Lee Oskar Harmonica, Key of C, Major Diatonic

Love it. Sounds good. Seems good quality

It's the first harmonica I've ever purchased. I've played guitar 40+ years. It's a great instrument to get started with. Good quality yet not super expensive.

I like the sound, and this is my first Harmonic. Hope I can learn it well

I really like the sound, timbre or tone of the Lee Oscar Harmonicas. Very easy to play, and bending is not too difficult to do, but I am still very much a beginner or a little better of a player at this point. I have never had Oscar jam reeds, or have any hole to not produce musical notes, ever. The Oscars I have, always just play beautifully, no matter how much i play them, or how long they sit. My $20 dollar honer from china, I can't make this boast, nor my Japanese Manjis, although with a bit of a warm up the Suzuki Manjis open up and are playable without much delay. If I was going to recommend a beginner harmonica, it would be a Lee Oscar, or a Honer Special 20, if you were just wanting 1/ to test out harmonica and see if you liked it, and 2/ wanted to get a good quality harp to start, that could be used for a couple three years until you were an advanced intermediate or an intermediate advanced harp player. If you know in your heart that you want to play harp, and you think you might want to just buy one harp, only, I would suggest the Honer Crossover, as it can be used for the greatest range of styles: Blues, Country, Jazz, Rock, Folk. Or I would suggest the Lee Oscar or the Special 20, as they both play really easy, sound really good, and are not too difficult to bend notes on.

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 NeilYoungFan Beginners 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.

Great tone and volume.

This is one of my favorite diatonic harmonicas, mainly because it doesn't leak like a sieve. I can't say if it's a great harmonica because I'm certainly not a great player. It may be tremendous, I honestly am not qualified to say. But it's well designed and built, easy to play without excessive huffing & puffing, and hasn't broken yet. By comparison, all the Hohners I've bought are horrible leakers. Special 20, Blues Harp, Big River, and of course the execrable Bluesband. Just awful. This is for recent (late 2015-early 2016) production; I don't know how they performed in the past. All Chinese harmonicas I've owned so far, including those sold as Hohners or Suzukis, are basically scrap metal, and not just because they're Chinese; I have a Chinese saxophone which is the cat's meow, a pile of rather good Chinese ukuleles, a Chinese violin which ain't half bad (and at a steal of a price), and a Chinese clarinet which ... well, let's just say she looks gorgeous. But the harmonicas are just an insult. My best harmonicas to date are the Lee Oskar, the Seydel Blues Session and several Suzukis - Bluesmaster, Promaster, and possibly the Manji. None of these are terribly cheap - as of this writing, they're priced from about $34 to $41 - but they're far less frustrating for beginners than the leaky ones from China or from Hohner.

I've recently taken up playing harmonica. Ive bought Fender, Honer and Lee Oskar harps to test out which one I like best. The Lee Oskar C Diatonic was by far the best. Here are my reasons why: 1) Quality for value: The $10 fender harmonica sounded terrible and were off pitch. The Honer harmonica had a good sound but when it came to voicing the higher octave (holes 7-10) the voicing of the notes was very difficult with my spotty technique. The Lee Oskar has great sound is is more forgiving. I'm mostly focusing on position and bending right now so being able to voice notes in the higher octave more easily makes practicing songs much less frustrating. Of course, you'll want to be able to play on any harp so keep technique in mind. 2) Price over time: Over time your brass reeds will wear and corrode making them impossible to play. Lee Oskar sells replacement reeds so you don't need to replace the entire harp. Over time this can save money, especially if your trying to start this hobby on a tight budget. 3) Build Quality: Out of the 3 harps i purchase, the Lee Oskar feels more robust. I also love the standard case it comes in it can interlock with other Lee Oskar Harp cases and opens from the top. You can sense the thoughtfulness in the design.