Hole 10 bending problems.
Hi Kinya I have a Lee Oscar harmonica in the key of E. that am working on for a friend. I have went in and used a cuticle stick to massage the reeds flats Reset the zero point and the gapping. And embossed all the reeds. all the bends work fine but just one, hole number 10 bend. I have tried closing both reed as close as I can. I have opened them both reeds up. But the bend is a struggle to get out. I have used a tuner to see if the note is even coming out and it register a C#. and when I try to bend the note up it does not want to bend easy. And I can feel pressure building up in the front of my mouth when trying to bend it up. Any suggestion on how to get the bend to pop out easier?
Hi Kinya I got then bending part figured out. Were I can get the 10 hole bend. Its still a little struggle but not as much as before. But now I have one more dilemma with the 10 hole draw reed. There a lag in the responsiveness of the draw reed. For some reason it does not matter if I open the gap or close it. The reed wants to lag before it response. But when you use your tongue as a piston between both draw and blow reed the responsiveness is ok. But when you go to slide between the 9 hole and 10 hole draw it lags. And I looked at some lee Oskars that I had won off of eBay. Ones a F# and the other a Db. The 10 hole draw reeds has a real small gab. And it response well with no lag. So am wondering if the 10 hole draw reed is bad. And needs to be replaced. Or if I just have not found its sweet spot. Now if the reed is bad. would the Db 10 blow or the F# 10 draw work as a replacement and just re-tune the reed.
Hi JF
If the #10 draw reed (C#/Db) checks out against your chromatic tuner, I'm dubious that the reed would be faulty.
I don't think you found the "sweet spot" (gapping) yet ...
Yes. The 10 blow on the Db harmonica will be EXACTLY the same as the 10 draw reed of an E harmonica. Not true, however, for the 10 draw reed (D#) of a F# harmonica.
I'm curious JF, does your friend prefer playing Blues with his E harmonica in 1st position, over his A harmonica in 2nd position?
Your Harpsmith, Kinya
Hi JF, good to hear from you.
Sorry to read about your delimma with the #10 reeds, on your friends Lee Oskar (key of E) harmonica.
You are not alone. Diatonic harmonicas in the key range of Db > Hi G challenge many players with their #10 blow bends.
By your detailed report, it appears you have done everything right--on the bench. As a player; however, have you (or your friend) postion the tip of the tongue into the proper forward tone chamber (inside your mouth)? Remember, the reed lengths and widths are quite small (and stiff); therefore, your tongue has the task of creating the required small tone chamber that will match the half (Eb) and whole step (D)bent notes.
Let us know what you discover.
Your Harpsmith, Kinya