Hi -

I'm researching early American harmonica makers and came across this site. In my harmonica collection at the National Music Museum http://nmmusd.org/Collections ( see The Alan G. Bates Harmonica Collection) are some Bell Brand harmonicas made by the National Musical String Company of New Brunswick. I've been looking for good references to support just when that company began making harmonicas. (Clearly their main products were musical strings.) There were other makers (in Conn., NY and CA) in that same time frame (1917-20). Can you help me find the source of your statement that the NMSC made the first harmonicas produced in the United States?

This is for an article I'm writing about the Conn. maker (1919-20) and also about a maker in western Mass. that is documented to have been making harmonicas in 1880, though no instruments are known to exist.

Thank you for any help.

Alan