Lee Oskar Harmonica New User.

[salmon]

Just bought a Lee Oskar Major Diatonic in C. After playing £4.99
Hornby Blues Harps for a couple of months, (i'm a comparative newcomer
to harmonica playing for my own amusement) thought I'd treat my self
to the 'Rolls Royce' of harps. I thought that by paying 4 times more
I could expect four times more quality but that doesn't appear to be
the case. I must admit I do like the harp a lot but I'm still
dissapointed with the #2 draw. I would have thought that after 40
years experience of playing, performing and experimenting with harps,
Lee could have at least tried to sort that little problem out, but it
seems that all us suckers out here are just playing it wrong. Apart
from his name on the Harp and the replaceable reed plates, what was
his 40 years spent doing perfecting this instrument?

I'm now going to order a Hohner Marine Band Special 20 the other
'Rolls Royce' of harmonicas and make a comparison.

Nice try Lee but don't let us wait another 40 years for some decent
improvements. Please.

[Mr Nilsson]

i find lee oskars harder to play on the low holes than special 20s,
but having problems with the draw 2 is usually a matter of technique,
not a problem with the harp

Post by salmon
Just bought a Lee Oskar Major Diatonic in C. After playing £4.99
Hornby Blues Harps for a couple of months, (i'm a comparative newcomer
to harmonica playing for my own amusement) thought I'd treat my self
to the 'Rolls Royce' of harps. I thought that by paying 4 times more
I could expect four times more quality but that doesn't appear to be
the case. I must admit I do like the harp a lot but I'm still
dissapointed with the #2 draw. I would have thought that after 40
years experience of playing, performing and experimenting with harps,
Lee could have at least tried to sort that little problem out, but it
seems that all us suckers out here are just playing it wrong. Apart
from his name on the Harp and the replaceable reed plates, what was
his 40 years spent doing perfecting this instrument?
I'm now going to order a Hohner Marine Band Special 20 the other
'Rolls Royce' of harmonicas and make a comparison.
Nice try Lee but don't let us wait another 40 years for some decent
improvements. Please.

[Zoran]

"Mr Nilsson" <***@gmail.com> wrote in message news:***@q75g2000hsh.googlegroups.com...
i find lee oskars harder to play on the low holes than special 20s,
but having problems with the draw 2 is usually a matter of technique,
not a problem with the harp


Lee Oskar is an easy play harp, no need push hard. MS Hohner series is for
hard playin'. Well, I think it is meter of taste, lot of harp bro today like
to play Golden Melody, but for me is out of the box first harp
SuzukiBluesmaster, than Marine BandDeluxe, than Special 20, response well
all of them.

Metter of taste, I suposed so. Japan made harmonicas is very good, LeeOskar
is also Japanese, but thay have lot of others harp, miriad. Some harp bro
like to play Huang, most of intermediate like to used BiRiver, Hohner not
expensive harp.

No bad or good harp, only metter of taste. Sometimes I like to play, or
prefer to play ProHarp, than Blues harp, after that I like more responsive
harp and took Suzuki, or Special20, or some woden body Marine Band etc...we
can talk days and days about harp...

Stay cool

[Mikel Lee]

I've been playing LO's for 17 years now. They are a harder harmonica
to play which I recently found out when I had to have an Ab and all
that was in stock in the music store was a Special 20. I suppose it's
just the way they're made. I've found them to last a long time
though. If you want an easy harp to bend and play then stick with the
Special 20 or a really nice alternative would be the Bushman Delta
Frost.

[T-Bone Bruce]

Post by Mikel Lee
I've been playing LO's for 17 years now. They are a harder harmonica
to play which I recently found out when I had to have an Ab and all
that was in stock in the music store was a Special 20. I suppose it's
just the way they're made. I've found them to last a long time
though. If you want an easy harp to bend and play then stick with the
Special 20 or a really nice alternative would be the Bushman Delta
Frost.

Most beginners have problems getting draw 2 to sound properly. That's
not a problem with the harp. Salmon, as your technique improves you
will getter a better tone out of your harp and perfect your drawing
technique. I've got numerous LO's and never had a problem with any and
I've had some many years, I like the Special 20's too, but I wouldn't
call either of them Rolls Royce harmonicas. More like your generic
Ford, VW, GM etc...they're what everyone uses. Cheap harps are like
cheap cars, you can do most of the stuff that you can in a good car,
it just won't do it as easily or comfortably and might not last very
long. The Rolls Royce's of harps are Joe Filisko or Anthony Danneker's
harps.

[Mikel Lee]

T-Bone...what's shake'n? All's well down here in HOT sunny Florida.
I've posted some new tracks at www.myspace.com/mikel-lee. Actually
they're just shorts to give an example of my playing. Check 'em out if
you feel like it.

Hope all is well with you and you're enjoying your summer.

Mikel

[T-Bone Bruce]

Post by Mikel Lee
T-Bone...what's shake'n? All's well down here in HOT sunny Florida.
I've posted some new tracks atwww.myspace.com/mikel-lee. Actually
they're just shorts to give an example of my playing. Check 'em out if
you feel like it.
Hope all is well with you and you're enjoying your summer.
Mikel

All's well here,. the weather's just beginning to warm up over this
side of the pond too, although not FL hot! I'll check out the new
tracks.

[milwaukee slim]

It is very seldom that I find a harp out of the box to play the way I
want them to, especially the low keys and the octave lower harps.
After a few minutes of gapping they and some tuning they play well.
To get them to over blow though, that takes some time. What is it
about the 2 draw that doesn't work for you. It could be technique with
a better harp, with it being more air tight, it might be trying to
bend and your note is out of pitch and dull sounding

Post by Mikel Lee
I've been playing LO's for 17 years now. They are a harder

harmonica

Post by Mikel Lee
to play which I recently found out when I had to have an Ab and all
that was in stock in the music store was a Special 20. I suppose it's
just the way they're made. I've found them to last a long time
though. If you want an easy harp to bend and play then stick with the
Special 20 or a really nice alternative would be the Bushman Delta
Frost.

[salmon]

Hi thanks for your input.
The problem is the #2 draw sounds dull and low volume compared with
notes either side.
On Lee's site he gives tips for playing the lower notes saying that
new players often have problems with these. Well I'm a relatively new
player and have no problem with #1 and #3 draw/bending but I do with
#2 and I can't accept that it is my technique. If my technique is OK
for #1 and #3 what on earth could I be doing to screw up on #2? Sorry
rant over - just a tad dissapointed. Thanks for any replies.

[milwaukee slim]

First try a technique blow hot air on your hand then cold air then try
drawing with the hot air technique more open airway breathing from
down in you diaphragm not you mouth. If it does not help the situation
open the harp and check the gapping of the reeds compared to the
others. Also check the blow reed if it is much farther away either
reed it will change the volume because of air leakage. If you still
have a problem take the reed plate off the harp and look through the
plate to see if the reed is centered and not hitting the side of the
reed plate.

Good Luck
Slim

Post by salmon
Hi thanks for your input.
The problem is the #2 draw sounds dull and low volume compared with
notes either side.
On Lee's site he gives tips for playing the lower notes saying that
new players often have problems with these. Well I'm a relatively new
player and have no problem with #1 and #3 draw/bending but I do with
#2 and I can't accept that it is my technique. If my technique is OK
for #1 and #3 what on earth could I be doing to screw up on #2? Sorry
rant over - just a tad dissapointed. Thanks for any replies.

[salmon]

Thanks for the suggestions Slim. I tried the breathing techniques you
suggested before and it didn't really make a lot of difference,
however I did crack the beast open and re-alignes the No.2 draw reed
very slightly and it has made a very slight improvement. I'll wait for
a bit and see if it loosens up anymore before I do anymore open-harp
surgery. I get the jitters that I may trash it completely if I 'm not
very careful. Thanks very much for your input though. It was
appreciated.

John.

[Keith Adams]

Gap the reeds. Plain and simple. Also...technique can always be improved
upon even if you've been playing 20 years.

"salmon" <***@googlemail.com> wrote in message news:***@r34g2000hsd.googlegroups.com...
Just bought a Lee Oskar Major Diatonic in C. After playing £4.99
Hornby Blues Harps for a couple of months, (i'm a comparative newcomer
to harmonica playing for my own amusement) thought I'd treat my self
to the 'Rolls Royce' of harps. I thought that by paying 4 times more
I could expect four times more quality but that doesn't appear to be
the case. I must admit I do like the harp a lot but I'm still
dissapointed with the #2 draw. I would have thought that after 40
years experience of playing, performing and experimenting with harps,
Lee could have at least tried to sort that little problem out, but it
seems that all us suckers out here are just playing it wrong. Apart
from his name on the Harp and the replaceable reed plates, what was
his 40 years spent doing perfecting this instrument?

I'm now going to order a Hohner Marine Band Special 20 the other
'Rolls Royce' of harmonicas and make a comparison.

Nice try Lee but don't let us wait another 40 years for some decent
improvements. Please.