[Alan Brinton]

Hi, Robert, it’s nice to see that someone else is a fan of the early 25 key Pianicas. Congratulations! You have a rare item, in that this model is almost always found as the Tokai Gakki “Artist Ltd” Pianica. Tokai Gakki created and manufactured Yamaha’s Pianicas during the 1960s and beyond (until how late I’m not sure). I have all the 25 key Yamaha/Tokai Gakki Pianicas, and they are all good, but the sound of the ones made in the 1960s (including this one) is distinctive and special. The “P” designation was introduced around 1970, so when you see just “Pianica 25” or whatever, rather than “P-25,” that dates it as 1970s, in this case probably late 1960s to 1970, given the plastic case. This is all “to the best of my knowledge.”

A lot of early Pianicas have sticky keys. This issue can be mostly remedied by soaking the instrument for 2-3 hours in a mixture of 1/3 vinegar, 2/3 warm water, periodically working the keys, then rinsing thoroughly, blowing it all out and letting it dry. If you search “Melodica bath” here, you’ll see descriptions of this.

As for holding the Pianica 25, I’m not a fan of straps anyway, but these small melodicas are best cradled in the left hand, which allows you to move the hand around, and balance and manipulate it as you like.