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Author Topic: Is the Melodeon the Morris Minor of instruments  (Read 5861 times)

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playandteach

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Is the Melodeon the Morris Minor of instruments
« on: January 18, 2017, 07:47:01 AM »

Just noticed someone's tag line (too old to be a Morris Minor) and got to thinking...

I used to have a Riley 1.5 1962 car for everyday transport in the late 90s. I also have a few wind up watches and several nice clocks.
Is there a connection between the love of mechanical simplicity combined with craftsmanship and beauty and melodeons?
Is a 2 row 8 bass, specifically, the Morris Minor?
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Richard Shaul

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Re: Is the Melodeon the Morris Minor of instruments
« Reply #1 on: January 18, 2017, 09:29:28 AM »

Maybe more VW beetle, as it was made in Germany but had to be converted to right hand drive to meet UK requirements
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george garside

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Re: Is the Melodeon the Morris Minor of instruments
« Reply #2 on: January 18, 2017, 10:07:53 AM »

The Morris Minor is far to modern for such an analogy!

 May be the one row  could be the De Dion-Bouton  (1883) of the musical world.  the simple 2 row the Ford model T (1907-27 )  and the 'fancy 2.5 and 3 row boxes the Ford Eight 1933 - 53 .

Alternatively the simple 2 row could be the Jowett Bradford of the musical world- two good thumps ( twin cylinder) and capable of taking anything anywhere)

George (long standing member of the Jowett Car Club founded 1923!) ;D
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Stiamh

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Re: Is the Melodeon the Morris Minor of instruments
« Reply #3 on: January 18, 2017, 12:12:02 PM »

Maybe it's the Morris Minor of the accordion family, but when you set the melodeon against all instruments, as your title does, the analogy breaks down because most instruments are far less mechanical.

I would say that if the violin is a scalpel and the trombone an axe, the melodeon is a front-end loader  >:E

Malcolm Clapp

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Re: Is the Melodeon the Morris Minor of instruments
« Reply #4 on: January 18, 2017, 12:13:47 PM »

The Morris Minor is far to modern for such an analogy!

But the Morris 1000 came out about the same time as the Hohner Erica....mid-1950s
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Winston Smith

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Re: Is the Melodeon the Morris Minor of instruments
« Reply #5 on: January 18, 2017, 12:32:52 PM »

Ahhh, but the Minor (pre-Morris Minor 1000, with the low headlamps) surely was a child of the 40's? And the VW Beetle analogy would certainly have been more appropriate to the Klingenthalers; although still well liked by a strange crowd, they were mass produced and horrible, with no redeeming features whatsoever! The Hohners would sit well alongside a BMW or even a Mercedes Benz.
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george garside

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Re: Is the Melodeon the Morris Minor of instruments
« Reply #6 on: January 18, 2017, 12:37:48 PM »

Morris Minor a Oct 1948
g
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Winston Smith

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Re: Is the Melodeon the Morris Minor of instruments
« Reply #7 on: January 18, 2017, 12:39:32 PM »

Thank, you Mr G, I wasn't quite sure of the actual year.
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Phil Howard

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Re: Is the Melodeon the Morris Minor of instruments
« Reply #8 on: January 18, 2017, 12:48:38 PM »

It's certainly true that some Minor enthusiasts get MMAD... unfortunately I suspect many of the general public hold the MM in greater fondness than the melodeon though!

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triskel

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Re: Is the Melodeon the Morris Minor of instruments
« Reply #9 on: January 18, 2017, 02:02:01 PM »

... the VW Beetle analogy would certainly have been more appropriate to the Klingenthalers; although still well liked by a strange crowd, they were mass produced and horrible, with no redeeming features whatsoever!

I'd have thought the East-German papier-mâché Trabant suited your description much better than Dr. Ferdinand Porsche's revolutionary 1930's Volkswagen design Edward. They were even manufactured by VEB in Saxony, like the Klingenthalers!

And the modest "Trabi" is certainly "still well liked by a strange crowd", who even write songs about it - Trabant- Fahrer- Hit. Das Original!

Chris Ryall

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Re: Is the Melodeon the Morris Minor of instruments
« Reply #10 on: January 18, 2017, 02:20:22 PM »

Previous threads, comparing various marques of melodeon to various cars ...

  http://forum.melodeon.net/index.php/topic,7945.msg98685.html#msg98685

  http://forum.melodeon.net/index.php/topic,2052.0.html

There are references to 'Morris Marina' and even 'Morris Box' but this is new! 

I assume you are not alluding to eg the tune Idberry Hill ... in Morris minor key;)
 
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playandteach

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Re: Is the Melodeon the Morris Minor of instruments
« Reply #11 on: January 18, 2017, 04:41:35 PM »

I like the Beetle idea (I had one of those in the early 80s). I can imagine a Woody Allen character wakin up from a cryogenic sleep long in the future - fleeing to a cave to find a mothballed Hohner which starts first time.
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Stiamh

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Matthew B

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Re: Is the Melodeon the Morris Minor of instruments
« Reply #13 on: January 18, 2017, 06:24:23 PM »

I would say that if the violin is a scalpel and the trombone an axe, the melodeon is a front-end loader  >:E

Well Stiamh, if your versatile semitone box is a front-end loader, my quint rig must be a skidder. 
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AirTime

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Re: Is the Melodeon the Morris Minor of instruments
« Reply #14 on: January 18, 2017, 09:13:11 PM »

Yeah, OK. But that would make the modern Costalotti like one of them fancy, expensive, souped-up new Minis.
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Re: Is the Melodeon the Morris Minor of instruments
« Reply #15 on: January 18, 2017, 09:53:15 PM »

I have always considered my Pokerwork to be a bit of a Ford model T. I'm sure you can all conjure up tenuous analogies to support this. About the same original price for a start.
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Broadland Boy

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Re: Is the Melodeon the Morris Minor of instruments
« Reply #16 on: January 18, 2017, 11:36:51 PM »

The noble Pokerwork must surely equate with the equally noble Series 1 Landrover, given their durability and all the off road all weather conditions they have played in for Morris (dancing) - one of our number is reputed to have even Forded one through the River Sid  (without a canvas cover!) and you can mend both with glue and a hammer - although it has to be said, the answer to 'what's the difference between a Pokerwork and a Series 1 LR?' has to be 'You can fine tune a Pokerwork' :||:

I'll leave those with experience of the more expensive 'suck-squeeze-bang-fart marques' to compare them with the Rolls Royce, Jaguar and other i/c vehicle makes but will put in a vote for the Streb being associated with the Tesla  ;)
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Ebor_fiddler

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Re: Is the Melodeon the Morris Minor of instruments
« Reply #17 on: January 20, 2017, 12:14:44 AM »

From family experience, I would suggest that George's choice of car would be more of an equivalent to the Vienna, and if it were a bike, it would be a Bantam.
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My other melodeon's a fiddle, but one of my Hohners has six strings! I also play a very red Hawkins Bazaar in C and a generic Klingenthaler spoon bass in F.!! My other pets (played) are gobirons - Hohner Marine Band in C, Hohner Tremolo in D and a Chinese Thingy Tremolo in G.

Winston Smith

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Re: Is the Melodeon the Morris Minor of instruments
« Reply #18 on: January 20, 2017, 07:48:24 AM »

Not this sort of Bantam, then? (Commer/Karrier Bantam; very popular as bin wagons.)
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Chris Ryall

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Re: Is the Melodeon the Morris Minor of instruments
« Reply #19 on: January 20, 2017, 11:10:41 AM »

Gosh! Not seen one of those since I lived on the S Yorkshire coal field in the 1950s, (still in short trousers)!  ::)
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