What glue is right for a Hohner clear plastic comb?

[Ed McCullough]

I bought a 16 holder from eBay. There are a couple cracks at one end of the comb, fortunately cracks are not in the chambers. I am not an expert on plastics.
What is the exact type of clear plastic that Hohner uses?
What are the types and brands of glue that I should use?

[Age]

Back in the day, it was acetone or nothin, but I don't think acetone that does too well with acrylics. My guess is that you can't go wrong with epoxy. The only downside is that the smell hangs around and the "fix" (although very good) tends to be less than aesthetically pleasing. 

Years ago, I bought a Bends 16 with a broken/cracked comb and I fixed it (and it worked well) but I forgot what I used.

[John Broecker]

HOHNER CLEAR PLASTIC COMBS

Hohner's clear plastic combs are generally:

1. acrylic plastic; or
 
2. plexiglass plastic (?); or

3. a 3rd name that I've forgotten at this time.

ADDED 4-17-24:
A.J.: Yes, Lexan is the 3rd name for acrylic,
I believe.

In the Hohner catalogs, the acrylic combs are
listed as plastic; acrylic; or plexiglass.

I'm not a chemist or plastics expert, but it's
an opinion that all 3 names above are
interchangeable for the same material.

ADDED, 4-17-24:
In the 1960s, I had a drum set with acrylic
shells (cylinders).

The acrylic shells looked great, but they
couldn't hold the high tension of the metal
casings that held the tension screws in place,
and the shells cracked around the tension
casings. I sold the drums.

I have replaced storm door window glass with
acrylic plastic panes. They were used on storm
windows where winds blew the doors open.

The doors slammed against the house, cracking
the glass windows on the doors. Acrylic windows
are excellent for storm doors, but acrylic scratches
easily.

I also use acrylic sheets for outdoor music playing.
Windy weather can blow sheet music every which
way, but an acrylic sheet over the music will prevent
sheet music loss.

SlideMeister harmonica repair technicians Mike Easton,
George Miklas and Gary ("Gnarly") Lehman might have
a more correct answer. They might tell us that the 3
types are chemically the same formula, or not the
same formula.

WHAT GLUE IS BEST FOR CLEAR PLASTIC?

I've never tried to glue repair my acrylic comb
on my Hohner #7584 Super 64-X. It's an original
64-X, introduced circa 1990, mine is not of that year.

My Super 64-X has never cracked, never needed
repairs, and still sounds great. I don't know what
glue is best for repairing acrylic/plexiglass combs.

JB WELD "Plastic Weld" is a brand sold in hardware
stores in the USA. It's worked well on ABS plastic
harp combs, PVC and CPVC plastic plumbing pipes,
and "rigid and semi-flexible plastic".

We'll wait for the SlideMeister professional harp
repair technicians for their answers.

Best Regards, Stay Healthy

JB

[Age]

3. a 3rd name that I've forgotten at this time.

LEXAN?

[Gnarly He Man]

Sorry, no help here.
I just replaced a fractured comb on a 280, glue would not have worked.

[Ed McCullough]

Gnarly,   My comb has only a few cracks at one end. I do not have to glue a dozen pieces together. Should I go to a hardware store and buy acetone? Should should I go to a hardware store and ask for cement for acrylic?

[Ed McCullough]

I looked around in the internet a little bit and think the answer is simply

acetone.

Does anybody think that is wrong?

[Laina]

I looked around in the internet a little bit and think the answer is simply

acetone.

Does anybody think that is wrong?

A small bottle of (acetone) nail varnish remover does the trick. Cotton buds work well with it too.

[Age]

Nice to hear from ya, Laina!
(still waitin' for you to show up one of these Thursdays, kiddo! )

In the old days, acetone worked well on just about anything (except of course, for that obligatory haze, which you just hafta buff off) but the last coupla times I tried it, I guess it didn't agree with whatever material was pretending to the old clear plastic I remember as a kid. As they say in OZ: "Nah! Nau-loyke de ’owe dyes, aye" 

I always like working with the stuff, but the main problem I've always had with it was how it mysteriously "disappears," unless I "tape" the lid with electrical tape after screwing in. (Same thing happens with food grade silicone, BTW.)

[Danny G]

Good reason to not buy harmonicas with acrylic combs

[Ed McCullough]

Acrylic lets you see with clean and what's dirty. Acrylic also lets you see what's on the other side.
Acrylic weighs less than metal. When I pick up my harmonicas, I like the lighter weight of the acrylic combed harmonicas. I just don't believe stories from Suzuki that the heavy harmonicas are better.

[Ed McCullough]

I tried one bottle of nail polish remover and it does not work for me. The ingredients are acetone, water, glycerin, propylene glycol, fragrance, tocopheryl acetate, FD&C Yellow No. 10, FD&C Blue No. 1
-. Tomorrow I'm going to look for some pure acetone. If I can't find it in a small bottle, I will go to a hardware store and look for Duco cement or " plastic cement".
-. Dang. What does a person who lives in Fly Speck, Nebraska or Dog Breath, Newfoundland do when s/he needs a specific item?

[Age]

. . . . . . . Dang. What does a person who lives in Fly Speck, Nebraska or Dog Breath, Newfoundland do when s/he needs a specific item?

Alibaba or Temu!

[Age]

You can tell when it's the real stuff; you can actually watch it evaporate when the lid is off the bottle.

The cool thing about acetone is that when applied right, the joint completely disappears. (except for the aforementioned haze that ya get to clean up)

[Ed McCullough]

I am working on a pre-2018 Hohner Super 64X that I bought from eBay. The picture showed one cover plate bashed and the button leaning over. I offered $125 and the seller jumped on it immediately.
I will use standard steel cover plates from another Super 64, and my standard mouthpiece and slide. I don't need the black and the gold.
This harmonica has had almost no playing time. The innards are pristine. The slide was glued in one position with much dried saliva. I feel sad for the original owner, who did not know about rinsing a mouthpiece. He must have given up at that point. Afterwards some accidents bashed a cover plate and the button end of the slide. I can fix those pretty easily. I will glue the small crack in the comb then the harmonica will be like a factory original.
-. There is corrosion on the ends of two reed plates. I guess the harmonica must have been in a humid location for a long time and there was galvanic action between the brass replay and the cover plates. Just my guess.

[Ed McCullough]

Now I have two of the old style 64X and one of the Performance 64X. Exactly what I wanted.

[Age]

Mwoahahahahaha!

[John Broecker]

A.J.:  Yes, Lexan is the 3rd known name for
acrylic plastics, I believe.

Sliders: Please re-read reply #2, above. I've
added more information.

Seydel and possibly Suzuki also make harps
with acrylic combs. An email to those companies,
or their USA repair people, may provide an answer.

Best Regards, Stay Healthy

JB (Not JB Weld).

[Laina]

Nice to hear from ya, Laina!
(still waitin' for you to show up one of these Thursdays, kiddo! )

Hi, yes I do hope join you one of these Thursdays 

[Ed McCullough]

Yes, acetone is the right solvent for Hohner clear acrylic combs.
Drug stores near me do not sell 100% acetone. Builder supply stores and hardware stores have 100% acetone, but the smallest size bottle is 16 oz. Walmart sells 4 oz bottles of 100% acetone in the cosmetics section.