What the heck is this thing?

niedermee · Post by **niedermee** » Fri Aug 07, 2015 3:16 pm

I just picked up this cool old electronic keyboard from what my guess would be the 50's or 60's. It says Philharmonic on it, but there's a name plate that's missing right above the keys and googling "Philharmonic" sends you down a rat hole. It has a spot for legs to be screwed onto the bottom. It also says "Made in Italy. 1063" on a plate on the back.

Here are some photos:

http://s376.photobucket.com/user/nieder ... t=3&page=1

-niedermee

Post by **meatballfulton** » Fri Aug 07, 2015 3:39 pm

Roxy Philharmonic organs were made in Italy by Crucianelli. They were a well known accordion maker who closed their doors in 1971. One of the founders of Crumar was Mario Crucianelli, possibly related.

My guess is it's some kind of chord organ, which is a reed based instrument related to the accordion and harmonium.

niedermee · Post by **niedermee** » Fri Aug 07, 2015 6:04 pm

Do you know who deals in these organs in the US? I just plugged it in a played it and it's definitely related to an accordion. There's a low hum of a motor inside, which I assume is an air pump for reeds. Funky.

chimney chop · Post by **chimney chop** » Fri Aug 07, 2015 6:06 pm

Post by **cornutt** » Fri Aug 07, 2015 6:44 pm

Holy c**p, $250 was a lot of money in 1963. You could buy a used car for that.

Post by **meatballfulton** » Fri Aug 07, 2015 8:38 pm

Yes, you could buy a used car for $250 in 1963, my dad bought one for $100 as I recall but it was a junker.

$250 was not very expensive for an organ in 1963.

In the 1957 Hammond organ price list, the M3 (bottom of the line) was $1350 and a B3 was $2365 (speakers extra, starting at $450).

In the 1960 Fender price list, a Strat was $290 and a Bandmaster amp was $310 ($600 total).

Check out that $10 shoes ad!

niedermee · Post by **niedermee** » Thu Aug 13, 2015 2:31 am

meatballfulton wrote:

Roxy Philharmonic organs were made in Italy by Crucianelli. They were a well known accordion maker who closed their doors in 1971. One of the founders of Crumar was Mario Crucianelli, possibly related.

My guess is it's some kind of chord organ, which is a reed based instrument related to the accordion and harmonium.

Where'd you find these pictures of a Roxy? They all seem to have numbers above the keys, whereas mine does not. Think that matters?

Post by **meatballfulton** » Thu Aug 13, 2015 11:42 am

It was common in the 60s to make it easier for people to play home organs and one trick was to provide sheet music that instead of standard notation just had numbers and chord symbols. Similar concept to guitar tablature.

Jabberwalky · Post by **Jabberwalky** » Thu Aug 13, 2015 3:09 pm

I have one similar, which says "Choral" on it. It's kinda cool. Definitely an accordion tone. Half of my side chord buttons just make air hissing noise. It's fun to quickly improvise song structures.

Using it in a recording would instantly put you in indie pop territory.

Bitexion · Post by **Bitexion** » Thu Aug 13, 2015 3:26 pm

Those sheets are mostly used for two-manual beginner players. The left hand chords are written as C, Dm, C# above the notes
then the numbers 1-10 is the finger placement to help train to play optimally. 1-10 is the fingers from left to right.

What the heck is this thing?

What the heck is this thing?

Re: What the heck is this thing?

Re: What the heck is this thing?

Re: What the heck is this thing?

Re: What the heck is this thing?

Re: What the heck is this thing?

Re: What the heck is this thing?

Re: What the heck is this thing?

Re: What the heck is this thing?

Re: What the heck is this thing?