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Flat sanding the draw reed plate is one of the easiest things you can do to improve a harmonica. It almost always works.

BUT... There are exceptions to the rule and harps from any manufacturer can fall victim. I came across two examples of this in one week.

If you begin to flat sand a draw reed plate and see this, STOP! Flat sanding won't fix this. The curve in the plate is too big. The F tool™ can handle this!

The curve is so deep that you cannot sand this down to make it right. Here is a view of the plate along with the French Tuner™ used as a reference. Can you see how much space there is in between the French Tuner and the reed plate? An air leak like this makes that harp feel really stiff!

I straightened the plate using the F tool in the usual manner.

Now, I may have overshot the mark and pushed the middle of the plate back too far. How can you tell? You can check with the French Tuner or you can use the flatsanding process to save some time.

Since the middle of the plate is nice and shiny if I go back and flatsand I may not see any problem. Everything will look shiny!

So I drew some markings across the reed plate. This will reveal any spots where I may have over done it.

Sure enough, I over did it as is shown by the red spot that remains after sanding.

I corrected that using gentle pressure with the F tool. I drew more red lines once again to be sure I didn't overshoot the mark once again.

After a little flat sanding, every trace of the red lines are gone and that means the reed plate is now flat.

This made a very big difference in how well this harmonica plays!

Here are some extra tips on how to get the best use of my comb tool™

Hold the comb tool over the comb to distribute the weight of your fingers. Hold both the comb tool and the comb at the same time as you sand.

Make sure you don't rub the tips of your fingers on the sandpaper.

To sand down a bulge somewhere in the middle of the comb, find the focal point of the bulge and position the end of the comb tool over it.

Only cover the bottom half of the comb. Apply gentle downwards pressure as you sand. Re-check and repeat as needed.

Most of the sanding happens right under the comb tool. The farther away from the comb tool, the less material will be sanded away.

Positioning the tool like this prevents you from removing too much material at the tips of the tines because there is more material at the back of the comb than at the front.

To flatten a downward facing bow, sand down each side. Position the end of the comb tool over each side.

Flatten the left side and then do the right side.

Then do a quick flattening of the whole surface to even things out before you re-check.

Repeat the whole process as needed.

Position the tool closer or farther from the middle as needed.

One last thing...

Overworking things may build up a bulge in the very middle of the comb.

You may need to lightly sand down the very middle of the comb freehand, then flip it over and do a quick sanding of the whole surface.

Frustrated Player: I bought a new harp and the reeds are stiff.

Me: You find the reeds feel stiff? The major brands' reeds usually work very well. They may have a different feel, but they shouldn't be stiff. I think something else is going on.

Frustrated Player: It's the reeds. In fact it's mainly the 2 and 3 draw reeds. I tried gapping them but that only made it worse!

Me: Often when a harmonica is leaky, it feels just like the reed is stiff because we need to use a lot of effort to get it to play, but the real problem is that there's not a lot of air getting to the reed. The reeds are fine. But since we can't see what's going on as we play, the sensory feedback is the same as if the reed really was stiff.

I get the feeling the only thing the person is hearing are sounds that come from the adults in Charlie Brown:

"Waugh Waaugh WAAaa WAAAAaa...."

Frustrated Player: It's a (insert any and every Make/Model here). I read on the internet they are all stiff.

Me: I'm sure we can fix it.

Frustrated Player: Okay. Here. I forgot to mention, I tried embossing but that didn't work.

Me: Really?

Frustrated Player: Embossing didn't do anything so I just kept embossing until the reed got stuck. I freed it up but now it buzzes. And it's still stiff. It's the reeds on this (insert any and every Make/Model here)!

I take the harp apart and we check the flatness of the reed plates and comb. We either correct or replace the comb. We flatten the draw reed plate using a flat surface and some sandpaper and we straighten the blow plate using the F tool™ and French Tuner™. The whole process takes about five minutes.

I carefully eliminate any dust particles from the inside of the harp and reassemble it. I deal with the over-embossing and zealous gapping. I hand the harp back to the disgruntled player.

Formerly Frustrated Player: Wow! This person is visibly pleased.

Me: Are the reeds still stiff?

Formerly Frustrated Player: Do-Diggetty Wah Wahh. (Can't talk with the harp in mouth except to say "thank you!")

I'm not making this up. This happens to me *all the time*.

I've been getting emails almost every week from folks telling me my Dark combs™ are the flattest combs out there. They often tell the same story of some mysterious problem with response or stiff reeds suddenly disappearing when they installed one of my combs.

I check every single comb (both sides, both axes) and flatten them by hand. I take nothing for granted.

Upon final inspection, only one of the combs in this photo needed some serious flatness correction. But they all got checked!

You can flatten your combs, too! Use my comb tool™ (instructions and support included).