© 2005 P.Missin

Hohner Rhythm & Blues chord harmonicas

A six chord harmonica that provides a new kind of blues background to blend with guitars, drums and vocals claimed the Hohner catalogs of the late 1960s. The #8702 Rhythm & Blues CI (the one with the maroon comb) and the #8703 Rhythm & Blues FII (the one with the black comb) didn't seem to catch on quite as well as planned and were discontinued in the mid 1970s.

According to UK patent 973532 granted in 1962, these harmonicas were invented by famous classical harmonica player Tommy Reilly and songwriter Ivor Raymonde. The patent also covered a 12-chord version which had a slide like a chromatic harmonica, but this was never commercially made.

The Rhythm & Blues harmonicas were build on the same frame as the Chrometta 12 chromatic, but instead of having the usual mouthpiece and slide, the mouthpiece was formed into three openings that each lead to a set of 4 blow reeds and 4 draw reeds. The CI model played the following chords:

BLOW C F G7
DRAW Bb Eb F7

The FII played the following chords:

BLOW F Gm Bb
DRAW Dm C7 G7


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