Re: [Harp-L] Jason Ricci's Mongoose Free Harp Cleaning Method

["steve@xxxxxxxxxxxx" <swebb@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I have never cleaned any of my  harps.  I use plastic-combed harps, mostly SP20s. I have, on occasion, run a couple under the faucet and knocked out the water after... I do, though, take a toothpick or dental pick or whatever, and hold the harp upside down and pick out the dead skin that accumulates on the walls of the holes. It's gross sounding, but  you'd be surprised  how fast that stuff builds up there.   I have to do that about once a month if I am playing often.
steve webb in balmy Minnesota

---- joe leone <3n037@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: 
> 
> On Jan 8, 2010, at 10:50 PM, sam Blancato wrote:
> 
> > People aren't going to like this post.
> 
> I love it.
> >
> > It's kind of funny reading everybody's approach to cleaning their
> > harmonicas.
> 
> Some go off the deep end, wot?
> 
> >   After fooling around with them for so long now I'm finding two
> > things to be true.  First, brass is pretty durable material and it  
> > will
> > stand up to most cleaners you have around the house with maybe the  
> > exception
> > of bleach and ammonia;
> 
> Brass drain pipes are much thinner and are less noble than harp  
> brass. It will hold up to ammonia. Bleach in SHORT doses.
> 
> > and I think denture cleaner is pretty mild stuff too.
> 
> It is, that's why I use it. Since I wear dentures, it's handy. Plus  
> it has a whitener (cuts grease) and a nice minty after taste.
> 
> > And getting it rinsed off really well is probably more important than
> > anything.
> 
> Right. A flash dose of even Muriatic acid is fine as long as it's  
> only a couple seconds and is rinsed FAST and well. Even a harsh  
> chemical is only going to leach an infinitessimally few electron ions  
> from the metal's surface, that the most that could happen worst case  
> scenario is that the reeds sharpen from 442 to 442.1. And since I  
> have always held that NO harmonica has ever been in perfect tune,  
> what's the big deal?  lolol
> 
> >   Secondly, as Jason's video demonstrates it's really easy, when
> > you're really into harmonicas, to turn anything to do with caring  
> > for our
> > harps into a fetish of sorts.  If you just stop and think about it  
> > a minute
> > you can see that any mild soap and maybe just a little brushing  
> > with a soft
> > brush will do the job; and it only needs to be done every 6 or 7  
> > months.
> 
> I am not allowed to wash dishes ere but sometimes I get a clean sink  
> full of scalding hot water with some of that stuff that prevents  
> spotting and I swish the wood combed diatonics back and forth 3 times  
> a second for 6 seconds (18 swishes). Then I slam them holes down into  
> my left palm holding a tea towel. Generally the crud comes out in the  
> water but the slamming takes care of the rest. Now with spl-20s, I  
> swish for closer to 20 seconds. AND 6 of my 19 diatonics are smo-joe  
> tuned so I have a valve in them. They still dry out well.
> 
> I do this every 5 months or so, and now that I'm senile, more like 7  
> 1/2 months. lol
> 
> > Sonic cleaners, denture tablets, searching out cleaners with  
> > unusual names
> > like Kaboom, it all starts to get a little silly.
> 
> Any grease cutter will do. Yes, I DID say grease cutter. When  
> cleaning these things, there always seems to be a bit of a film in  
> there that will smear if you try and use hydrogen peroxide or alcohol  
> that has too low a proof. I suggest the high test alcohol for that  
> reason. As for the tablets. They are here on the shelf in the laundry  
> room above my store bought teeth  :)
> >
> > Sorry if I sound kind of snotty; I just think it's a bit much,  
> > especially
> > Jason's cleaning ritual - I don't care how good a harp player he is.
> > There's not correct protocol here; just clean the gunk off.  Most  
> > of the
> > time this can be done by running warm water over the harp without even
> > taking it apart and this goes for wood combed harps too if you  
> > shake out the
> > water right away.  I do it all the time and haven't had one swell  
> > out of
> > shape yet.
> 
> Chromos are a different story of course, and I hardly ever do  
> anything other than dip them 'holes down' in a pool of water exactly  
> as deep as the mouthpiece, fiddle the slide a couple dozen times and  
> the SLAM them holes still down into the tea towel. I might do that  
> every 2 weeks on one I'm using a lot. I have never had a totally leak  
> free slide and I like to use micro bead of caulking on the mouthpiece  
> seam. But be careful.
> 
> smo-joe
> >
> >
> > Of course I only clean harps on the third day after the Feast of  
> > Beltane -
> > that's why it never gets jinxed.
> >
> > Sam Blancato, Pittsburgh
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