[Harp-L] customizing Lee Oskars

[Jonathan Ross <jross38@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I would guess one reason you don't hear as much about customizing Lee  
Oskars as opposed to Marine Bands is that they simply need less done  
to them.  The quality control is excellent so they are decently in  
tune and adequately gapped as is, plus the construction has no  
inherent flaws: no wood comb prone to swelling, screws rather than  
nails holding it all together.

Another reason may be that they aren't as friendly to overblow  
without customizing: as was stated, the reeds have a tendency to  
squeal a bit, but this can be fixed in at least one of two ways  
(check the archives for "Turbotape" and "nail polish").

LOs are an excellent product out of the box, but there are people who  
work on them and can make them significantly better.  Perhaps the  
customizer most associated with LOs would be Pat Missin, who both  
works on them and plays them himself (a very strong endorsement):

http://www.patmissin.com/

Pat will actually work on just about any brand, so whenever you hear  
something like "well, no-one works on those" it is pretty much  
already disproved.



JR Ross