[Harp-L] Who manufactures harmonicas in the USA ?

[Vern]

Yonberg’s website says that their reeds are made in France. 

 The Yonberg reeds taper in width from base to tip like some accordion reeds. That probably means that their reeds do not taper in thickness as do most constant-width reeds.   Conventional reeds are thicker near the rivet while Yonberg reeds may only be wider near the rivet.  Doubling the width of a reed increases the stiffness at that cross-section by a factor of two.  Doubling the thickness would increase the stiffness by a factor of 8.  Does anyone know if Yonberg reeds taper in thickness?    It should not much affect performance.

Being wider at the base might make it difficult to achieve the close reed spacing required in a chromatic harmonica.   

I doubt the extravagant claims made about their reeds.  I doubt that a blindfolded listener could distinguish between a Yonberg and any other well-made reed from another manufacturer.

Vern  


> On Apr 27, 2020, at 8:37 AM, Ronnie Schreiber <autothreads at xxxxx> wrote:
> 
> I think the Kratt company was the last domestic manufacturer to make harmonicas fully in-house. They still make pitch pipes (which are essentially purpose-built harmonicas) so assuming that they still make their own reeds, they could theoretically make harmonicas but they choose not to do so.
> 
> It's not impossible to start a harmonica company. Yonberg uses custom stainless steel reeds they either make in-house or have made by a vendor.
> 
>