Re: [Harp-L] customizing Lee Oskars

["steve@xxxxxxxxxxxx" <swebb@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

To be fair, I recently bought a minor tuned LO and I have to admit that it does play pretty stiff.  However, I have not yet gapped it and it's also a D (A minor) and I hate D harps anyway. I bet once I get it gapped and play it a little, it will be fine. The other Lee Oskar harps I have bought have all been well worth the money and they last and last.
Steve Webb in Minnesota, where cool weather  prevails this weekend.


---- fjm <bad_hat@xxxxxxxx> wrote: 
> Michael King said;
> 
> > One HUGE problem with the LOs is the reeds are brittle.
> 
> Wow! not my experience at all.  I once foolishly used discarded 
> reedplates from a couple of lower pitched Lee Oskar harmonicas to create 
> a low A harmonica.  I had never retuned that low before.  I repitched 20 
> reeds, many of them using solder in large amounts.  Remember I was using 
>   used plates.  I broke one reed out of the 20.  I really manipulated 
> the reeds to an extreme.  Getting something that low to play reasonably 
> took a lot of adjustment.  The reed that broke was on its way out before 
> I touched it.  I think it may have been a 4 blow.  Anyhow that was over 
> a decade ago.  The harmonica still plays quite well and I haven't had 
> any reed failures.  My initial manipulations of the reeds were inept and 
> the harmonica survived it.
> 
> On another occasion I had traveled out of town to a Lee Oskar workshop. 
>   If I recall correctly we were asked to bring along a D harmonica. 
> Being cheap I brough an older much played harmonica.  We retuned  the 
> harmonicas to the tuning Ben Bouman showcased on a youtube video 
> recently.  3 of the reeds drop significantly in pitch.  I did this 
> without solder plus my initial attempt went awry when I accidentally 
> tuned the reed next to the reed I was trying to lower.  I kept scraping 
> then sounding it and the pitch wasn't changing at all.  By the time I 
> realised my mistake I'd dropped the wrong reed almost a whole tone.  I 
> retuned it back to where it was supposed to be.  That harmonica is well 
> over a decade old.  It too was severly abused by my efforts.  It started 
> out used and I regapped the retuned reeds after having dropped some of 
> them well over a whole tone in pitch.  It still plays fine today.  So I 
> guess your mileage may vary applies here.  fjm
> 
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