It is not the history of the harmonica, that is the "best" of this amazing tale which began in the year 1821, but it the amazing fact of the pure pleasure that sixteen-year-old Christian Friedrich Buschmann inflicted upon us with his new musical invention.

The Bohemian instrument maker named Richter also assisted us by making perhaps the most important advancements in early harmonica design. Around 1826, he developed a variation that consisted of ten holes and twenty reeds, with separate blow and draw reed plates mounted on either side of a cedar comb. Richter's tuning, utilizing a diatonic scale, became the standard configuration of what Europeans referred to as the Mundharmonika or mouth organ.

But, for most of us, in 1857, the history of the harmonica changed dramatically as German clock maker Matthias Hohner turned to manufacturing harmonic. With the help of his family and a hired workman, he was able to produce 650 instruments that year. Soon after, he added local workers and developed mass production techniques.

Hohner introduced the harmonica to North America in 1862, and by 1887, Hohner was producing more than one million harmonicas annually.  Today, Hohner produces over 90 different models of harmonica, with a variety of styles and tunings which allows the player freedom of expression in all forms of music.

But, who writes history?
If it was not for the Le Oskar Major Diatomic (C) sitting besides my computer
would we write about the humble Harmonica, today?
Or, is it because, we drew (and blew) our first breath on an Hohner, and now . . . . . ?