Hi. I received my first Lee Oskar today, in Natural E minor.
I’m still a raw beginner, just working on isolating notes, and not getting it everytime without putting in some effort, but I’m worried about the 2 Draw. When I isolate it, apart from taking a lot of sucking, I get something like a faint, dying foghorn, or what sounds like approx 10khz feedback, or both.
This doesn’t happen with the 3 Marine bands, the Special 20, Pocket Pal, East top, or even the unbranded ‘Folk Masters’.
It seems to sound okay when drawing 123, but it’s hard to tell.
I don’t want to send it back if it’s just me, but what do you guys and girls think? I can’t see why I would have this problem on this harp, and on none of the others.
Worth opening up? Persevering as is? Or do I contact the seller immediately?
I bought it online, but from an actual physical music shop, not an online store.
I’m just a bit disappointed, and a bit breathless, so I’d like some advice and opinions. Thanks!
Hi @Dave_Dunn
Open it by removing the cover plates and then the screws attaching the reed plates to the comb.
Look at the draw plate (the one that was attached to the underside of the comb & had the reeds exposed when you initially removed the cover plates), reed #2 (the second longest reed) is the guilty one.
It sound like this reed is either rubbing against the side(s) of its slot or there could be dirt or a metal burr (either on the side(s) of the reed’s slot or the reed itself).
You can attempt to fix any of these, but my advice would be to contact the seller and request an exchange. You purchased a new harp that is defective (evidence: this does not happen on any other of your harps).
Regards,
– Slim 
Thanks Slim. I emailed them, with much the same information as I have given here, and added that I’d posted about the problem on this forum, to ask for advice. Then enquired about sending it back for repair or replacement.
After that, I sounded isolated 2 draw notes on my main four harmonicas. I’m not saying it was like angels singing, but I can do it with very little effort on those harps, so I have little doubt now about it being a dodgy reed or something. Plus, I definitely don’t get that high pitched feedback type sound anywhere else.
After reading a lot of your comments, I’d realised that perhaps something could be done, but as you say, I paid for a perfect example of the instrument, not a ‘fixer upper’.
I value your advice, and if I have to, I’ll be opening it up, but I basically left it as their decision. Opening it up may void any replacement policy, and stop the store from getting a credit from the supplier, so I worded it so that if I did, it would be them advising me to do so.
I just wanted to know what people thought. I’m a rank beginner, I wanted to eliminate poor technique in my mind, so as to have a clear conscience if I return it.
Thanks Slim. 
Glad to be of assistance, @Dave_Dunn !
If you can play 2-draw on the other harps but get that strange sound on this one, and that is without attempting any bends, then the harp has a defect. 
Good luck and let us know how this turns out.
Regards,
– Slim
Flip the harp, @Dave_Dunn
I had the same problem with my Hohner Blues Harp G. Replacement gave no problems and with the replacement harp the problem was gone.
Nope, not attempting bends, just trying to isolate notes properly. I can do it on any other harmonica though, so I’ll send it back.
No reply to my email as yet though, so if none tomorrow, I’ll phone them.
Thanks!
Keep us posted.
I rang them just now, after not receiving a reply to my email.
It was no problem at all, they’re sending a replacement, with a paid return package to send it back it in.
So I can’t complain about that!
Ozwinds - Brass and Woodwind. for any Australian (or international for that matter) forum members. $54 aud, $37 usd.
I have bought Bb, A, and G harps of LO in the last weeks, on all of them I have improved sound (responsiveness and less quantity of air needed) by adjust ing the gap of the 2 or 3 draw reeds. In my opinion it was too small (too close to Reed plate).
I still think it’s more my technique than LO, but it helped.
Hi @p.alfarano
Cool. Remember each person has their own anatomical features and small adjustments can often make a big difference.
Regards,
– Slim 
Thanks! It’s great to know that the harps can be adjusted in that way. I was quite prepared to do something like that if needed, I was looking for this kind of feedback, but I think that high pitched noise showed that it came down to the manufacturing. That too might have been fairly easy to fix if needed, going by some of Slim and Astrid’s comments on the forum.
If I’d bought it second hand, as I have the majority of my Hohner ‘collection’, then that’s exactly what I would be looking into, but they were quite happy to replace it, and seemed to be very familiar with the problem I was talking about, I only had to mention ‘a high, feedback type noise’, and it was ‘no problem, we’ll send a replacement’, I didn’t have to explain further.
I didn’t want to complain that it was broken, and find out later that it was my technique!
To digress a little, I bought 3 ‘Little/Pocket’ Saxophones, and there were many reviews of that brand saying either that they didn’t work, or were out of tune, when in fact, it’s hard to even get a note from a saxophone mouthpiece, and intonation and tuning is directly related to the skill of the player. They say that the first thing to know about playing saxophone, no saxophone is inherently in tune. Checking with a tuner, after months of practice, there’s nothing wrong with the tuning of the product, yet people pull it out of the packaging, try to play it, write a bad review, and send it back!
I didn’t want to be one of those people!
I got all of my teeth pulled out for dentures, so I had to put saxophone on hold (I bought real ones), so I thought I’d try harmonica, so far, lovin’it!
Thanks for the input, when the replacement comes, I may well have to pick your brains, we’ll see!
To update - I received the replacement, and didn’t have the same problem, so it was a faulty or misaligned reed.
I’m not saying that my draw 2 was strong and clear, but it was definitely there every time, with very little effort.
I must say, after jamming with it tonight, I think I like the harmonic minor scale better. With this natural minor tuning, there’s a pretty ‘disharmonic’ relationship between draws 5, 6 and 7, that isn’t there on the harmonic minor tuning. Hit those by mistake as you go up and down, and it sounds horrible!
Thanks for the help!
Edit - I had great fun playing the licks/runs from ‘Baby Please Don’t Go’ just now, and did a reasonable job, to a backing track in A though, not E.
As people might know, that’s the first impressive sounding thing you might learn on guitar in the 70s and 80s, because it’s just going up and down the pentatonic scale in E mostly, and you can do a lot of it with only one hand, with your right hand raised to the sky, while people wave their lighters in the air!
That’s what I’m going for!
My wife was quite impressed!
Edit again - I can do it on the harmonic minor tuned harmonica, but it just sounds too, ‘nice’?
So what key Natural Harmonica did you get?
I bought an Em.
I’ve been having some fun playing it in the first position to songs in A too.
The first thing I want to record is a solo, and some rhythm parts to this song, which is a shuffle in E.
So for the rhythm, I’m going to use an A harp, but I’m hoping to get something a bit different out of the Em in the solo. I know I won’t be advanced enough to put something impressive together in the second position on a standard A harp, so I thought I’d see how I go with the minor tuning.