Thanks everyone for your willingness to help me out.
BTW, I'm referring to a cheapie single row diatonic.
It's the best $250 I've ever spent. It has given me so much joy to play along (to try to keep up) with all the Cajun greats!

Thanks for the good advice. The problem seems to be enironmental rather than mechanical. It played just fine last evening. BTW, I'm playing a cheapie single row diatonic...the best $250 bucks I've ever spent! I really agree with leaving it out of the box. It helps me play/practice more often.

Thanks again.
Clyde

I dont know if your box is new or not, but another thing I noticed after I redid the leathers and felt on the flappers is it took a little playing to seat the valves well.