Cleaning Harmonica: Hello Friends....here is what I do to clean the mouth piece assembly.

CLEANING THE SLIDER:

The slider mechanism is the first one to get the worst bashing, when playing the harmonica, as you
know. Build-up of salt, gunk, dust and dirt, causes the slide to get hard, scratchy and gooey all
over, in the shortest possible time. One must remember that before you use the harmonica:
1. Do NOT eat and play (use the MO)
2. Do NOT eat sweets (sugar matter) and play.
3. Do NOT smoke and play.
4. DO dry brush before playing (brush and water)
5. DO clean your mouth (gargle) before playing.
6. NEVER use any others Harmonica (exchange). ALWAYS use your own.
Coming to the slider :
(This is the standard Hohner Chromonica 270 Slider, as a common base)
1. Keep the MO upright (slide facing up)
2. Keep index, second and ring fingers on the slide and open the two screws, carefully.
3. After the screws are removed, slowly and carefully lift UP the mouthpiece, keeping an eye on
the two small bushes in the screws. (These are two small and usually transparent plastic sleeve
like bushes)
4. These two bushes are important, so keep them safe.
5. Lift UP the whole assembly. Mouthpiece and the slider assembly.
6.Separate out the assembly. This contains the mouth piece, slide, the backing plate and the
flange.You may find that these are stuck together (not by the company, but due to saliva/salt !!). If
so, gently tap the assembly and it will come apart.
7. Taking up all the parts together, put them all in a shallow vessel, which can hold them
horizontally.
8. Add water to the vessel so that all the parts of the slide are completely immersed in the water.
Add more water.
9. Now add about 20/30 ml of Easy off BANG to the water and mix it.
10. Let the slider parts soak for about 30 mins. You will see gunk come apart, if you look closely).
11. Take each part and laying it on a flat surface and using an old toothbrush, brush across the face
in medium motion, so that if any gunk is stuck, it will come off. Also posh the brush bristles into
each hold rapidly, so that gunk stuck to the hole sides comes off.
12. Do the same to all the assembly parts.
13. Thereafter wash all the parts with soap and water (Liquid soap will do)
14. Run all parts in water for about 5 mins, so that they are not soapy to the touch.
15. Jerk each part so all water droplets are thrown off.
16. The use a fine cotton cloth to dry all parts, Wipe them clean and dry.
17. Let dry for about 30 mins.
18. Assemble the slider with the backing plate - slider - cover plate, carefully matching the notches
of the cover plate with the backing plate and CHECK the motion of the slider. It should move
smoothly and freely in the jig. More often than not, we see either of the plates out of true (bent),
which is why the slide movement becomes sticky or tight, even with a slight tightening of the

screws. If any of the plates is bent, carefully bend it back to true. You can easily check the
straightness on a piece of glass. Lay the plate on a piece of glass piece and check at eye level to see
if there is any gap. You can visually see if the plates are straight.
19. You can use a wee bit (juts a tiny drop) of paraffin to lubricate the plates. Take a drop on your
thumb and first finger and spread it evenly on both sides of the slider. Actually, this is not
necessary, but if you are comfortable with it use it.
20. Placing the Harmonica, holes up, place the slider assembly on the comb and carefully line up
the holes of the screws, while inserting the slider into the return spring hole correctly. This is a bit
tricky, but you can do it.
21. Once aligned, insert the bushes into the holes so that the bush just about juts out of the slider
assembly.
22. Place the mouth piece on top of the assembly. The mouth piece has a small cut on one side
and this should go to the right of the Harmonicameaning that the cut should be on the slider
button side.
23. Place the first, middle and ring finger on the slide and insert the mouth piece screws and screw
them down to a snug fit. The slider should move smoothly now.
24. While moving the slider steadily, tighten the opposite screw (left) down to medium tight and
then the right screw to medium tight. Check if the slider has a smooth action. It should. Now,
tighten the screws again, - turn, and check the slider movement. Alternately tightening the
screws, check for free slider movement and stop the tightening, where you are comfortable with
the slider movement.
Thats it. Hope you find this useful.