They fit most popular chromatics, but the owners of the more expensive Suzuki chromatics with brass-weighted combs could not have it both ways: they had to either stick with the weighted factory combs with their too-large inefficient reed chambers, or switch to a superior-shaped but much lighter Suzuki PowerComb.
Now I've got the perfect solution for them: PowerPlugs!
The Hohner CX-12, 64, Super 64 and Super 64-X are popular chromatic harmonicas, and rightly so: they have great reedplates and a good tone. But one area lets them all down: the too-large comb chambers of their ABS plastic injection-moulded combs, especially a problem for reed response in the top octave. Players of these nice Hohner chromatics had to either stick with the inefficient factory combs, or buy a superior-shaped but expensive PowerComb.
Now my 3D printed Hohner-10 PowerCombs add unique new features to this classic, like Valve Pockets, Personalised Name Option and the LookDot – plus 15 colours if you want them! And the same comb fits the modern derivatives of the 1896 Marine Band: the Marine Band Deluxe, Crossover, and Thunderbird low-key range.
Because of the PowerComb's Valve Pockets, all these great Hohner diatonics can be easily valved with my new Stealth-Valves. This will give you a completely new sound on these beautiful Hohner diatonics – why not try for yourself?
Now my 3D printed PowerCombs offer a way to revive those big Hohner diatonics mouldering away in your closet! They are impervious to moisture, with smooth rounded fronts for comfortable playing and slotted screw holes front and rear for easy assembly and an airtight seal. The big Hohner PowerCombs have Valve Pockets to allow easy valving with my new Stealth-Valves, a longitudinal Tuf-Strut for extra strength, come in 15 colours – and you can add your name to the treble end if you wish.
My unique LookDot is the icing on the cake – several of them in fact! Spaced out at regular logical intervals, the LookDots will help you negotiate your way around confidently on all that frontal real estate. You'll quickly come to appreciate their value as soon as you start playing.
The big Hohner diatonics come in two reed sizes: long-slot (higher keys) and short-slot (lower keys). Unlike most other custom comb makers for these great old harps (who only offer one size comb), I've designed a Universal comb with long slots, and a Short-slot comb. This stays true to the original Hohner nailed wooden comb, which came in two slot lengths.
If you don't know what size your reeds are, choose the Universal PowerComb, as it will fit all. However if you have a higher-key harp with the short reeds, then choose the Short-slot as it will play more sweetly. You can see from the video the differences in reed sizes on these harps. I encourage you to remove the coverplates and check your harp before ordering. WARNING: long-slot reeds will NOT work on the short-slot comb.
(You or a customiser will need to do the conversion from nailed to screwed fitting. Please use Hohner-size 1.6mm screws for fitting to my combs – fatter screws will require enlarging the screw holes).
My 3d printed Lucky 13 PowerCombs add unique new features to this modern classic harmonica. Hand-sanded and finished, they have smooth rounded fronts for comfortable playing, slotted screw holes front and rear for assembly to suit your preferred mouth feel, flat-sanded reedplate surfaces for an airtight seal, a Tuf-Strut for extra strength, Valve Pockets for hassle-free valving – and a Personalised Name Option.
Because of the PowerComb's Valve Pockets, the Lucky 13 can be easily valved with my new Stealth-Valves. Half-valved setup is how I play my Luckies! It allows you to keep all your bends but gives extra expression and volume on the low notes in each hole.
My unique LookDot is the icing on the cake – two of them in fact! Inspired by the location dots on guitar necks, one is placed to mark the join between the normal low octave and extra-low range, while the other is between holes 5 & 6 of the standard range. The LookDots will help you negotiate your way around confidently on that bigger frontal real estate with ease - you'll quickly come to appreciate their value as soon as you start playing!
A special video on valving the Lucky 13 is coming soon. In the meantime, see how easy it is here.
I liked the concept, so have created a 3D printed PowerComb to do the job! Like my other combs, it is valve-friendly, with each chamber having Valve Pockets so valves don't get pinched between comb and reedplates. You can either use Seydel's valves, or buy a Stealth-Valve kit from if you want to easily valve your Twin Big-Six yourself. My Twin Big Six comb comes in a big range of colours, and you even have the option of having your own name imprinted on the side!
All you do is disassemble two Big-Sixes and put the parts straight on my double comb; they will fit perfectly! This new combo-harp offers a lot of new possibilities - why not think up some for yourself?
Why do it? Because the low-pitched reeds on a standard un-valved harp are quieter and have no capacity for any expression: bending and vibrato are impossible on them. Half-valve your harp and suddenly those unresponsive reeds become full of soul! They are louder, purer in tone, and you can bend and add vibrato to the notes.
Where you put the valves depends on the tuning. For a standard Richter harp you would add valves inside for the lower 6 reeds, and 4 valves outside. For PowerBender and PowerDraw, all the valves are inside and none on the outside.
Adding valves is perceived as tricky and fiddly - but it doesn't have to be! To allow more players to enjoy the benefits of half-valving, I've developed my own rugged Stealth-Valves, plus an easy way to add them to all popular harps with accuracy and confidence. Please check out the two videos showing how it works. Video 1 shows full valving, 20 valves on a 10 hole harp. Video two shows half-valving on a Richter harp, plus fitting the reedplates to one of my PowerCombs with special Valve Pockets to give the valve bases plenty of room.
The valve strips are precisely cut in the correct shape for each harmonica model. Laminated from two materials, they have a springy outer layer and a soft inner layer. They are rugged, reliable, quiet and lay flat without sticking. Once fitted you'll forget they're inside your harp - hence the name Stealth-Valves.
The Stealth-Valve Kit comes as two valve units, plus two adhesive strips, carefully packaged to keep everything flat. If you order a Stealth-Valve Kit with your PowerComb, postage costs are reduced - so we can offer a lower price per kit.
Currently unavailable
All Suzuki chroms except the Fabulous have ABS plastic injection-moulded combs. ABS is a good material for harmonica combs but useful thickening and filling of some areas of the comb (especially in the top octave to overcome the effects of Helmholtz Resonance Coupling), cannot be done properly with injection-moulding. My custom 3D printed PowerCombs keep all the advantages of ABS plus the ability to shape it into the perfect forms for optimal airflow and small chamber volumes. This gives improved reed response - especially in the very top holes, which don't work well with the over-large comb chambers of stock ABS combs.
The Suzuki PowerComb fits ALL Suzuki 12 hole chromatics: SCX-48 (all keys), GM-48, GM-48W, Sirius S-48S, even the Fabulous F-48S. Fitting a new PowerComb to your Suzuki chrom is a breeze! Here is a video showing the whole procedure step by step, with useful tips for those not accustomed to disassembling their chromatics.
All prices include international shipping. Orders of £60 or over are sent with Tracking also (you can include a mix of items from the website to make up the £60).
The SCX and Sirius have ABS plastic injection-moulded combs. ABS is a good material for harmonica combs but useful thickening and filling of some areas of the comb (especially in the top octave to overcome the effects of Helmholtz Resonance Coupling), cannot be done properly with injection-moulding. My custom 3D printed PowerCombs keep all the advantages of ABS plus the ability to shape it into the perfect forms for optimal airflow and small chamber volumes. This gives improved reed response - especially in the very top holes, which don't work well with the over-large comb chambers of stock ABS combs.
Besides their superior performance qualities, my PowerCombs come in lots of fun colours! This gives the player the chance to customise the look of their Suzuki chrom for the first time. They come in two types, the single-ramped Advanced and the double-ramped Extreme. There is not a lot of difference in the sound; Extreme goes to the max in reducing chamber volumes, but the Advanced allows you to adjust blow reeds more easily. If you’re not sure, choose Advanced for that reason.
Fitting a new PowerComb to your 14-hole Suzuki chrom is a breeze! Here is a video showing the whole procedure step by step for the 12 hole model, with useful tips for those not accustomed to disassembling their chromatics. The procedure is identical for your 14-hole PowerComb.
Being so radical, the CX-12 tended to polarise opinion amongst players: they either loved or hated it! Enough loved the CX-12 to make it an instant hit and an enduring modern classic whose popularity has not dimmed in over 20 years. I was one of the smitten, and have lovingly hacked the CX-12 into many forms ever since it came out. As well as using it on my own gigs and recordings, it formed the basis of several of the most successful models in my early years as an online seller of custom harmonicas (my unique CX-16, CX-14 and CX-10 chroms). More recently I have used it to make my THS DoubleChrom
The CX-12 is indeed a wonderful chromatic, but it suffers from two main flaws: a loose-fitting slider, and a comb with over-large air chambers. The stock slider is not very airtight, and noisy to boot. The comb's large reed cavities mean that the highest notes suffer from Helmholtz Resonance coupling, where the resonant frequency of the mouth/comb chamber clashes with the pitch of the reed. This flattens the pitch of the highest reeds and makes them feel unresponsive. I have tackled both issues and created solutions, which I'm now offering to all who love the CX-12 and want to get the most out of it.
However the main feature of my CX-12 PowerComb is its radically changed internal profiling compared to the stock item. It comes in two versions, Advanced (single ramped) and Extreme (double ramped). Both reduce chamber volumes significantly to combat Helmholtz Resonance Coupling and improve reed response. The effect of this is especially noticeable in the top holes, where the reeds play more easily and without pitch flattening. The Extreme is theoretically more efficient throughout the range, but in actual playability there is not much between the two types - it's personal preference.
They may be made using 21st century technology, but these combs are individual craft items. After they are printed there is a considerable amount of hand work: sanding the reedplate surfaces flat, bonding on the steel slide slider base, sanding it flat and general finishing. All that is reflected in the price. However I believe you'll feel they are worth the money when you start to play! Added to the improved playability the many colours to choose from give the element of making your CX-12 more of a personal instrument. See the video on fitting your reedplates to the PowerComb.
But it's not quite that simple. For overblowing to work well, the harmonica needs to be finely adjusted, with close reed gaps and slot-embossing. Out-of-the-box harps will overblow, but any serious player who uses the technique will either buy expensive hand-customised harps, or spend considerable time working on their own harps to optimise them for overblows and overdraws. Even with such customisation, overbending is a high-level playing technique that takes years to master throughout the whole range of the harp. As a result, the number of really good overblow players in the world is still small, even 40 years since the technique became widely known. Harmonica chat groups are littered with posts describing the struggles of beginners trying to incorporate overblows and overdraws in their playing.
My Overblow Booster makes overbends much more user-friendly, enabling total beginners to overbend with ease straight away - all the way from hole 1 to hole 10! For advanced players, it enhances their sound, volume and expressiveness. It gives greater control of both overblows and overdraws, allowing easier bending of them, adding soulful expression such as vibrato on overbends, plus new effects never before possible. The Overblow Booster works great on standard harps without any special gapping or embossing. Even the difficult-to-get overblow in hole 1 is now a breeze to get on a stock harp out-of-the-box! On a fully customised harp the overblows will sound and play like butter, sounding as strong and expressive as standard bends, and give expert overbend players a whole heap of extra fun. Watch the video to see/hear for yourself.
For a long time it's been known that if you stop the lower-pitched note in a chamber from sounding, the overblow/overdraw plays much more strongly. Various harps have been created in the past to make this happen, but none succeeded - because they were either too complicated, too expensive (often both), and forced players to buy new harmonicas. My Overblow Booster is far simpler, cheaper, and doesn't require you to buy a new harmonica: it can be added to your favourite harps in under a minute, and removed just as quickly!
The Overblow Booster only works with harps that have open-back covers. These include the Hohner Crossover & Marine Band Deluxe, Seydel 1847, Suzuki Manji, and some of the models from the excellent new Chinese brands Easttop and Kongsheng. Make sure the harp you are ordering for has open-back covers; select the brand and model in the drop-down list. It comes in two versions: Basic and "Full Monty". The Basic version comprises two light ABS plastic parts that sit almost invisibly beneath the coverplates, fitting snugly to the harp with small tabs that correspond to the reedplate screw positions for each model. The open outer ends of the individual reed channels can be closed with your fingers as you play, thus stopping the inactive reed and making the overblow/overdraw much stronger, and play with greater control.
The Full Monty version adds the Booster Bar: a rear hinged lever attached at the bass end of the harp that closes all the coverplate channels with one quick movement - thus avoiding the need to select the individual channels with your fingers. The Booster Bar's neoprene pad seals to the channel openings when closed, but the harp plays normally when it's held away from the back. It doesn't affect the tone of the harp, hand wah-wah effects can be used on all notes (including overblows/overdraws), and it works well with a handheld microphone too. Watch the first video from 9:15 to see the Booster Bar in action!
A big factor stopping more players trying valves in their harmonicas is the fiddly process of fitting them: one-by-one, with glue. It's skilled work, and easy to get wrong. After nearly four decades of laboriously fitting individual valves to my own harps I finally came up with a better idea: the Gasket-Valve!
This is a one-piece unit with ALL the internal valves attached. Made of a thin resilient material, the Gasket-Valve fits between the comb and draw reedplate without any adhesive. Its precision design aligns all the valves perfectly to the reed slots, with the minimum valve footprint sitting on the reedplate. Combined with a slightly dimpled texture to reduce capillary attraction, this eliminates sticking, and reduces valve 'slap' noise to virtual inaudibility. Plus, because all the valves are part of the same piece of material, they lie flat by default.
I've designed two main styles of diatonic Gasket-Valves, to suit the two main tuning scales. In the standard Richter Tuning used by 90% of players, the breathing pattern reverses at hole #7. In the lower 6 holes the draw note is higher than the blow, and vice-versa in holes 7-10. For half-valving, in order to retain the original Richter bending notes (holes 1,2,3,4,6 draw, & holes 8,9,10 blow), whilst adding the benefit of valves on the normally unbendable notes, you need inside valves on holes 1-6 and outside valves on holes 7-10. I add one more inside valve on hole 7, to allow valved bending expression on it. This is the style of Gasket-Valves you need for Richter, Paddy-Richter, Country Tuning, Melody Maker, Natural Minor, Harmonic Minor and any other tuning where the breathing pattern reverses at hole #7.
In the past 20 years I've pioneered Regular Breath tunings for diatonic harps. Because they have just a single breathing pattern and allow draw bending on every hole, they're quickly becoming more popular. In these tunings, the draw note is ALWAYS higher than the blow note, in all 10 holes. Well-known examples are my own PowerBender, PowerDraw and PowerChromatic tunings, as well as Will Wilde’s tuning (which is based on PowerBender). Other great Regular Breath tunings are Augmented, Diminished and Easy Diatonic. The correct way to half-valve all these tunings is to have all 10 valves on the inside, and none on the outside.
To ensure you get the correct Gasket-Valve set for the harps YOU play, please make the right choice in the drop-down options in the Payment box.
Check your harmonica's tuning to make sure you order the correct Gasket Valves. Common examples are below:
RICHTER & RELATED TUNINGS:Standard Richter,Paddy Richter,Country,Melody Maker,Natural Minor,Harmonic Minor,Major Cross
REGULAR-BREATH TUNINGS:PowerBender,PowerDraw,Will Wilde Tuning,Augmented,Diminished,Easy Diatonic,Bebop,WholeTone,Solo*,Orchestra* * (These are not strictly Regular-Breath Tunings, because one hole in each octave reverses the breath. However 10 inside Gasket-Valve style is the correct choice.)