Beeswax Mouthpiece
There is a immense amount of noesis allround the world with regards to how to make the harmonica sound better and play better, but little of it is written down. This completely illustrated book solves the problem. It holds subdivisions on: how to buy a harmonica, mutual problems, counsel when it comes to tools and proficiencies for using them, the basic constituents of the chromatic harmonica, solutions to improve sound and functionality, experimenting on old harmonicas, tuning, and much more. For chromatic players, but diatonic players will learn just as much.
The Neck and Fretboard:
Cleaning the neck and the fretboard is a portion of bass guitar maintenance as it is to wash your car. It needs to be finished once in a while. If the back of the neck has a lacquered finish, it may be cleaned with a good guitar polish. Just spray a little on a soft cloth and rub down the neck of the bass guitar. If it is not lacquered an application of beeswax or similar will keep it in good condition. The fretboard is a very necessary portion of the bass guitar, so take care of it. Here is a tip, if you run into what they call fret buzz when playing sure notes you are in need of a neck adjustment, but DO NOT TRY TO DO IT YOURSELF, take your bass guitar in and have a guitar repairman make the adjustments for you.
Alot of your attention must be the fretboard. If the fretboard is genuinely filthy, remove the strings and scrub the entire bass fretboard gently with a soft brush. This will remove most of the loose dirt. Remember to be very careful on an acoustic bass when you remove all the strings at once so you don’t mess up the pick-up under the bridge. If the frets are tarnished they may be cleaned with any good quality metal cleaner, but be careful not to get any of the cleaner on the fretboard. Repeat for all the frets. I do not commend using fine steel wool because the little molecules tend to want to settle in the grooves next to the frets. It is a time consuming job, but will not take too long, and it will increase the life of your investment.
If the bass fretboard is not lacquered it may be treated with a little lemon oil, but do not use too much and wipe off any excess. Although, if you undertake to do this without removing the strings, it may be difficult, to prevent the oil from getting on the strings (but it may be done). Another solution is to use Ernie Ball Wonder Wipes, likewise there are a good deal of polishes and cleaners available that will also work well. Wonder Wipes are like little baby wipes impregnated with a mixture of linseed, orange, and jojoba oils. A pack of these will last a long time. How many times the bass fretboard will need to be cleaned will depend upon how often times you play your bass guitar. I would guess that two or three times a year would be adequate for most players.
The idealisti time to do it is each time you change your strings, which will have to be each 3 to 4 weeks. Always keep a heap of string cleaner around to keep your strings free from the oil build up from your fingers. There is another thing to be conscious of besides the bass fretboard, and it is the humidity you have in the room where you store your bass guitar. You ought to invest in a little humidistat to monitor the area where your bass guitar is stored, because the bass fretboard and body may be damaged if the humidity is to low which causes the wood on the bass guitar to arid out and then perhaps crack. This is just something to be conscious of. If you are like me then you want to take each precaution to keep your bass guitar in tip top shape, after all you paid a lot of cash for it.
Beeswax Mouthpiece Pic
Beeswax Mouthpiece Pic
Beeswax Mouthpiece Pic
Beeswax Mouthpiece Picture
Most helpful client reviews
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful.
 Essential book for harmonica maintenance
By Scott McKenzie
Poor instruments was the major impediment to my capacity to play harmonica. This book taught me how to turn a bad instrument into a outstanding instrument and my attainments as a musician have jumped ahead. This is a great book by a master of the subject. The book has two sections. One division for simple and easy things to do to improve the chromatic harmonica. These require only basic tools and experience. I’ve employed almost all of Doug’s simple modifications and they make an enormous difference. The other half of the book takes you deep into the jungle of customisation and is very complex but explained cautiously and thoughtfully. The second half of the book will keep my busy for years and years. This is the most comprehensive book I’ve seen on maintenance and customisation of chromatic harmonicas.
Doug is a well known and valued expert on harmonica improvements and customisation and construction. He has made and customised harmonicas for Larry Adler (who writes a forward for this book) and is many times providing internet newsgroups with his magnificent advice. A perfective associate to this book is Doug’s other book “Play the harmoinca well” which teaches you how to play the harmonica – once you’ve applied THIS book to make the instrument work properly! 
15 of 16 humans found the following review helpful.
 Good reference, but…
By Sheldon
I got this book because a couple of my harmonicas weren’t working all that well, and I thought the book would aid me get them back into shape. Much of the selective information here is available on the Net for free, and repairing and tuning a harmonica is like attempting to write the Bible on a grain of rice. It may be done, but it’s extremly difficult and time consuming.
If you have a lot more time than money, this book “might” aid you out. However, while you may be capable to repair your car, build a deck, and even carry out brain surgery, you’ll soon find that repairing and tuning a harmonica is not as easy as this book makes it appear, disregarding of how much longanimity you have.
I give it three stars because it’s informative, but those harmonicas I wanted to repair still aren’t, and I’m ordinarily very good at stuff like this.
10 of 10 persons found the following review helpful.
Somewhat useful…
By Michael J Edelman
Although it’s not at all clear from the title or description, most of this book is when it comes to the cleaning and customization of chromatic harminicas- the imagination ones with the slide- and not the simple diatonic harps that most humans play. Some of the selective information is utile to diatonioc players, but most is not.
The chromatic info is useful, but of somewhat uneven quality and style. Tuning- one of the most utile mods a player may do- is covered in a very superficial manner. Some of the mods, like reshaping the internal channels in the comb, are discussed at length without a lot of comprehensible statement was to why one mught want to bother. And a lot of mods are staged with only the barest oif details- surely not sufficient to insure that the tyro doesn’t desctroy an costly harmonica while learning how.
As one reviewer has noted, far more data is out there on the web awaiting only a quick Google search. I’d do that before I considered buying this book.
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