Hello,
Today I found a really nice Hohner accordion at an antique market in Sydney, Australia, a Morino Club N. Yes, I bought it at a good price!
The treble side sounded really very good with a quick check. The 12 bass buttons were all sticking down and not springing back up… But I figured that due to the good condition overall, it was worth the gamble.
Now I have it at home, it is indeed a very impressive instrument. I will need to do some repairs on the bass mechanism and a couple of reeds are not working. But the rest is in tune and the sound is so rich with a beautiful tone. It has the cassotto chamber and it is very noticeable to me the difference in tone to the other accordions I have been testing/repairing of late (including some good Italian models).
This accordion is in the key of C/F. But can anyone give me any more history on the Morino Club N?
What does the N mean? The internal number inside the accordion is stamped 45/44.
Finally, with the club layout of notes and the 12 bass buttons, what sort of musician was this professional, though diatonic, model accordion aimed at when it was designed and released? I would be interested to hear of your thoughts on this accordion and its best attributes, in particular, to which musical genres it is best suited to playing. (Maybe the Bb/Eb was made for Jazz musicians, for instance?)
It also came in an original Hohner case… and my wife was there to approve the purchase! All good
Dear Tony,
you made a great deal!
The Club Morino N C/F model is the top model in the Club range (2 diatonic tone ranges, C and F major + 3rd cross (half) tone range). The instrument has 33 treble buttons, 5-reeds with cassotto and 12 basses, also 5-reeds.
The "N" stands for the series. The first model Morino Club (without further letter) was produced from 1949 to 1967, the "N" model from 1968 to 1986 and the last series, Morino Club "S" then from 1987 to 2006.
This instrument was made for advanced players. Maybe someone in this forum can tell us more about the genre they play with this accordion.
Theresia
There is a comprehensive guide to the Club system of accordions by Jacques Delaguerre (2003), which includes this interesting page from a Hohner catalogue from 1957:
Hallo
Seit 2 Jahren bin ich glücklicher Besitzer von zwei Morinos. Zwei, weil ich zwei Wohnsitze habe. Halbjährig in der Schweiz, spiele ich in einem Hohner Quartett. Als 5-chöriges Instrument, lassen sich fast alle Genres spielen. Am liebsten spiele ich Tango’s. Aber auch Volksmusik unter anderem mit Schwyzer Örgeli-Register (Melodie und Bass) klingt richtig gut.
Dank Cassotto ist bereits bei ein- und zweichörigem Spiel immer ein schönes Klangvolumen hörbar. Die Morino Club kann sich spielend mit chromatischen Akkordeons messen. Vereinzelt wird noch in Akkordeon Orchestern mit Morino’s gespielt. Ich wünsche Toni viel Spass mit seinem Instrument.
Translation:
Hi I have been the happy owner of two Morinos for 2 years. Two because I have two residences. Half a year in Switzerland, I play in a Hohner quartet. As a 5-course instrument, almost all genres can be played. I prefer to play tango’s. But also folk music with Schwyzer Örgeli register (melody and bass) sounds really good. Thanks to Cassotto, a nice volume of sound is always audible even with one and two-course playing. The Morino Club can easily compete with chromatic accordions. Occasionally, Morino’s are still played in accordion orchestras. I wish Toni a lot of fun with his instrument. Wilfried from Switzerland
Hello Tony
Thanks for your Translation. We are not on YouTube till now. We are together only 1 1/2 Year. We are playing together in wintertime only. Next march we are ready for a short program (some old swiss folk Music)
This Hohner morino club n accordion in Latin America was used more than anything in Colombia to interpret their folk music such as vallenato and sabanera music, this music is played in a Hohner corona iii, but when it arrived in Colombia many musicians began to use it together with the Hohner ouverture and the musicians who used it were the maestro Alfredo Gutierrez, the maestro Lisandro Meza, the maestro Aniceto Molina RIP, Ismael Rudas, etc. Although these accordions did not replace the Hohner corona iii or the Rey vallenato model. Very few were those who knew how to play the Hohner morino club n.
