Re: Oskar and Overblows?
- Subject: Re: Oskar and Overblows?
- From: "Tim Moyer" <wmharps@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 12:21:45 -0000
Jcangehr@xxxx wrote:
> I seem to remember a recent post that mentioned parenthetically
> that overblows are "impossible" on Lee Oskar diatonics. How true
> is this? I use LO's, and have the hang of the 7 OB pretty well,
> but not the 9. With practice, can it be done, or are other harps
> simply much better for OB's?
Let's make sure we're talking about overblows and not blow bends.
Overblows are a technique which forces the primary reed in the slot --
the blow reed in slots 1 through 6 -- to choke and the secondary
reed -- the draw reed in these slots -- to sound at approximately a
semitone higher than the major draw note in the hole. Overblows are
not possible on holes 7 through 10, though there are over*draws*.
Blow bends, which are "normal" 2-reed bends which go down in pitch,
are typically available on holes 7 through 10 on a
standard/vamper/richter tuned diatonic. Blow bends are anything but
impossble on a Lee Oskar, I've found these harps in general to be
very reponsive on the high end.
Overbends are not "impossible" on Lee Oskars either, but require some
special modifications to avoid the squealing that results from the
torsional vibration of the reeds when soudned this way. This is
accomplished through some combination of applying wax or nail polish
to the base of the reed and applying a small square of tape to the
center of the reed. I've found both techiniques to be equally
effective, and I have Lee Oskars that overbend quite nicely, thank
you, following this modification. It should be noted that other
harps have similiar problems with overbends, such as Suzukis and
Chinese Hohners. German Hohners and Herings seem to be the
most "ovebend friendly".
- -tim
This archive was generated by a fusion of
Pipermail 0.09 (Mailman edition) and
MHonArc 2.6.8.