Re: [Harp-L] richard hunter and lee oskar harps

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"clydeclc@xxxxxxxx" wrote:
<you have stated many times that the lee oskar's are your main harp.  i have also read from many <players, who used to use them, that they felt the lo's were hard to bend and did not over blow well.

LO's have a reputation for being hard to overblow.  I don't think I ever heard anyone say they were hard to bend.

<listening to your music it is easy to tell you don't have those  problems.  while i am not very good my <three lo's seem to bend and over blow as easily as any of my other harps.

Thanks!  I occasionally having problems sustaining an overblow on a LO.  But I overblow on them frequently, and in general I find that my overblow technique works about as well on an LO as on any other off the shelf harp.  (Might be because my technique is fatally flawed.  "As well" doesn't necessarily mean "really well.")

<i was wondering if you had to set up your lo's different so they would bend and o.b.  .... or if you <treated them the same as you would any harp.

The advice I was given by Joe Filisko was that reeds should be gapped as close to the plate as possible for overblowing.  I gap them closer than I used to.  I think that's pretty much what I'd do with any harp. That's all the setup work I do nowadays.  In general, harps seem to be manufactured to a higher standard in the last few years, so I don't need to do as much as I used to in order to get a harp that plays well.

Regards, Richard Hunter
latest mp3s and harmonica blog at http://myspace.com/richardhunterharp