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[upmine3]

Hi i've had this melodeon for about 22 years bought by my father from Northern Ireland and i was just wondering about the history of it. At the moment it's at my parents house so no pictures of it but i'm going to pick it up and take some soon. All i know is someone told me they were made in East Germany before the wall came down and they had something to do with Weiltmeister. I can't be sure of this. What i can tell you is it's red celluloid in appearance but much bigger than a Paolo Soprani and the Bass buttons are very deep in sound. The spec is:

4 voice (LMMM)
B/C
23 Treble
8 Bass
Aluminium sound board

Any info would be appreciated.

[upmine3]

Finally got some pictures uploaded (only took a year) as the files are too big for this site i've stuck them on flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23306008@N05/sets/72157623241170879/

[EeeJay]

The Bandmaster brand was used by VEB Klingenthaler Harmonikawerke (KHW)...

This state controlled company (VEB = Volkseigener Betrieb) gradually absorbed all the major accordion works in the DDR from 1949 till the 1970s...

Another line of VEB KHW products (as marketed by Hohner agents) was Galotta - and your Bandmaster seems to share a lot of parts (and shape) with a 48 bass Galotta piano box I used to own. Certainly, the over sized square keyboard (that looks like it was made big enough to fit piano keys) is very distinctive...

Cross referencing to Accordionlinks, Galotta is referred to as a brand of G. A. Schlott & Söhne, who were still around in the 1960s (and presumably absorbed by the VEB soon thereafter). So your Bandmaster may well have its origins in a Schlott/Galotta design... just with another KHW house label stuck on...

Interesting box though... 4 voice and 23 buttons... doubt there's that many about...

Ed J

[upmine3]

Thanks Eeejay sounds like a politically incorrect box then being owned by so many companies and looking like it has a former piano keyboard.
I'm thinking about doing it up as it's got a lot of potential with the four voices and those deep basses.

[upmine3]

Seems like another box the same as mine on E-Bay now although I've never heard of Amigo boxes.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Amigo-top-quality-East-German-Accordion-/300612702593?pt=UK_MusicalInstr_Keyboard_RL&hash=item45fde9d181

[upmine3]

I've been tinkering around again with this Bandmaster box and the more i look at it the more i think there could be a good use for this 4 voice wether it's for parts or as a fix up project. It's main problem is its weight and bulky shape.
The basses are really deep on this and would sound lovely set up in the right box.
The reeds have no stamp on them i'm guessing they're just cheep machined ones.
Would this be a recommended project box or is it way to much to take on? What's people's thoughts on this?

[upmine3]

Just swapped one of the better Pallets on the Bandmaster with my Pokerwork and it fits! Well not in size i will have to cut the dimensions of the actual Pallet down with a hacksaw (they're aluminium) but the arm fits inside the rubber sleeve so i dont need to use a blob of glue and the Pallet is already padded underneath.
 I will have to adjust the button height after too.

[triskel]

I've had/seen similar ones with the name Meteor on them too, and the Walton's brand Martini, and if you manage to make a decent, playing box out of it you'll have done way, way better than the original makers ever did.

Bandmaster was a brand of the C.A. Seydel Sohne (Seydel) harmonica company from about 1898-1946, and from around 1991-2001. From 1946-1991, Seydel made no harmonicas under it's own name, having been transferred to public ownership by a vote in 1946. It became the nucleus of the VEB ("state-owned") Klingenthaler Harmonikawerke in the nationalized F.A. Rauner factory in Klingenthal.

In 1950,the VEB Klingenthaler Harmonikawerke (comprising Seydel, Rauner and other East German harmonica companies) was renamed the VEB Vereinigte Mundharmonikawerke and made harmonicas in the former Seydel factory, including Bandmasters from around 1981 to '91. But the Bandmaster name was evidently also used on cheap 20-key German concertinas, as well as on both piano and button-key accordions.

[Grape Ape]

Triskel, I often wonder where melnet would be without you. You are truly an encyclopedia of knowledge when it comes to different models.  I thank you for the knowledge you share and the education you give us all.

[triskel]

Thanks Grape Ape, though that's only stuff you can find on the internet.

But I have actually walked all-over Klingenthal/Brunndöbra/Zwota, including around the outside of the Seydel factory, and the G. A. Schlott one was still standing then, with the name on the chimney, though I'm told it's been demolished now. I've also visited the museums there, and in Markneukirchen too, when I was dealing with the Silvetta factory (now closed), in the old Royal Standard building, and talked with people about what happened in the Communist years, including being shown the old Stasi (Secret Police) HQ in Chemnitz...