Vintage Accordions

What You Need to Know About Vintage Accordions

You can strike up a tune when you learn to play a vintage accordion. There is a wide variety of music available for accordions, so find an affordable one on eBay.

Types of vintage accordions

Generally, there are three divisions in valuable vintage accordions. They can have buttons or piano keys. They can be unisonoric, producing the same sound regardless of how the bellows are moved, or bisonoric, creating two different notes depending on which way the bellows are moving. Finally, they can be diatonic or chromatic. Diatonic accordions have two to three rows of buttons with each row tuned to a different key. Chromatic accordions only play in one key, so different accordions are needed to play in different keys. Vintage accordions are either right-or left-handed, depending on the button or key location.

Who were some vintage accordion makers?

The manufacturer of an affordable vintage accordion can greatly affect the question of worth. There are many different manufacturers of accordions, including

• Hohner - This German manufacturer produced numerous accordions under different brand names including Verdi, like the Verdi II; Carmen, like the LMM; Tango, like the IM; Atlantic, like the IV N; Morino, like the Artist VI; and Ariette, like the LMMH accordion.
• Petosa - This Seattle, Washington, company manufactured many vintage accordions from 1922 to the 1980s, including AM and Artisa accordions.
• Monarch Accordion - This maker made many styles of vintage accordions in Italy, like their ProMusette accordion for professional players and their Monarch Ethic for beginners.
• Wurlitzer - This Cincinnati, Ohio, company produced many budget accordions, like their Three Reed accordion, and student accordions, such as their Rhinestone accordion, along with some luxurious accordions, like their Phil Baker accordion, that you may be able to find on eBay.
• Farfisa - This Italian company made many accordions under the Farfisa brand, like their Compact series, before being bought out by Gruppo Bontempi.

Unique vintage accordions played around the world

Many styles of vintage accordions are unique to a specific country or region:

• Schrammel accordion - This chromatic button accordion has a treble buttonboard and a bisonoric bass buttonboard. This is an old antique accordion style, but it is still often played in Vienna.
• Steirische Harmonika - Often heard in Alpine music, this diatonic button accordion has one key per scale row producing the same sound when the bellows are compressed or expanded. This change produces a richer sound.
• Schwyzerörgeli - This diatonic accordion produces a tremolo sound because each button on the treble side controls three reeds tuned an octave apart.
• Rikiti - The right-hand buttons on this small diatonic button accordion are tuned a fifth apart, and it also has 12 unisonoric bass buttons.
• Echophone - These diatonic accordions had a bell, like a tuba, attached to the top of the box, which caused them to sound twice as loud as a regular accordion.