[Harp-L] 100th anniversary of the chromatic?

[David Payne <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I checked out the link on the new Hohner Discovery 48 from another thread. On that page, Hohner was talking about how Hohner 
made the world's first chromatic harmonica in 1912. I think that statement detracts from the brilliance of what actually happened. 
Chromatic harmonicas have been around since the 19th Century, it wasn't long after somebody put the pitchpipes together in a 
diatonic scale that somebody put them together in a chromatic scale and numerous inventors worked decades trying to figure out 
how to make it simple and easy to play. Throughout the late 19th Century, there were numerous chromatic harmonica designs. 
You could spend hours reading the 19th Century patents for chromatic harmonicas. 
 All these harmonica companies and private inventors struggled for decades over the question of "how do we make the most 
awesome chromatic ever?" "How can we switch to a sharp note AND actually deliver air to the reed, instead of it shooting out 
everywhere." There were numerous approaches to answer this question, but it was the Hohner design that put it to rest. 
    It used the Knittlinger comb that was used on double-reed harmonicas- and still is used today on octaves like the Auto Valve, 
Seydel Concerto AND of course, chromatics - tuned the two reedplates so one a half step sharper than the other, with a slide to
switch between them. This was a huge breakthrough and when Hohner ads of the time said it was the only practical chromatic,
they weren't far off - it was a rock star in a world of posers.  Most designs were complicated and this Hohner chromatic was
beautiful in its simplicity. The real breakthrough was the U-shaped slide channel to minimize air loss. It was that advance that 
made a simple slide possible - in much the same way that the idea of using graphite as a moderator for a chain reaction led to
the atomic bomb, it was one simple thing that allowed everything else to come together.   

But there were others before and the Hohner chromatic debuted in 1910, so we missed the centennial by two years anyway.
If you look at Pat Missin's page here, you'll see a Hohner ad from a January, 1910 magazine that features the Hohner chromatic 
and it is marketed as "the first and only PRACTICAL one." Meaning, obviously, that there were others already out there, but this 
was the only one Hohner deemed practical.
http://www.patmissin.com/ffaq/q1.html ;
If you look at my page here, there's the harmonica section of the 1912 Sears catalog, the Hohner chromatic is there. It is advertised 
as "the only PERFECT chromatic harmonica," meaning, of course, that there were others already out there Hohner deemed not perfect. 
BTW, the spring is drawn incorrectly in the 1912 catalog. They also spelled the name as "Hohener" on the cover one harp in the 1902 
catalog. http://www.elkriverharmonicas.com/harp_school/mail_order_catalogs ;
   If you look at that 1912 Sears catalog, you'll see a description of how "Mr. Hohner" himself slaved over this design for the perfect 
chromatic harmonica. There were certainly cases where the Hohners slaved over stuff and came up with perfect solutions - the Hohner 
48 chord  was one.  It's not for me to say how much time any particular people 100 years ago slaved over stuff, but I can say this. It was 
a long time before this Hohner design actually got patent approval - why neither Pat or I know - but the inventor of the modern chromatic 
was David Newman of Napa, California, who assigned the patent for it to Hohner.. this original design is better known as the Hohner 260
(it's been updated with an internal spring since then). 
  The history of the harmonica in America is usually presented as a one-way relationship of Americans simply consuming German goods,
 but that relationship was much more complex than that - Americans have been heavily involved in advancing harmonica technology since 
the late 1800s. I would say inventing the modern chromatic would count as a pretty significant contribution.
Here is the patent:
http://www.elkriverharmonicas.com/US1671309.pdf ;


There's no doubt that Hohner was the first to come up with the perfect chromatic, but the story is a lot more interesting than what I read on
that page - this design solved a very critical question in the harmonica world that had been debated for decades. 
The truth doesn't detract from this thing's awesomeness. In fact, I think it makes it awesomer. 



David Payne
www.elkriverharmonicas.com


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