[Harp-L] Hohner Echo tremolo harps

[coolb...@gmail.com]

Any tips on cleaning Hohner Echo tremolos? My cousin has been playing Celtic music on a couple of these and he has got a few reeds that are sticking. I suspect they just need de-gunged but I’m wary about putting those combs near water! Any advice welcome. B

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[George Miklas]

Do not submerse wood comb Hohner Echo tremolo harps. I have about a dozen
customers who send these to me for cleaning. This is my process...

- completely disassemble the harmonica,
- ultrasonic clean the reed plates
- scrape/brush to remove dry saliva and food chunks from the inside of
the comb
- sanitize the comb with UV light
- buff/polish the cover plates
- test all reeds for buzzes and cracks
- retune/replace reeds as necessary
- reassemble reed plates
- check tremolo tuning, adjusting as necessary
- reassemble cover plates
- on double sided harps and single harps where the covers wrap over the
end and nailed, I replace the cover plate nails with wood screws.



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[Steve]

If you put an Echo comb in water you've destroyed it. Another problem is the fraught process of removing and, especially, replacing the reedplates. Some of the nail holes are in very thin partitions of wood. Every time you take out and put back those pesky nails they end up that much looser. I've played Echos for many years and my advice is to avoid removing the reedplates at all costs. Always play with a clean mouth. Remove the covers to clean the reeds only when necessary. You can clean reeds carefully with isopropyl alcohol. Unfortunately, Echo reeds do go out of tune and this adversely affects the tremolo effect. Retuning is a nightmare because you have to keep holding the covers back on in order to check that your embouchure on the naked reedplates isn't giving a false result. So just think about those issues if the INNER reeds need tuning. If you're adept, you can invent a way of tuning the inner reeds with the plates still on, but you are then into bodge-world.

Invest in harps with plastic bodies. You can just wash them under the tap. I think Tombos are the best, as they stay in tune and those notes missing at the bottom end on Echos are gloriously present!

[rex]

You can work on the inside reeds without taking the reed plates off. Push the reed through the slot and support it. I have two Seydel Steel Reed Sailor tremolo harmonicas. They are Richter tuned like the Echo but have plastic combs and screws so cleaning is easy. My other tremolo harmonicas are Suzuki which are tuned like the Tombo.