How do I properly clean and maintain my new Crossover?

Harmonica Maintenance and care
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I have heard of and read a lot of different opinions on how to clean harps and since this is my first one and a substantial investment I would like to maintain it the best I possibly can. Seems like harps have a shelf life of a couple years? I would like it to live happily as long as possible, I have already died once and this seems like one thing in life I can do now, So I am very excited! Are there special cleaning kits or methods I should know about? I can’t wait for my Crossover to arrive!

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Greetings. My best advice is ALWAYS tap out saliva when you are done playing and wipe your harp down with a lint free cloth. If you feel like you need to sanitize I would encourage you to use a cloth moistened with Listerine. Do NOT clean your harp with anything that you would not want in your mouth. Peace, Joe Filisko

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Than you very much Joe! Peace to you as well.

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I teach and play with my girlfriend and her son. She’s obsessive/compulsive about germs. The past 18 months have increased her disorder. She’s now convinced that there are deadly pathogens inside the harmonicas she and her son play.

I like your recommendations and wonder if you’re aware of the device from Seydel to sanitize a harp. Also, have you ever heard of the spread of disease by harmonica.

Thanks.

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Hi Jaya,
I asked my doctor about this some years ago, as I was concerned about the possibility of reinfecting myself with the common cold virus. He assured me that viruses are unlikely to last long enough inside a harmonica to reinfect you if you play with a cold and then play the same instrument again after you’ve recovered. However, playing somebody else’s harmonica is a different matter and I neither do this, nor do I allow other people to play mine. Joe’s advice is as always sound as a bell. I have heard of the Seydel device but haven’t tried it, my personal opinion is that it may ease your mind, even if the actual likelihood of catching anything from your own instrument is small. But if it makes your girlfriend less anxious, it may be money well spent.

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Thanks Steve

I’m grateful for your words.

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Hi Steve @SteveBaker,

I agree completely with your physician (I am a medical researcher).

What I do to really clean my harps is to disassemble them (remove the covers and unscrew the reed plates from the comb), and put all parts that are not wood (covers, reed plates and plastic or metal combs) into an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner (use the search term “ultrasonic jewelry cleaner” at amazon) with sufficient warm water to cover the parts and several drops of dish washing detergent, then let it do its thing for about 3-4 minutes. Rinse with fresh warm water and let everything dry. Works into the tightest spaces around the reed rivet ends and never fails to satisfy my needs for a clean harp.

I clean wood combs with a soft tooth brush and a light coating of lysol spray. Then I wipe it clean (do not let the wood get soaked) and dry it completely.

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Steve Baker is the expert. I think good hygiene .not eating before a gig . Slap clean on leg. Never let anyone play your harps.

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Sound advice Michael. That’s pretty much what I do myself. If you want to get into more serious maintenance such as retuning, offsetting or replacing reeds, there is a series of HD videos on the Hohner website which cover all major areas of maintenance & repair. They’re for chromatic harmonica, but the techniques they describe can almost all be applied to diatonic harps too. The first one covers cleaning.
https://www.hohner.de/en/service/harmonica/clean-maintain

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Dip in vodka. Cleans and gives you a buzz.

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