G'day Jeep Man,

Hohner have also made minor key mouthorgans for (almost) ever. I bought a few of them (in their Orchester model) in the 1960s ... but they are a rather more "European" minor ... maybe more inclined to the "harmonic' minor scale than the 'melodic' minor ... although that, strictly speaking, requires a couple of semitones, since the scale is different ascending and descending!

Whenever I tried to play my sort of minor keys they didn't cooperate ... but they seemed to play Hava Negilah on autopilot!

Back in the days of the Harmonica Orchestras and Bands - the 1920s and '30s ... before the Chromatic ... a fully equipped orchestra/band player had, in front of him, two trays, each of 12 harmonicas - one in each major - and minor - key (as well as the odd chording or bass model!). I have a few photographs of such groups in the history books - and a drawing of the same sort decorated the boxes in which Orchester harmonicas came.

I suspect that Lee Oskar's minor models would be in a straightforward 'Aeolian' minor tuning, but I haven't played one - nor seen a tuning diagram. (I must see if they have a diagram on a web site, somewhere.)

Regards,

Bob Bolton