RE: Lee Oskar...etc

[Bill Schaumburg <bschaumb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Questions:

1. The flexibility of the Lee Oscar reed does seem to make for more 
choking; is the consensus that an offset adjustment is the way to go?  Or 
am I to play with more reserve?

2. I always fatigue the four hole draw first--is this a weakness in my 
style, my harmonica, or the human condition?

Opinions:

I use mostly Lee Oscars.  When I started playing again in '89 I used Huang 
Silvertones (I fear I may have stopped using those for status reasons, but 
they seemed less lively to me.) and tried as many of the others as I could 
get my hands on.

In '74, when I essentially stopped playing, the Marine Band was the 
standard; its reed plates still were in '89; and everybody should keep 
one as the standard for comparison.  (The difference in this instance 
between fact and opinion is noticeably slight.)  If you can put up with 
the swell wood comb, the ersatz screws and the riveted reed plates, you're 
done shopping. 

I didn't find much overall difference between the Special 20, the Golden 
Melody or the Lee Oscar for my playing.  The choice came down to the 
stainless steel cover plates.  I felt that the Hohners were slightly more 
durable; but the LO reed plate interchangeability made that difference 
moot.

Bill "Spider" Schaumburg