Playability & Viabilityof Vintage Melodicas
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I have three of the Piano 36, Adam. I’ve worked on two of them, one of which is now in good working order, a second that is just about there except for needing new gasket, and the third of which arrived in pretty good working order and which I’ll do some work on. I’ll sell at least one of these. I lent the third to a friend who I told I’ll sell him at cost if he’s enthusiastic about it.
I have been eyeing off a set of two Piano 36’s that are being sold together. Both have damage to where the mouth piece fits but appear otherwise ok. Trying not to pull the trigger, but we shall see, how strong my self discipline is.
If there ever was a ‘viable’ and playable vintage melodica, the Piano 36 fits the bill.
My collection of Hohner Professional Melodicas. Starting from left to right. I actually rarely use these for live work and mostly only for recording.
The New kid on the block “The Superforce”
The ultra rare “Solist”
The Holy Grail of Professional Melodica’s “Professional 36”
The work horse and still the most popular “The Piano 36”
And the “Basso” bass melodicaMelodica-Me
http://s355.photobucket.com/user/BigPwr/library/Hohner%20collection?sort=3&page=1Those are some nice hooters there Melodion me.
Below is my new to me Melodion M-36. You can definitely see the hohner piano 36 reference to this melodion when you play and handle it. Quite characterful in sound and tone with a very sturdy build quality. Somebody jammed the piece that feeds to the tube style mouthpiece in so tight it created hairline cracks in the plastic but I got it out with a little patient wiggling. Have not been able to play it much at work but what I can say is this is one loud little hooter. Full review to come.
http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii179/Chuditch_photo/Mobile%20Uploads/20141124_162522.jpg
Congratulations, Adam! That’s the very first M-36 and was made from 1962-1974. Does anybody know the production dates for the Piano 36? I read somewhere that it was in the group of Hohners that appeared between 1974 and 1979. Somebody was spying on somebody, but we’re not sure who on whom?
Thanks Alan, the M-36 is in as new condition and plays very well, I rate it very highly. Great sound and has plenty of volume. I am very happy with it.
My Suzuki M-36 just arrived. I opened the shipping carton, took out the case, and thought Did I order another Piano-36? I removed it from the case, checked to see that all the notes worked (one not sounding), played a bit, and thought there’s something different here, and then suddenly I noticed that it is the Suzuki M-36. Eerie feeling. It looks, feels, and plays so much like the Hohner Piano-36. It just says “Suzuki Melodion M-36,” but it is a later model than Adam’s. One tell-tale sign is the it lacks the curved outward right corner, another is that the nameplate is on the left end piece. I’m guessing that this is a 36a or 36b. Here’s a photo for comparison with Adam’s M-36.
Sadly, although my new M-36 is in all other respects in excellent condition, the low end Eb reed has been broken off and was not included (though that wouldn’t make any difference for me).So I will return it or make some other arrangement with the seller. I have taken the M-36 apart and have photos. It is a very solid instrument. I also compared it to my M-37C — currently available — and they are very similar, though the M-36 is a bit shorter and thinner and so has a more compact feel to it.
I would be very interested in seeing the pics you took if your M-36 Alan,if you are inclined to share. I have not opened up my M-36 yet, following the if ut aint broke then dont fix it maxim.
I will definitely share my photos. The seller agreed on a compromise, reducing the price and partial refunding on the basis of treating the item as “for parts.” I am impressed with the model and have made an offer on another one, though my preference would be to get the model you did. I think I’ll start a new thread on the M-32 and M-36 and will post photos. The quality of the insides of this M-36 is remarkable. I agree with the principle of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” On the other hand, my interest is at the moment in examining and comparing these instruments. I expect that I will do a mild refurbish on some of them and sell to recuperate some of my costs.
Thanks Bruno, nice to have some historic documentation.
Alan, sorry to learn that your M-36 was not what you wanted. Here is wishing you good luck on the next one. I understand completely your interest in taking a new melodica apart to find out what it’s insides look like. I was very tempted to do just that with this M-36 after being gobsmacked at how good it sounded. I too sometimes have an urge to move some of my collection on in order to refine it.
Excellent, Bruno! I have similar documentation that I have been using and I am anxious to make some comparisons. I did not post this link yet because I was trying to figure out its implications, one of which appears to be that Suzuki melodions are developed and manufactured by the Tokai Gakki Company, but I am checking on this with some Japanese contacts. Tokai Gakki developed and (initially) produced the Yamaha pianicas. In one of its old brochures, Tokai Gakki claimed to have invented the pianica. When I asked them, their representative said this was not quite right, but that they had developed the pianica and made them for Yamaha, though Yamaha now does it independently.
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