inside of the leading edge on both for any build up.
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Thanks for sharing. I will give it a try soon.
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Between uses, I give 'em a spit shine with a polishing cloth and dig out any gunk with my fingernails. 
For a more thorough cleaning, I take’ em apart and clean everything with alcohol and a cotton swab being careful not to leave any little cotton pieces behind. Then I dry them with cotton piece of cloth and then run the polishing cloth over them. 
For me too, they seem to play better after a thorough cleaning 
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Harps like a warm bath, reeds gapped right and being warm. Have you found bending is much easier when you clean a harp and/play it when its warm.? I can bend down a step or two w/o raising my tongue. I do not know what is going on but I contract the throat and the pressure differential increases. The airflow has a rush to it when i do this. if the harp is cool or the weather cold it does not work near as well as the harp temp drops quickly.
As I play with harmonicas that don’t have wooden combs (mainly the Hohner Golden Melody, my one Huang Star Performer, my one Lee Oskar, and my one Suzuki Manji Sky), this stuff won’t apply to harps like the Hohner Marine Band line or the Seydel 1847 Classic.
For what I use to clean my harps, I mainly just use Dawn and some lukewarm water from the kitchen sink alongside the screwdrivers I use to take my harmonicas apart and a small plastic container with a lid to keep the screws in so they don’t get lost.
I start by cleaning the inside of the comb first. After taking the cover plates off, I usually remove the gunk off of the holes by using a small flathead screwdriver. If possible, I also clean the reed plate grooves (if it’s a sandwich style harp) and covers with the same screwdriver.
Where the dish soap comes in is for the reed plates themselves. I rinse the coverless harp while the water from the kitchen sink is running at a slow to medium pace. After the first rinse, I get out the dish soap and gently cleanse the outside of the reed plates with my fingers. I have to be very careful while doing this, especially if the reed plates are held together with nails, as I don’t want the reeds to break or get poked by the nails. When cleaning the inside of the reed plates, I usually just lightly squirt dish soap across the harmonica comb. Then I thoroughly rinse the harmonica with running water and put the cover plates back with a screwdriver.
I clean mine in the same way except I use alcohol. It is so dry here the harp after being tapped out the alcohol will be gone inside of 30 seconds. I also use a white piece of paper for the screws and nuts to be placed on.
I have one Oskar that is just too big and does not sound as good as my Rockets or Crossover harps. I did drop one of those tiny nuts in my recliner and found it two months later. They are difficult to get threaded. I put something sticky on the end of a finger that the nut will stick to and hold it in place until the screw threads what little is exposed. I clean my combs the same way using a small Exacto knife that can scrap anything off without damaging the comb. About every couple of months I take the reed plates and rotate them over some 2000 wet and dry to check for any spots that are not flush. Hopefully your Oskar is one that does not have the threading issue on the hold down screws. I will look at the reeds to make sure there is nothing that needs to be cleaned. I also check the comb once to make sure it is flat. My first Hohner had a wooden comb that was useless,. Saw marks everywhere and not flat. Once air leaks are gone and the face and reed plates and ok I have little to clean and dip them in 70 pct alcohol. never have much left after all the parts are correct. Oskar nuts are threaded so no other screw will work as most harps are. I lace them in the sun first thing in the morning to warm them and then convert air to noise and the occasional good note. I love playing harps but do not like tinkering with them when needed. A majority of the reed plates I have gotten needed some adjusting out of the box and lightly rotating the bottom. reeds up shows the spots that are not flat. Cleaning the reed plate grooves is a great idea as they seem to get a small deposit on them I remove with the tip of the knife or my finger nail. It is easy to over look but a must.
Sounds like over kill but fixing harp problems is not fun.
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Thanks Scott for your help. I’m going to try this week to disassemble my harmonica and clean it up. I’m good with tools and not worrying about making any mistakes. And if something happens I’ll just go to the music store and ask for their help Thanks again.
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Some folks use an Ultrasonic Cleaner and Roche-Thomas Mi-T-Mist ( used for wind instruments )
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How often should you clean them? I was thinking weekly. I practice roughly 45 minutes per day. Or should I clean them more? Thanks
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Thats a great theory
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I’d say once a week is plenty! I never clean mine… Until they start performing poorly… But I almost always try to brush and floss and rinse my mouth before I play. And when I’m done playing, I always tap them against my leg to try and get any moisture out.
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