VINTAGE GERMAN HOHNER KOCH CHROMATIC HARMONICA IN GOOD WORKING CONDITION THE 1ST OF 2 ON AUCTION

A VINTAGE 1950S GERMAN MADE HOHNER KOCH CHROMATIC HARMONICA. IN GOOD WORKING CONDITION. NOTE ALSO I HAVE A SECOND KOCH CHROMATIC HARMONICA ON AUCTION THIS WEEK (LOOK FOR THE WHITE ROSE). ALSO IN GOOD WORKING CONDITION.
 
THIS HARMONICA WAS MADE BY KOCH IN GERMANY FROM THE EARLY 1930S INTO THE 1950S. IT IS A CHROMATIC MODEL IN THE KEY OF C OR G, WITH 10 SINGLE HOLES AND 40 REEDS.
 
THE HOHNER KOCH IS AN UNUSUAL CHROMATIC HARMONICA BECAUSE IT OFFERS A LEVEL OF VERSATILITY NOT FOUND IN MANY OTHER CHROMATICS. IT IS TUNED TO SOUND A LOT LIKE HOHNERS CLASSIC 1896 MARINE BAND AT FIRST. HOWEVER, PUT THE SLIDE IN AND EVERYTHING CHANGES. YOU CAN PLAY EVERYTHING FROM BLUES TO CLASSICS ON THIS LITTLE GEM. ITS LIKE HAVING TWO HARMONICAS FOR THE PRICE OF ONE. ANOTHER GREAT THING ABOUT THE KOCH IS THAT ITS EXTREMELY STURDY AND HAS SOME WEIGHT TO IT.
 
SIZE: 12,5CM WIDE 3,7CM DEEP
MARKINGS: CHROMATIC KOCH HARMONICA MADE IN GERMANY
CONDITION: VERY GOOD. TESTED IN GOOD WORKING CONDITION.
 
VINTAGE: Hohner bought the Koch harmonica company in 1928. Koch was a separate company and had its own line of harmonicas. Hohner took over their trademark names and model line like the Koch Chromatic. THE KOCH CHROMATIC WAS MADE INTO THE 1960S AND IS NOW DISCONTINUED.
 
KOCH HARMONICAS: Andreas Koch (18441915) started his own business 1867.  In 1901 Koch already employed over 300 people. In 1905 the five sons took over the company.
In 1927 the company achieved sales of around 3 million Reichsmarks of which 1.9 million were with harmonica and 1.0 million with accordions. 
On December 15, 1928, a takeover contract was initially signed in secret, with which the takeover by the Hohner company on January 1, 1929 was sealed. This step came as a surprise to employees and the public. The background was apparently a dispute that broke out between the five brothers.
 
HOHNER: Founded in Trossingen in the south west of Germay in 1857 by watchmaker, Matthias Hohner, the company can lay claim to being one of the oldest extant harmonica producers in the world.
Demand for harmonicas grew throughout the following decades and by 1879 Hohner was producing around 72,000 harmonicas a year and employing over 200 workers.
At the start of the 20th century, Matthias handed over the business to his five sons. By 1930, Hohner had acquired a number of its competitors and had become the largest musical instrument company in the world, employing around 4,000 people.
The pre-WW2 period was, perhaps the golden age for Hohner harmonica production, with numerous popular musicians from the blues, folk and western genres utilising its distinctive sound in their recordings.
Despite the interruption of the Second World War, and the enlisting of the company by the Nazis to produce detonators for the war effort, Hohner continued to flourish in the 1950s, with large numbers of its harmonicas finding their way to export markets.
The rise of rocknroll, however, with its focus on guitar, bass and drums, led to a precipitous drop in sales of Hohners harmonicas in the early 1960s.
The 1970s and 1980s saw diversification into electronic instruments, and disastrous financial results, culminating in a takeover by Kunz Holding, a subsidiary of the Taiwanese musical instrument company, KHS, in 1987.
This takeover, and the subsequent drive for profitability led to entry level models being produced in the far east.
 
HOW IT WORKS? I FOUND THIS ONLINE.
This harmonica is a chromatic-style, with the slide button, which raises the pitch of the note one-half step upward. Any note you play will be raised one-half step when the button is pushed, whether you are blowing or drawing on that particular hole. This allows for chromatic playing, of a full octave of 12 notes. Now the difference between a Koch Chromatic harmonica, and other models of Hohner Chromatic harmonicas is this a Koch has its notes arranged in the same pattern as a standard 10 hole diatonic harmonica. If you are familiar with these, such as the Marine Band, the Special 20, and all other 10 hole diatonics. The holes 1, 2, and 3 are the low notes and holes 8, 9, and 10 are the high notes. This note arrangement is called the Richter System of tuning and has been in use since harmonicas were invented in the 1800's. So really what a Koch Chromatic is, is two diatonic harmonicas combined into one, if the one you buy is in the key of "C", then you will actually have two harmonicas, one in "C" and one in "C sharp".
 
ALSO SEE MY OTHER ITEMS LISTED. I HAVE ANOTHER KOCH CHROMATIC HARMONICA ON UCTION THIS WEEK. YOU CAN SAVE ON POSTAGE BY COMBINING ITEMS!