Harmonica players who practice frequently will ruin many reeds.

How would you feel about buying a guitar,
which when a stringbreaks, requires you to throw away the neck - together with the remaining strings, the bridge and the tail-piece, replacing them with a new neck on which the strings have been pre-assembled, forcing you to virtually replace the entire instrument?
Can you imagine guitar players overtaxing themselves in this way, throwing away an entire guitar, when all it really needs is to be retuned?

It's ridiculous !

But that's what harmonica players are required to do with their instruments.

What would you think of a guitarist, who, constantly afraid of breaking a string, insisted on playing softly, almost silently?

Again, it's ridiculous, right?

However, in Harmonica Newsgroups all over the Internet, you'll encounter endless discussions, people exhausting every avenue, trying to discover how it might be possible to create an everlasting harmonica. Many players claim one could achieve a everlasting harmonica by simply improving the material and playing technology of the harmonica.

We know of only one way to avoid demolishing reeds:

That is by never playing them!

Therefore we regard such discussions as redundant.

1. We know of no reed material which sooner or later, will not collapse under the stress of 'metal fatigue'.

2. Tone building must always take priority. (and I mean in the sense of exploiting every possibility when forming a good tone and sound production by improving one's technique)
The instrument's limitations and a reed's lifetime must not be the reason why 'metal fatiguing' techniques like bending a note, or using tongue vibrato should not be practiced and enforced.

3. If reeds continue to break, then ways must be found to quickly exchange them. Not a "repair" job, but a "changing" process, like replacing a broken string on a guitar. And it should be manageable by EVERY player!.
This exchange process is represented by the Chmel System.

4. Ways must be found to convince manufacturers that in their constructive consideration of new developments, this idea must take priority. Frequent reed changing is necessary, therefore reeds must be easily replaceable without recourse to throwing away the entire reedplate, including all neighbouring, undamaged and well adjusted reeds. In this respect welded reeds are a step backward.