Hohner Marine Band harmonica
Ten-hole diatonic harmonica from Trossingen, in production since 1896 and named in a nod to Sousa's Marine Band; the instrument behind much of the blues.
- Made by
- Hohner Musikinstrumente
- From
- Trossingen, Baden-Württemberg
- Category
- Consumer
- Introduced
- 1896
What it is
The Marine Band is a ten-hole diatonic harmonica made by Hohner in Trossingen, Baden-Württemberg. Its full model name, Marine Band 1896, records the year it entered production. Hohner says it may be the longest-running series-production instrument model in history, and the company marked its 125th anniversary in January 2021 with a limited edition of 125 instruments.
How it works
A diatonic harmonica is a free-reed instrument. Each of the ten channels has two brass reeds riveted to reed plates, one sounding when the player blows and one when the player draws. The Marine Band places these reed plates on a comb of sealed pearwood and covers them with stainless steel plates. Inside the Trossingen workshop the reeds are punched from strip metal, mounted, checked against backlight and tuned one by one in a sound booth. A 2022 report in the Schwäbische Zeitung counted 192 steps before a finished instrument is tuned. Because each hole is tuned to one key, players carry a set, one harmonica per key.
Why it stands out
Little has changed in the design since the 1890s, yet it adapted to genres its makers never imagined. Hohner's name for it nodded to John Philip Sousa, whose Marine Band was hugely popular in the United States, and Sousa's image still appears on the box. German immigrants carried harmonicas into Texas and the American South, where players developed techniques such as cross harp, bending draw notes to create the blues sound. Hohner names Little Walter and Sonny Terry among the artists the Marine Band shaped.
Where you meet it
In blues clubs, folk sessions, country recordings and rock songs, and in the pockets of countless amateurs. It is widely available from music shops in all major keys, and the Trossingen site continues to assemble Hohner's higher-end harmonicas. The German Harmonica Museum, in a former Hohner factory building in the town, displays about 25,000 harmonicas from around the world.
Sources
Stories
Trossingen: how a Swabian farming village taught the world to play the blues
A weaver's copy, a clockmaker thrown out of a rival's workshop, 20 million harmonicas a year and a tune played in orbit. The story of Hohner and the harmonica town of Trossingen.
Germany's strangest world champions: the small firms that quietly own odd niches
Ship propellers from a lake town, Christmas stars from a church village, the trolley sketched on a flight home. A tour of German niche champions and the stories behind them.
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Last reviewed 4 November 2026. Main source: hohner.de/en/community/themarineband125thanniversary. Suggest a correction.