Side by Side Comparison of: Lee Oskar vs Music Sales America vs Lee Oskar Harmonicas

Love it so far. I am a complete beginner and was suggested this by almost everyone (along with the hohner 20). I like it so far - I can play all the notes and they are in tune. No hissing - air leaking noise even for a complete beginner.Can't comment on bending as I can't do it yet :)

The best harmonicas, period.

Great harmonica for the price. Not quite the notes I was thinking, which one would be a little deeper? Excellent quality.

Lee Oskar has the easy action, high volume and in perfect pitch. It is not known for it deep growling bends for blues but you can bend and get great vibratos.

My favorite harmonica. While I only have two, my other one is a Honner Marine band. The Lee Oscar is easier to play in my opinion

I love this harmonica. I am a beginner, and I recommend the key of c. My friend purchased a cheaper set of harmonicas and gave me one. I noticed that the holes were much smaller, and more difficult to play. This harmonica is easy to learn on and easy to play bent notes. Very satisfied.

Beginning musicians need lots of books & videos to shorten the learning curve & practice time for any instrument - This book is a winner for the harmonica - well worth adding to your collection - you'll be playing a simple song after an hour of practicing from this book. Use the CD to get a feel of the rhythm and learn the basics. A few sips (not too much!) of wine (or any beverage) to relax a bit and keep your lips moist and you will be surprised at the music you can make in such a short time with this book. If you have grandchildren (I have two) they make a great audience for a short time. The older we are, the longer it takes to learn music, this book helps to get you playing faster.

This is great

Love the songs and very well made to start learning, great buy.

Perfect first book for learning to play. CD is helpful lessons are easy to follow.

Great beginner book.

I haven't used the CD yet but the book is wonderful!

Great blues harp, has that bendable build. Still like the old styles, but that's back in the day...

This was a first-time purchase for me and I can find no fault with the Lee Oskar Harmonica. I was interested in finding a decent harmonica I could play around with now and then. Looking forward to jamming out!

This harmonica works well enough for me, though I'm very much an amateur player. The 7th position sometimes gets stuck though. I have a Bluesband as well and haven't noticed it happening with that one.

My husband had talked about receiving a harmonica for months beforeChristmas. It is a really nice musical instrument, however he had to trim his mustache. Likes it very much

I am an absolute beginner at music and the harmonica. I received the Lee Oskar harmonica just three days ago. NeilYoungFan was the seller, the estimated delivery date was Nov. 7-21. I received it early on the 7th, absolutely awesome turn around. The case is black and plastic, and looks like it was made in the 80's. Not a classy case, but certainly gets the job done. The harmonica I bought used and it came scratched, enough to make it definitely used, but still perfectly functional. There is another review for this product from a soldier overseas who says the far lower and upper holes have bad reeds. I agree, the 2nd hole draw note hardly played at first (more on that) and the 10th blow note as well. I'm not familiar with any higher quality harmonicas, but as far as this Lee Oskar model, it is perfectly functional if you're willing to sacrifice perfection and a little time getting used to it for a much cheaper price tag. Very sleek body, nice shine and feels comfortable. The sound is rich and wholesome, and excells at the middle notes. As far as the low notes, 1 blow is perfect, however the draw vibration permeates my entire body, not in an enjoyable way. Not sure if that's normal. The 2 blow note is good, but the 2 draw was impossible for me to get at first, it just came out muted and horribly flat. After some experimentation (which I highly encourage) I found by opening my throat more and letting a larger volume of air through I was able to hit the note, but it still sounds off (could be placebo). The 10th blow is tricky and requires a ton of air flowing through, not sure if that's normal or not, but it makes it very difficult to play it smoothly. After tweaking my technique and style a little, though, each note comes out mostly ideal, especially the middle (4-7) holding a strong, warming tone. Leaves me with a smile every time I play it.TL;DR: Great value, not perfection but sexy body and fulfilling sound with awesome price tag, especially used. If you're willing to experiment and don't want something more expensive, get it. Thanks NeilYoungFanBeginners Tip: Play this for yourself, no one else, whether you're alone or not. No one should enjoy it more than you. Don't be afraid to fail and experiment, it makes it fun and makes you better.

I have been playing guitar for about 17 years and have always wanted to add harmonica to my skill set but I've never bought one. So I did some research and found that a diatonic in the key of C would be a great addition to my blues guitar style so I decided it was time. Right out of the package (which is a very nice durable plastic box) it sounded like any other harmonica because I didn't know what I was doing. After about 2 days of watching how to's on youtube I learned how to isolate single notes and how to play the 12 bar blues and I must conclude "this harp is awesome." Sounds great and easy to bend notes. The only flaw I found was that the first hole blowing out sounds kind of flat. This may just take a simple adjustment I'm not sure, but it does come with an order form for replacement parts. Over all I'm very happy and would recomend this to anyone who asked.

Have been trying to play for a while so I thought I would get a book with more songs. good selection of songs. Time will tell.

Very helpful for a novice

This accompanied the harmonica I got my son in law for Christmas. The CD promises to be helpful.

The book seems simple enough. I will just have to wait to see how much I am able to learn.

This book is very nice, I bought it for my 11 year old and he's been able to read through it and use it to start playing.

A good book for beginners.

Fantastic sound but it only took me a month or so to blow the reeds out of it on 7,8,9

It seems like a wonderful instrument. Perhaps I will rate it higher once I learn how to play it!

At first I thought it was well worth the money considering how sweet this harmonica sounds but my 8th hole didn't properly work. I'd keep it around but its not heavy enough to serve as a paperweight

First of all I am a complete harmonica novice, so take my review with a grain of salt.When I first got this harmonica about 3 months ago it sounded great. Each note was crisp and precise.Now I know that harmonica reeds get worn out, but I didn't expect that to happen this soon. It is 3 monthsand now the notes are very dull, draws sometime produce no sound at all. (And I am not taking about double draws,simply drawing from a single hole, especially hole 5 and hole 3 , no sound at all at times).I have opened the harmonica, and tried to clean it up, free up the reeds as best as I could,and that seemed to help for sometime, but the notes just don't sound as good as they sounded initially.Now I am wondering would it be worthwhile in buying the replaceable reeds for this mode, or may be spendsome more money and get a Hohner.In my opinion Hohner, might be advantageous over this as the former is made in Germany, while this one ismade in China.

I'm just abeginner player. Bought the Lee Oscar to compare to the Hohner Big River I started on. I like the Hohner better. Found I could get the 2 draw note, which is so hard to get good tone on, better on the Hohner. But it's still a well made product very similar to the Big River Harp.

My son convinced me to try playing harmonica. I started with Hohner Marine Band Harmonica, Key of C, but not all the holes played (mostly #2). Next, I tried this model. It is better, but the draw on the 2 hole doesn't work either. I know they are not a lot of money, but the quality control on these instruments seems non-existent.As a true beginner, I have these observations about the two (alas, neither of which I can recommend since neither plays all notes it's supposed to). The Lee Oskar is easier on the lips (and tongue, although I'm mostly still puckering and not really tongue blocking yet). I seem to have better luck hitting the single notes on the Hohner, although since more notes on the LO work, I practice with it more, so I am having almost the same success.

Product as advertised

CD is very difficult to follow. Barely any pauses and keeps running on. so its hard to follow.

Helps dramatically well with learning

Good book but i feel it might be better for someone that already has some musical background.

ok for starting out.

It's ok for learning notes- songs you learn are not exactly what the hubby was expecting...

Be careful... Mine showed up and is labelled in the 1st position key..no good for beginner. from what I understand 90% of harp player play from 2nd position key.

As a complete beginner, for the first day playing I couldn't tell that some holes didn't work quite right. Upon opening the device to inspect, the 2 lowest tone brass reeds on the draw side (bottom) were badly machined. Low production quality-- Hole 2 draw made no sound, or else a rather unpleasant honking sound, and hole 1 sounded airy and thin. All musical instruments should be tested before they leave the factory. Perhaps I got a dud, but I have a musical background so having the full operability of the musical instrument is important. Reliable quality control is important. Be warned, you might get a good one or you might need an exchange.No instructions came really, but I found a site that helped me figure out the problem: [...]Test all the single notes as soon as you get it. I'm returning mine and trying a different brand.

Would've loved the product but I was sent a broken harmonica. The draw-in sound on keys 1-3 do not work properly and sounds like nails on chalk board. Really disappointing since my other Lee Oskar's sound great.

There is so much to like about this harmonica. But at $35+, my expectations for this instrument were unfortunately not met. $35+ is a relatively expensive harmonica, and I'd expect this to be the entry-point to a professional grade instrument. Ready to be performed in all sorts of ways.First, the good. There is clear quality in the construction and the tone of all of the standard notes that a diatonic harmonica / Blues Harp are supposed to play. Bending the low and the high notes work approximately as expected. The holes are slightly larger than my Marine Band 1896, and I'm taking a liking to the plastic construction over the wood-based construction of the Marine Bands. Furthermore, the tools included in the "Lee Oskar maintenance" pack perfectly work on this entire instrument. This is truly one of the few instruments you really can take apart, over and over, and put back together without much hassle. Adjusting the reed-gaps, replacing reeds are all documented and well thought out.However: the style of play I've been trying to master includes "Overblowing", especially on the 5th hole for the "hidden F#" that will be useful to any cross-harp player (A Diatonic Harmonica in C will be played in G in crossharp style, making the F# on 2-bend and 5-overblow somewhat important to some songs).Like many $35 harmonicas, the overblow was impossible to play when the harmonica was originally shipped to me. That's fine, I know how to adjust the gaps in the reeds to make the overblow possible. Much to my surprise however, once the reeds were properly adjusted, a very annoying high-pitched squeal comes from this instrument as I attempt an overblow. Its not consistent, but clearly there's a weird vibration of some kind that creates this effect.I've done some futher research on this subject, and unfortunately Tombo Harmonicas in general seem to have this problem. (Tombo being the manufacturer of the Lee Oskar harmonica).Again, this is a great quality instrument otherwise. The sounds are pure, the plastic construction is very well done. Unfortunately, the overblow (a technique not invented till the 80s or 90s) is too squeaky when performed on this instrument. I think that if a player were not seeking to play overblows regularly, this would otherwise be a fine instrument.But alas, the secret E# and F# on holes 4 and hole 5 are too important to me. And they just don't consistently sound good on this instrument, even after a few hours of tweaking.

It indeed has beautiful sound. However, it has a flaw design for a beginner because it misses A3, which has been used quite often in many songs. It is just annoying that you cannot bend a whole note from B3. When it is bent to A3, it produces a high pitch noise. It sucks.

So, it was a harmonica. It was well built. But there was something missing.I know this because I bought a Lee Oskar harmonica from a local store. But it was an older version that had been sitting round for several years (this particular store doesn't move their harmonicas very quickly).What was missing was the rich resonance. When you compare the two harmonicas it is obvious why. THe resonance chamber on the newer harmonica was significantly smaller. I guess they are trying to save on sheet metal. Also, the numbers stamped in the newer model are barely visible.Just two examples of poor quality that has developed over the years. It's a shame.

I am very disappointed in this book. A waste of money. The songs are strange and very few that I would expect to be able to play from a beginners book. Don't waste your money. I'm gonna look for better deals out there for a book that has many harmonica songs at the beginning level.

The book is very short. The CD won't play. The 15 pages of written instructions are clear and simple, but rigid ("hold your harmonica as shown in your left hand"). Several songs besides. Good for absolute beginners maybe - I'm returning after decades of not playing - needed tips on making the seal and moving on the harp with false teeth and slow hands - nada.

The book looks fine enough, but the cd is missing. Would have been nice to know this since the talk about the cd in the description. It would have been nice to have the option of whether or not I wanted the cd. If you are going to advertise it with a cd it should have the cd! So annoying!

great

I ordered this harmonica for gift and send it to overseas whit out chacking hole # 10 didn't work from start and hole # 9 stop working after couple days!!?? What a waste of money.

I was excited to try a different harmonica, I've had 3 hohner special 20 harmonicas which were great for the price. As time went on my nephews would beg me to let them have my harmonica and I would just let them have it. So after my 3rd hohner I decided I would try something else for fun, I found this Lee Oskar harmonica. Sounded good first day, played some basic tabs, no bending, nothing complicated. Second day, went to play again and 2nd hole stopped working and when it did the pitch was way off, horrible. Disappointed, such a simple instrument should not fail that fast I would think. Looks like I'm going back to my trusted hohner special 20, never did me wrong.

I was excited to try a different harmonica, I've had 3 hohner special 20 harmonicas which were great for the price. As time went on my nephews would beg me to let them have my harmonica and I would let them have it. So after my 3rd hohner I decided I would try something else for fun, I found this Lee Oskar harmonica. Sounded good first day, played some basic tabs, no bending, nothing complicated. Second day, went to play again and 2nd hole stopped working and when it did the pitch was way off, horrible. Disappointed, such a simple instrument should not fail that fast I would think. Looks like I'm going back to my trusted hohner special 20, never did me wrong.

The number 8 hole does not work "on a dime". It does not blow or suck consistent and often reverts to a high pitched feedback sound. All other holes seem to work well.Wonder if I got a refurbished one.I will be returning this hunk of junk. Very disappointed.

The second hole on my Lee Oskar would not let me inhale after a few minutes of play. I have read many other reviews and it seems that this is not an isolated case. Either that or they are shipping the same harmonica to the next person until they get rid of it.

If you can't read music,don't but it

The lesson format is "listen, then play." I received the book but not the CD. Looks like you could learn fairly quickly, providing you had both of the required materials. Very disappointed!

I bought a chromatic harmonica and Amazon advised me to but this book. Now I can see the book is for diatonic harmonica. Be careful.

CD is blank, book info looks good, but will probably have to send both back. Disappointed!.

It may have been personalized but it was personalized by an inscription that read something like "personalized stainless steel Hohner" and was thereby made useless for me.