The Hohner Student II piano accordion is a classic small accordion, perfect for folk sessions where you need to play in a range of keys not easily available on a melodeon. (Here is another one..) This instrument has a wonderfully bright sound, with German made reeds. To make it super versatile it has thirdless bass chords (so the C chord sounds a C and G, which is a perfect 5th – the E does not sound). This enables the player to accompany tunes in major and minor keys, with a nice folky ‘drone’ effect. It has 12 basses (Bb,F,C,G,D,A). It has a medium to wet tremolo.
Tag: 26key
Stephanelli piano accordion with Hohner reeds
Small piano accordion with two octave keyboard range from G to A and 12 bass (sold). I replaced the Chinese made reeds with classic Hohner piano accordion reeds on the RH side (from a vintage Organola piano accordion) and some Italian made reeds on the chord and high octave voices on the bass. The low bass reeds were salvageable and so remained in place. I removed the thirds from the chords so that it can be played in both major and minor keys. The overall result is a unique small piano accordion. Unlike many accordions of this size I have given it a dry tuning, with only a light tremolo. I can convert small accordions to have third-less chords. It certainly makes them very playable.
Pigini small piano accordion
Here is a rare small piano accordion from this maker. Pigini are known for their top of the range instruments. This has 26 keys and 12 basses. The treble reeds have been removed and re-waxed, giving a lovely crisp tone. The tuning has a medium tremolo.