[Alan Brinton]

I don’t have a definite answer to this question, Lowboy. Although I found a “value point” listing that said 1978 and also an auction seller listing, these are not usually very reliable sources (unless a seller has an original receipt, which sometimes happens). I’m pretty confident that there were in production by 1980, so my best guess is somewhere between 1978 and 1980. I base this partly on the fading and deterioration of the original non-color brochure, of which I have several. One of the problems with Hohner is that production of earlier models typically did not end with the introduction of what we think are their replacements. Advertisement and announcements are much better sources, but Hohner’s big melodica ad campaigns dribbled off by the early 1970s. I’ve just sent you the relevant section of the melodica history draft on which I had been working.