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[Jan Pentz]

I am a newbie to melodeons..... I just acquired my first one from a person 30 miles away through Facebook Marketplace.....She inherited the instrument and doesn't know how old it is. It seems to be in almost unplayed condition. It's a black Hohner Erica with orange bellows with black tape and a white stripe in the plastic across the back.....does anybody know when this was made?? Plastic keyboard marked Made In Germany......

[gettabettabox]

A photo from the front will help with dating, recessed grill or proud super-imposed grill?

[Malcolm Clapp]

The modern shape plastic keyboard came in around the early 1960s iirc. Black taped Erica bellows disappeared around 1980. I bought one new in that year and was told by the Hohner agent that "gold was the new black" for Erica bellows.

So I would reckon somewhere between 1960 and 1980 would be a reasonable estimate of the age of this one, assuming that nothing has been replaced (bellows or keyboard). Seems in remarkably fine exterior condition from the photo; congratulations on your purchase,...and welcome to m.net.

[Jan Pentz]

I tried to upload a smaller picture but I can’t seem to figure out how to reduce the size. I’m working on an IPad here.....anyway....the grill is recessed.

[Henry Piper]

I believe in the '60's and possibly into the '70's or even later Ericas only came in Red, Identifying exactly when the Black Ericas arrived should narrow it down. Whenever that was, I don't think the internals of the Erica models of either colour,(or other colours that occasionally surface) have changed much if at all since its inception to the present day, apart possibly from a somewhat lax application of quality control standards in the early Chinese models.

[rees]

Black Ericas in D/G were introduced in Britain in the 70s thanks to Roger Watson and Pete Coe. These had gold bellows and a proud grille.

The model in this thread is not one of those, it has black bellows and recessed grille.

[Henry Piper]

Black Ericas in D/G were introduced in Britain in the 70s thanks to Roger Watson and Pete Coe. These had gold bellows and a proud grille.

The model in this thread is not one of those, it has black bellows and recessed grille.

Rees, Do you mean that black Ericas were available outside the Uk prior to Watson & Coe's efforts ?? Is it likely/possible that this one was imported from elsewhere, or is it more likely that various parts such as the bellows where replaced over the years with recycled bits from other instruments ?? I recently sold an elderly Black Erica with an Orange Bellows, it had been overtaped at some time so I don't recall what colour the original taping was.

[Dick Rees]

I've had two black Erica G/C's.  Both were origanally purchased from the same shop (Brown's Music in New Ulm, Minnesota) and I was the second owner of both...neither of which had been played in at all, bellows still newishly stiff.  The second of the two came with the Hohner book and had the purchase receipt tucked in between the pages.  Year of purchase was 1961.

The two are identical and match the description given here as to plastic keyboard, grille and bellows tape. 

[Henry Piper]

That Sort of Answers My Question Above Dick, If you were able to buy Black Ericas in The States in '61,they  must have been available outside the U'K before Watson & Coe began importing D/G ones in the '70's.

[John MacKenzie (Cugiok)]

Well to me the important part of the statement, is that Coe and co brought them in in D/G, while this one is G/C, a key commonly used in France, and I think Sweden too. It's almost certain to have been supplied for a non UK market I would think.

Sir John

[triskel]

Well to me the important part of the statement, is that Coe and co brought them in in D/G, while this one is G/C, a key commonly used in France, and I think Sweden too. It's almost certain to have been supplied for a non UK market I would think.

In the late 1950s Ericas were normally in C/C# in Britain, though (in my February 1957 Bell's Hohner catalogue) they were "also available in B/C [and cheaper than a Black Dot, which still came with a copy of the Forbes tutor] and in Continental tuning" - so a G/C with recessed grille could easily have been sold new at the time.

It just goes to show how the old "British chromatic tuning" C/C# system was still considered "normal" then though, whilst "quart" system boxes were considered something "foreign"...  

Bell's didn't offer D/G boxes in a catalogue until the early '70s, and even then they were an afterthought in the C/C# Erica listing - "Also available in D and G tuning." (Bell's "Accordions by Hohner" catalogue, January 1971.)

[Dick Rees]

I tried to upload a smaller picture but I can’t seem to figure out how to reduce the size. I’m working on an IPad here.....anyway....the grill is recessed.

I work from an iPad all the time.  This works for me:

http://www.shrinkpictures.com

You're in luck with that box.  They play in fairly quickly and learn how they want to breathe.  The reeds take longer than the bellows in settling in but when they do they're sweet.  I play a lot and unamplified.  An Erica or pokerwork box will last me for 5-7 years before needing to be "tightened up" to restore their speaking time.

Sir John...

I'm quite familiar with the Swedish and Norwegian durspel/torader communities.  Generally speaking, you find more 2 reed boxes in Sweden (Erica, Pokerwork) and more 3 reed boxes (Corso) in Norway.  Primary keys in both countries tend towards G/C with A/D second and C/F third.  I can't remember more than a couple of D/G's in all my years there.

Both countries have extremely strong, albeit smaller one-row communities with a very strong tradition and well documented body of tunes, most of which are unique to the player or perhaps a community or village with one strong "tradition-bearer".  Jon Faukstad has written a (if not the) book on the one-row tradition in Norway as well as issuing a nice recording to go with.

[rees]

Yes, black Ericas were not uncommon outside the UK, also grey, purple/pink, some sparkly specials but mostly red.

In English circles, the most revered "Black Erica" is the D/G model of the seventies with the lettering running in line with the bellows.
Later models have the word Hohner running vertically, top to bottom, in large block gold letters.

[Dick Rees]

In English circles, the most revered "Black Erica" is the D/G model of the seventies with the lettering running in line with the bellows.
Later models have the word Hohner running vertically, top to bottom, in large block letters.

A sign-painter friend offered to change "Hohner" to " Honker" and "Erica" to "American".  Wish I'd taken him up on it.

The mottled red or gray finish has been referred to around here as "mother-of-toilet-seat"...

[triskel]

I'm quite familiar with the Swedish and Norwegian durspel/torader communities.  Generally speaking, you find more 2 reed boxes in Sweden (Erica, Pokerwork) and more 3 reed boxes (Corso) in Norway.  Primary keys in both countries tend towards G/C with A/D second and C/F third.  I can't remember more than a couple of D/G's in all my years there.

You get 2- and 3-voice (LMM) Paolo Sopranis too, usually in G/C and from the mid-1950s. I bought this one in Sweden:

I've heard there are strarting to be a few D/G boxes being played.

Both countries have extremely strong, albeit smaller one-row communities with a very strong tradition and well documented body of tunes, most of which are unique to the player or perhaps a community or village with one strong "tradition-bearer".  Jon Faukstad has written a (if not the) book on the one-row tradition in Norway as well as issuing a nice recording to go with.

I met Jon at the Michaelstein Conference on free-reed instruments in 1999, and he very kindly gave me copies of two of his CDs, one of which is Norske Drag on which (as well as his free bass accordion) he plays a restored Gessner 1-rader - so I must try and get a copy of that book and album...

[Dick Rees]

I'm quite familiar with the Swedish and Norwegian durspel/torader communities.  Generally speaking, you find more 2 reed boxes in Sweden (Erica, Pokerwork) and more 3 reed boxes (Corso) in Norway.  Primary keys in both countries tend towards G/C with A/D second and C/F third.  I can't remember more than a couple of D/G's in all my years there.

You get 2- and 3-voice (LMM) Paolo Sopranis too, usually in G/C and from the mid-1950s. I bought this one in Sweden:

I've heard there are strarting to be a few D/G boxes being played.

Both countries have extremely strong, albeit smaller one-row communities with a very strong tradition and well documented body of tunes, most of which are unique to the player or perhaps a community or village with one strong "tradition-bearer".  Jon Faukstad has written a (if not the) book on the one-row tradition in Norway as well as issuing a nice recording to go with.

I met Jon at the Michaelstein Conference on free-reed instruments in 1999, and he very kindly gave me copies of two of his CDs, one of which is Norske Drag on which (as well as his free bass accordion) he plays a restored Gessner 1-rader - so I must try and get a copy of that book and album...

Yes, you'll find some vintage Italian diatonics there...AND, if you're lucky, you'll spot one of those rare birds:  a Swedish-made Hagström.  Remember them?  50's and 60's R&R bands used their guitars.  If you ask a Swede about them, ask for "hog-strom", not "hag-".

[triskel]

... if you're lucky, you'll spot one of those rare birds:  a Swedish-made Hagström.  Remember them?  50's and 60's R&R bands used their guitars.  If you ask a Swede about them, ask for "hog-strom", not "hag-".

Or not so lucky - I had one of their Marita diatonic accordions for a while, in nearly mint condition, but found it a big lump of a thing to play, dull and unresponsive.

But my Swedish friend Nils Nielsen, a factory-trained tuner, came to Britain at the end of WW2 with them when, not being able to get a licence to send accordions, they sent an accordion factory instead. He later had a shop with his Norwegian friend "Tolly" - Toralf Tollefsen - whose tuning he did.

Otherwise:

I'm reminded of a late 1940s "120-bass stair carpet" that's now in my possession. 

It's a Hagstrom PA that belonged to the brother of our next-door neighbour (when I was a child) in Burton-on-Trent, a man called George Stiff who was a Midlands Champion player.

When he got married, after the War, everything was in short supply, but he needed a new accordion and (since nobody could get a Board of Trade license to import them) the only ones available at the time were made by Hagstrom in Darlington (who'd found it easier to export an accordion factory to England, than accordions - which is why the first D/Gs finished up being made by them). So using the money his father had given the newlyweds "for a new stair carpet", he and his brother took a trip down to London (the only place they were available) and bought the new PA instead.

Mind you, it got great use in the local accordion club band, and in a trio (with another PA and a drummer) that played for dances in halls all around the Burton area for many years.

His widow very kindly gave it to me six years ago, and it's the only PA I've got, but of great interest to me on several levels, including that my friend Nils Nielsen first came to England as a young factory-trained tuner with Hagstrom's at the time.

[Dick Rees]

Thanks!  Very interesting.  Checking the link, I play that same tune on my Erica.