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The Hohner Mignon

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Very impressive technique on the tiny Hohner Mignon I . If only the accordion makers took mini accordions more seriously, and made them with better quality materials and better reeds, we would be able to play many tunes with a more refined sound.

The tango interpretation is amazing, considered it's being played on such a little poor quality squeezebox.


HOHNER MIGNON I akordeon, accordion, akkordeon La Paloma



HOHNER Mignon akordeon, accordion, akkordeon - Cirkus Renz
 
I always loved smaller instruments. I have this romantic idea of sitting on a boat or a dock with a box small enough to bring anywhere and play anywhere. The Bugari Nano and Bonifassi Mini are both nice looking mini CBAs, but not something I would feel comfortable taking on a boat.
 
I agree, you want an extra small squeezebox on a boat, and not too expensive when playing outdoors.
I have all sizes of accordions from a 120 bass to mini boxes.
I'm almost an expert in comparative mini accordionology...
 
Then you also have the HOHNER PIROL, from the 1930s, small CBA, 34 treble 3 rows 2 reeds, 24 (8x3, fundamental, major, minor) bass, 25 cms x 25 cms, 3,3 kgs ... not easy to find, but if one follows carefully the german ebay site, now and then one can be found, although years since I saw one.

HohnerPirol.jpg

PirolCert.jpg
 
And slightly bigger you have the HOHNER LUCIA, CBA treble 3 rows 37 buttons 2 voice, bass 48 (4x12, counterbass, fundamental bass, major, minor, 3,9 kgs, ... easier to find on german ebay, past year (2019) at least 4 of these were sold, at least one of these for less than 100 euros, ...

s-l1600- 0.jpg
 
I missed the Hohner Pirol in Austria, it was sold in 2018 on auction for only 90 euro. That's a bargain !

https://www.dorotheum.com/en/l/5123882/

A B-system 3 row, but I suppose I could have switched the reedblocks inside to C-system.

But personally, I'm more after a CBA version of the miniature Hohner Mignon. The Hohner mignon is 1,2 kg, and smaller. The downside is: the Hohner Mignon is a 1 voice only, I'd prefer a mini 2 voices tremolo CBA.
 
I still have the little Pigini I bought for US$ 100 when trying to decide if I wanted to switch from PA. It weighs 8.6 lb.. Next to it is the full-sized Fisitalia, 29.5 lb..

Pigini.jpg
 
The black Pigini is a free bass isn't it?

For mini fanatics like me, there's the far East, I love the videos with Rinat Valiev from Tatarstan, he often uses mini accordions in his shows, here he has a few and also a mini boot garmoshka cherepashka


Ринат Валиев баянист

Too bad we don't find those types of miniature accordions in our Western shops. I didn't find any shop at all who imports those miniature accordions from the far East or Russia.
 
Pigini makes a few nice small-ish accordions, but they seem to all be free bass and 1 reed.
I have a Beltuna Studio IIK, which is a fairly small sized CBA with 2 reeds and 5 rows. It's nice because it has 60 bass buttons and a nice treble range. You can play a lot of music on that instrument. It's not nearly as small as the Mignon, but it's very light and easy to transport.
 
The Pigini Simba comes in 2 versions: one is a free bass only mini accordion, and the other one is a stradella bass mini accordion.

I also have a 60 bass CBA with 2 voices tremolo, it's my favorite accordion. The weight is 5,8 kg.

But those miniature Russian boxes are superlight. To give you an idea, a 4 keys garmoshka cherepashka (5 cm high) is only 100 grams. (That's almost the same as a mouth harmonica).
A 7 to 8 keys garmoshka cherepashka (circa 10 cm high) is only 300 grams.
They are pocket (diatonic) accordions, without basses. But rare examples with extra chromatic notes on the left hand side do exist.

Here are 3 photos.
Check out the brown one on top of the sofa on the right side of the photo. It's a double row + extra left hand buttons. The size is about 12 cm high !
They are from the Moscow garmoshka cherepashka maker, handmade.
 

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>> The black Pigini is a free bass isn't it?

It sure is, and 1 reed.

But if I want something small and light, which is very often lately, I use this, which is also free-bass and 1 reed ;) :

CeiliAngloConcertina.jpg
 
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Corinto
Re the organettos, what a great sound: clearly, less is more!??
 
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I adore my 2 bassi Della Noce Pennese organetto. It's a 2 voice tremolo in G tuning, and weighs 2,2 kg. I attach a photo of the exact model I have, a beginners model, but it sounds great !
It's a diatonic with 3 extra buttons on a second row , with inversed diatonic notes, to make fast diatonic scale runs.
(if you want extra chromatic notes, one could ask an accordion repairer to change those 3 extra buttons ("le vocette") and replace the reedplates and reeds with chromatic notes. This way you could have 1,5 chromatic bisonoric accordion)

I think in the near future, I'm also going to buy a mini organetto (probably a Dino Baffetti art. 20):
http://baffetti-accordions.com/fisarmoniche/art-20/

This Dino Bafetti organetto is only 900 grams - 1 kg. The downside is, it's a 1 voice only (My standardsize Della Noce is a 2 voice, and I prefer the full tremolo sound of a 2 voices accordion).
I contacted Dino Bafetti by email to ask if they could make this mini organetto in a 2 voices version. Because I think it would only raise the weight with a couple of 100 grams.
The sound of this mini organetto is very strong and powerful outdoors, but a single voice instrument can sound rather sharp and too loud to play inside your home. Those mini boxes don't have cassottos to mute the sound or make it more mellow. They are meant to be played outdoors or at music festivals, parties, weddings, etc.

My Della Noce is a 2,5 octaves diatonic, but I don't really nead the low octave that much. The range of a mini organetto is sufficient to fool around and "fake" organetto playing. People actually think that I can play the organetto, all I do is "faking" and improvising, but I'm having a great time with it ! (I bought it in october 2019 in a music shop in Penne, close to Pescara, Italy)
 

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Nice organetto Stephen! I've got the Della Noce 4 bass Teramo, very similar. I think this winter when it's too cold to be outside I'll crack it out again.
 
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