The basic principle that makes the harmonica possible – the free reed – has been explored for thousands of years. However, the harmonica as we know it today was a product and the first musical instrument of the Industrial Revolution.
Contrary to legends of a sole inventor, nobody knows who created the first harmonica. We know only that it appeared in Vienna during the 1820s. Over the next several decades, there were hundreds (if not more) harmonica makers, plying their trade in their homes. Even larger companies employed home workers to make many components. Reeds, for instance, were shaped by hand, hammered from wire and further shaped with files.
In 1878, a technological revolution in reed-making would make mass-production possible. That year, Julius Berthold of Klingenthal patented a reed milling machine that would automatically shape reeds in a way not only more uniform, but faster and more accurately than the work could be done by hand.
That was the last significant, basic development in how reeds are made. Other harmonicas made today use Berthold’s 1878 process of cutting reeds.
That’s where we step in with our unique 21st Century process of reedmaking, developed solely by Harrison Harmonicas Inc. Their reeds are milled lengthwise – eliminating the stresses caused by the teeth of the horizontal milling machine – with previously unheard-of precision. The Flex-Point Technology allows to control every aspect - such as stress distribution, flex points, deflection - and produce reeds the likes of which have never been seen before.
The magic of Harrison Harmonicas Inc doesn’t end there. While their radical technology frees them from the limitations that stagnated reed development since the 19th Century, each B-Radical is enhanced with the same craftsmanship, techniques and devotion that made founder Brad Harrison’s earlier custom harmonicas the stuff of legend.
The result of their painstaking efforts is a sleek, elegant instrument of unparalleled tone and response. It’s nothing short of a revolution that the harmonica world has waited for since the 19th Century.
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