How to Sweeten Your Harmonica Sound

[@HARPSMITH900]

I’m glad you enjoyed it! You’ll really dig Part 2 of the Elusive Obvious. Stay tuned 😉

[@williamjburns4157]

The player, THE PLAYER

[@lazydazs]

I just blocked with tape a Johnson Harmonica ( half the back opening on the lower register) and I was amazed how easier it was to play (less air loss) .The sound just so improved.I have a set of 12 and I will now hold on to them. Of course I now use Hohner these days

[@HARPSMITH900]

Congratulations! Fun--right?

[@lazydazs]

Thank you so much for generously sharing your knowledge here.

[@charlieburns1385]

Thanks That's awesome!!

[@HARPSMITH900]

Thanx for watching Charlie. Feel free to check out these episodes that you may find informative: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oJq2nqOQi5t4qbssi=da60Hc-izjlusH2v kzbin.info/www/bejne/ml7Sqn6dprp0gbssi=mwgnAqaRHXiJrRMV kzbin.info/www/bejne/m3qWkoaVaq13aZYsi=tTJluER-3vtGvCDI @@charlieburns1385

[@lazydazs]

I blocked the lower register because that's where generally most of the tunes I play are within this area.Seems to work better ,as the Johnson Harmonicas just leaks like a sieve !

[@NiekEdeling]

Swapping cover plates is a golden advice! The sound of the harmonica changes dramaticly! I bought a Hering chromatic harmonica (years ago), the so called Velvet Voice. A fine instrument, but FAR from Velvet; it sounds like a trumpet 😞 Today I swapped the cover plates (which were nearly completely closed) with old cover plates of a Hohner Toots Thielemans Mellow Tone harmonica (just normal, regular open plates!). The improvement in sound is unbelieveable; just by changing the acoustics of the instrument. After years of not using the Hering Velvet Voice (I hated the sound!), I have a completely new harmonica. Not the velvet, sweet sound of a mellow tone (Hohner), but more like the Hard Bopper; but for me a great improvement. Thanks for this informative video!

[@HARPSMITH900]

EXCELLENT! I'm pleased to learn your retrofit project was a huge success. Well done my Brotha. Originally fabricated by harmonica manufacturers as a shield to protect the reeds, Jacob Hohner (Mattias's Son) discovered that designing the curvature of the Marine Band 1896 cover plates, not only looked terrific but had a profound impact on shaping the sound.

[@gravesharmonica]

Thank you for the info and clarity of presenting. Much appreciated. Very helpful. 👏👍

[@HARPSMITH900]

Glad it was helpful! Keep watching this channel as well as my website; harpsmith.com for more content 😎

[@JokerJim23]

Hi Harpsmith I'm across the "pond", greetings from Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿. Well this for a (Don't practice Enough) harp player , was really interesting. Iv'e always thought it'd be great to have Special 20 comb and reed's but with the Rocket Cover's...... now I know. Iv'e subbed cause this just made my day. Thank you 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿👍👏👏😁😁. Ps: Now I just need 12 front & 12 rear Rocket Cover's 🤣😂 Lol.

[@charlieburns1385]

That was amazing ! Thanks so much🎶

[@tabletop9258]

Fascinating info!!!!! I'm guessing it's been said before but this guy is the George Gruhn of harmonicas!

[@HARPSMITH900]

I understand George Gruhn's work is phenomenal, so thank you for the reference.

[@bk201_blues]

Hi Kinya, Sunny here. This is some really cool stuff. I dont like the sidevents a lot, I ve been stuffing soft silicone inside the coverplates to get the vents to close. But, this painters blue tape looks much less tedious and reversible. I ll also try to get the tape to close off the high end to see what that sounds like. A sound test on a bullet with these three coverplates would have been really awesome.

[@nazariceman6109]

Very informative video Thank you!

[@HARPSMITH900]

At your service 😎

[@HARPSMITH900]

Hello Charles, the HOHNER Marine Band 1896 side vents measure 0.3735" Long x 0.1255" Top of Arc | the HOHNER Crossover side vents measure 0.349" Long x 0.1175 Top of Arc | the HOHNER Rocket side vents measure 0.6055" Long x 0.1215" Top of Arc

[@nacoran]

I love the pre-MS Blues Harp covers. I've got a couple other harps with the same cover shape... the Lancer and the Fr. Hotz Atta Boy... I'm pretty sure I've got at least one other, but I don't have them all accessible. My goal is eventually to have a full set on upgraded, rounded end combs. I don't like how Hohner labels their harp categories. We get tons of people on the forums who get confused by the charts that say, "This harmonica is good for folk, this one is good for rock". Just yesterday someone was worried they couldn't play country on a MB. I'm not sure with the new screws, but with the MB/Sp20s you could steal a comb from a Piedmont or Blues Harp if you had a damaged comb and it would cost you less than buying a new comb from Hohner.

[@HARPSMITH900]

Lancer and Atta Boy Harmonicas---no kidding? Wow! Generally speaking, labeling harmonicas into music types can be confusing... Upcoming in Part 2 of the Elusive Obvious, I will take a deep dive into the tonal specifics of harmonicas and (hopefully) demystify the harmonica selection process. HOHNER Piedmont Harmonicas (built in Asia I believe) share the same comb architecture as the HOHNER Special 20. Similarly, all the harmonicas in HOHNER's "ENTHUSIAST" category, including Blues Bender, Silver Star, Blues Band, Hot Metal and those cute Clear Colorful harmonicas for the Kiddos. Swapping HOHNER Special 20 reed plates onto an ENTHUSIAST comb will require some modifications, but it is definetly doable. As for the HOHNER Marine Band, factory comb choices are Pearwood and Bamboo. Today's MS Blues Harp components can be swapped with MS ProHarp and Big River Harp.

[@lazydazs]

Excellent info thank you

[@HARPSMITH900]

You are very welcome. Thanx for watching. Keeping watching this space for new episodes

[@ikust007]

Thank you so much. tried to comment on the last video pour not allowed by your settings , i think.

[@HARPSMITH900]

feel free to email me at [e-mail]. Thank you

[@ikust007]

@@HARPSMITH900 thank you Sir!

[@antoniovillarreal2308]

I have some hohner harmonicas that need to be tuned. Is it worth the time, money and effort to get them tuned? Also, who can tune them? Thanks 👍😊. Great video!

[@HARPSMITH900]

Hi Antonio, thanks for watching. Tuning is definetly doable. For a primer, I cover the fundamentals of tuning here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oJq2nqOQi5t4qbssi=7o2m83xCOnV9RvAw kzbin.info/www/bejne/ml7Sqn6dprp0gbssi=ZGSdvjJCq7Y-KHEP I will go much deeper in future episodes of KZbin HARPSMITH Benchcraft, but if you can't wait, go to David Barrett's [bluesharmonica.com] where I have a numerous articles under FORUM and videos under EQUIPMENT/Harpsmith Bench and Harp Tech Study

[@ThomasDeLello]

Harp Smith... Why doesn't Hohner make snap in vent caps giving the owner the option of venting or not venting without all the bother of switching cover plates...?

[@HARPSMITH900]

@@ThomasDeLello HARPSMITH is currently working on this. Thank you!

[@josephsullivan1760]

Can you play it and let us hear the difference. I am going to attempt it but sure would feel better hearing the difference of the custom cover plates. Thanks great video

[@HARPSMITH900]

Hi Joseph, thanx for checking in! I sample a view harmonica with various Cover Plates on my new video. Enjoy. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oJq2nqOQi5t4qbssi=-8kVYCDHQlmRpUI9

[@ikust007]

Such exceptional info

[@HARPSMITH900]

as long as people like yourself find my content useful, I will continue to produce more episodes of HARPSMITH Benchcraft

[@ikust007]

@@HARPSMITH900 true Master , you are : passion driven.

[@miamistomp]

The original" Old Standby" -one of my favorites-is a Marine band inside too

[@HARPSMITH900]

Ha! You are lucky to still have yours. Thanx for watching!

[@Crushbandicoot-wv8xb]

Great video

[@HARPSMITH900]

Thank you Crush. Enjoy my next videos, starting with kzbin.info/www/bejne/oJq2nqOQi5t4qbssi=-8kVYCDHQlmRpUI9

[@TemplarAce]

I'm new to the harmonica and I can't seem to get any sound from my East top 008k in C on the blow in 8, 9, and 10 holes unless I blow extremely hard the draw seems okay. What should I do?

[@HARPSMITH900]

Hello Ace, and welcome to the wonderful world of harmonicas. Rarely is a new out-of-the box harmonica defective. Reeds 8,9,10 are quite small and require different breath dynamics than the larger, lower octave reeds. The architecture of the harmonica is simple with ten reeds on the BLOW reed plate and ten reeds on the DRAW reed plate, fastened onto a comb and finished with the cover plates to create the mouthpiece. In the beginning, learning to play the harmonica ; trying to figure out what combination of holes can be BLOWN and DRAWN to make music. Breath pressure is a consideration, but mostly how you position your mouth onto the mouthpiece will set you up for many hours of enjoyment. TRY THIS: (1) Hold the harmonica with the lowest numbers to your left (low notes) (2) Similar to sipping a coffee-to-go, we place the opening of the lid onto our bottom lip, with the top lip (relaxed) serving as the upper gasket against (3) Position the harmonica so that your mouth envelopes Holes #4, #5, #6, and SUCK (Draw) twice, then breathe out (Blow) twice--REPEAT. Congratulations you just emulated a train chugging down the tracks! (4) Repeat this pattern by moving your mouth to the left (lower octave), then move to the right (upper octave) (5) My hunch is you were able to get a better sounding 8,9,10 (6) The thrill for all harmonica players, is to play Melodies. This will require single note techniques. There are two popular methods; #1 Lip Blocking: tilt the back of the harmonica upward (about 45deg) and the front mouthpiece will nest into a natural funnel created by your bottom lip. Remember the coffee cup analogy? The fleshy part of your bottom left lip will block the unwanted holes on the left, and the fleshy part of the right bottom lip will block the unwanted hole to the right. The middle funnel part of your bottom lip will channel air only to one hole! #2 Tongue Blocking: place the harmonica into your mouth and position the front of your tongue against the mouthpiece of the harmonica. Leaving a hole between your tongue and the right corner of your mouth. This will enable you to channel air for single note playing Arguably the best harmonica teacher on planet Earth is David Barrett. His online and private instructions will accelerate your entry into harmonica playing. . Of course you can contact me privately at [e-mail] for more information. Thank you!

[@ikust007]

5:09 Sir: why Hohner didn’t fold the back from the start ??

[@HARPSMITH900]

My hunch was that before HOHNER switched from the softer Chrome over Tin material to now--Stainless Steel Cover, management decided the straight break fold was a sufficient solution for stiffening the back crests of the cover plates. P.s. it also prevented one less tooling procedure that is required with pressing flat the folds.

[@ikust007]

@@HARPSMITH900 i was going to point out the later point …!;)) less expensive

[@johnbrog]

Крутое видео!!! 👍☘️

[@HARPSMITH900]

Thank you John, I am glad you found it to your liking and invite you to watch the other episodes of HARPSMITH Benchcraft.

[@howardmanuel]

What about the Thunderbird?

[@HARPSMITH900]

The HOHNER Marine Band Crossover Thunderbird features the Joe Filisko DRAW Cover Plate. Distinctly different than it's cousins, the "bulbous" drop on it's left side/lower octave enhances the lower partials with the increased tone chamber. In addition, to sealing better in the typical left hand holding style (between the thumb and index finger), it also mitigates the typical click & clack of the #1 Reed hitting the cover plate as it swings wide and low.

[@marqueA2]

Good stuff! Thanks!!

[@HARPSMITH900]

I'm pleased you find the content useful

[@landztranz]

A Blues Harp with nails??? I have lots of BHs and they all have screws.

[@HARPSMITH900]

I know! This one was my personal collection which I purchased in 1973 for around $4.50. It was a Marine Band with the new non-vented Blues Harp cover plates. Today, the Blues Harp is only available as a HOHNER MS Harmonica. In fact, if you like the MS Blues Harp, my website [harpsmith.com] have them on sale for $47 (free shipping in USA).

[@cincinnatipedalsteel4347]

Can you tell me what size screws hold the tees plates onto the comb? I only have 5 holding my tees plates on my special 20 so I need another. Also can you recommend sometimes I can send my harp to and have them set it up for overflows and to gap all the reeds properly? I had a bit too much confidence in my abilities and even though it plays, I can tell some of the notes dont bend properly and don’t play as well as others.

[@HARPSMITH900]

Contact me at and I will answer all your questions

[@ikust007]

25:07 I understand more why the people playing with amps prefer SP20. That said … still don’t like it .

[@williamellis6028]

here we go and thanks

[@HARPSMITH900]

Thank you William. Please enjoy Part 2 kzbin.info/www/bejne/oJq2nqOQi5t4qbssi=cSRv_wbJs5swJwTb

[@calescapee9642]

Whats a Crossover Harp?

[@HARPSMITH900]

the "Crossover" is manufactured by HOHNER. It is the modern day version of the HOHNER Marine Band 1896 with comfortable Bamboo Comb and Compromised Just Tuning

[@janpeters283]

tune in towards the end here, of course there's a slightly different tuning temperament arrangement between the crossover and the special 20

[@HARPSMITH900]

Thanks for your comment Jan! As a Hohner Dealer and HARPSMITH Harmonica Customizer, I have performed surgery on a few thousand reeds over the years. This is what I have found: Hohner calibrates their factory tuners to 442Hz. For the classic Marine Band 1896 and Marine Band Deluxe 2005, Hohner applies their "Modern Marine Band" tuning. This means, the once aggressive "Just Intonation" tuning has been tamed for today's Player. You will find for BLOW reeds 2/5/8: the range will be 8 cents to 12 cents. On the DRAW reeds: 3/7 and 5/9 you will also find the tuning to be in the range of 8 cents to 12 cents. For the Marine Band Crossover and (Progressive Series) Special 20, Rocket and Rocket Amp, the preferred tuning is "Compromised Just" -- and for good reason, this tuning is by far and away the most popular tuning for today's Diatonic Harmonica Player. Here BLOW reeds 2/5/8 are in the range of 5 cents to 8 cents. Similarly for DRAW reeds: 3/7 and 5/9. For a deeper dive, please check out my KZbin HARPSMITH Benchcraft episode featuring TEMPERAMENT. Your HARPSMITH, Kinya

[@janpeters283]

@ yes indeed, thank you, Kinya. much of this, I understand, and then you brought up temperament at the end! But I'm always learning more, and leaning more and more into ET for all of my work

[@janpeters283]

@ I'll have to try one of your customs one of these days.

[@HARPSMITH900]

@@janpeters283 Great! As a gift to you, I will engrave your name onto the back of the comb brass plate🤩

[@HARPSMITH900]

@@janpeters283 12 TET is preferred by many contemporary single note and OB players

[@geoserban2503]

It would’ve been nice if you played back to back sounds before and after taping or with different cover plates, otherwise nice, informative video

[@HARPSMITH900]

Thanx for watching Geo. Did you get an opportunity to experiment on your harmonicas yet? If so, was it acoustic and/or amplified?

[@ikust007]

19:08 index comb … ?

[@18Yoav]

My 2 hole draw doesn't work..which harmonica should I get lol (jk)

[@HARPSMITH900]

Hi Yoav, are you pulling me into a conversation where I must choose the root cause of the problem, to be either the Tool, or the Mechanic? 😉

[@ikust007]

7:03 really really don’t like closed vents (well …no vents 😂)

[@calescapee9642]

I`ve got a Chromonica 270 that needs help

[@HARPSMITH900]

The HOHNER 270 is a terrific "work horse". Contact me at [e-mail] to discuss

[@319J039]

🎉9 /64ths or #28 drill bit 3/16th end wrench

[@HARPSMITH900]

right on!

[@ikust007]

7:28 oh!!! Circlip plier!

[@ikust007]

Rocket must sound like hell!

[@johnbrog]

Так жаль стало коллекционный hoosier boy, но он нам реально зачем-то хотел показать, что те же платы, что и на Марин бэнд. Мы бы и на слово поверили, жаль

[@HARPSMITH900]

Not to worry, the Hoosier cover plates were very malleable and was easily restored.

[@johnbrog]

@@HARPSMITH900 ok, thanks s lot for your video, cheers from Russia 🤝

[@B00MBATS]

Great video, so glad I came across your channel....Hit Subscribe right away.

[@HARPSMITH900]

Hello Vinnie, thanx for stopping by! There are eight more episodes for you to binge on.

[@williamjburns4157]

I don't know about that, the comb and reed plate

[@HARPSMITH900]

Hi William, as Master Harp Tech Rick Epping would say, "a terrific playing harmonica is a result of a lot of little details done right". As you mentioned the comb and reed plates are certainly important parts of the harmonica. Swapping cover plates is sort of like the low hanging fruit of modifications that practically anyone with a screwdriver can try. I am in the process of filming the next episode of HARPSMITH Benchcraft. Here I will discuss and demonstrate Temperament. Tunings that give our harmonica their personality and character.

[@bridges5659]

Interesting but too much detail made it boring.

[@HARPSMITH900]

Thank you for your comment. On my roadmap is to produce shorter bite-size videos.