Hey Kieron, The drawreed should also be gapped tight just to minimize air loss. However this will affect the bent notes so you will have to find the optimum yourself.
Hi Tinus, First of all thanks for such an informative site, it's opened up a whole new world for me. Who would have thought, a chromatic scale on a diatonic harp?! What a great little instrument this is! I have got O/B's on 4,5&6 after a bit of practice - well ok then after a lot of practice and am quite happy to stick with these for the time being. I have tried blue tac instead of wax and it seems ok for the moment. Adjusting the blow reeds to get the choke is fine but what works best for the draw reed? Is it the same principle as for the blow reed i.e set it close to the reed plate? It seems to me that most harps need some tweaking to get best results and have had pretty good results with GM's Harpmasters & SP20's. I've even removed the valves on 4,5&6 on my suzuki mr350V as the O/B's produce a better sound than the valve assisted alternative. Now to try and incorporate these 3 extra notes into my playing!
Tinus, Thank you very much for such a great site on the overblow. I have not used this technique in all the years I have been playing and after hearing Howard Levy I knew I had to learn this. Jason R. and I hung out for a while a few weeks back at the San Jose Blues Fest. and I thought this young man was just great.I could really use those overblows!Any other help would be great. Thanks again.
I play a harmonica based on the MS meisterklasse from Hohner. I use crossharp MS plates, on an Anthony Daneker comb with meisterklasse covers. The Lee Oskars are indeed very difficult to play overblows on. I think that the special 20 classic/handmade are the best harmonicas to start learning to overblow on. But peoples opinions on the matter differ. The MS series harmonicas don't overblow well out of the box, they need some work before they overblow well.
i have just got to master these overbows/draws and my lee oskars don't seem to work well (think of the money I coudl have saved if i had your technique).
I played pro in the early 80's when I was young (your age) then started a family day job etc.
in the meantime, the overblow came into being. it seems like a gift from god (or howard levy).
The drawreed should also be gapped tight just to minimize air loss. However this will affect the bent notes so you will have to find the optimum yourself.
Thank you very much for such a great site on the overblow. I have not used this technique in all the years I have been playing and after hearing Howard Levy I knew I had to learn this. Jason R. and I hung out for a while a few weeks back at the San Jose Blues Fest. and I thought this young man was just great.I could really use those overblows!Any other help would be great.
Thanks again.
Cheers!
Andy Just
Gary
I use crossharp MS plates, on an Anthony Daneker comb with meisterklasse covers.
The Lee Oskars are indeed very difficult to play overblows on. I think that the special 20 classic/handmade are the best harmonicas to start learning to overblow on. But peoples opinions on the matter differ.
The MS series harmonicas don't overblow well out of the box, they need some work before they overblow well.
i have just got to master these overbows/draws and my lee oskars don't seem to work well (think of the money I coudl have saved if i had your technique).
I played pro in the early 80's when I was young (your age) then started a family day job etc.
in the meantime, the overblow came into being. it seems like a gift from god (or howard levy).
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