During 2020 I got a lot of design inspiration from some of the very earliest chromatic harmonicas made, back in the 19th century. A chromatic harmonica is essentially two diatonic reed sets a semitone apart, with a selector mechanism that ensures only one set of reeds is active at a time. We are now so used to the common format of a front mouthpiece and slider assembly that it’s easy to forget this is far from being the only way to simultaneously activate one set of reeds and blank off the other. In the early days of harmonica development, many different approaches were tried. A great place for learning about them is from this page on Pat Missin’s wonderful website: www.patmissin.com/patents/patents. html#chronology Another excellent resource is M.A. Weber’s website, devoted to chromatic harmonica history: https://chromhistory.wordpress. com/2019/02/10/chromatic-harmonica-history/ It has lots of good photos and some video clips demonstrating how these early designs worked. You’ll be amazed at the sheer variety and ingenuity of the many different approaches to making a chromatic harmonica!
THE FLAPPY CHROMATIC Brendan Power Patron
Quite a few of the early designs fitted into a category I call ‘Rear Selectors’: instead of having a front slider, they selected the desired reed-set from behind or under the coverplates. One that instantly appealed to me was the very first known design, by Johan Richter in about 1875. Here’s a photo of this type from the Hohner Harmonica Museum in Trossingen: Like a modern chrom it has two reedplates, each with blow and draw reeds, fixed above and below a central comb. However, it uses the most direct way possible of stopping one set of reeds from vibrating and opening the other: by simply pressing down on them!
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The magazine for HarmonicaUK
