Fratelli Crosio free bass with big bass buttons

[Morne]

[video=youtube]

I wonder how old that is and if it was custom made for somebody? I havent seen any other instrument with treble buttons on the bass side and I dont think Fratelli Crosio is generally known for doing free bass.

 

[maugein96]

[video=youtube]

I wonder how old that is and if it was custom made for somebody? I havent seen any other instrument with treble buttons on the bass side and  I dont think Fratelli Crosio is generally known for doing free bass.

Morne,

That Crosio was probably built for the home (Italian) market, as those assembled in Paris would have had rear mounted treble couplers. Dont think Ive ever seen one with big bass buttons like that, and they look like a mirror image of the treble side. 

Dont think many makers still do free bass accordions with large buttons, maybe Pigini, but Im not sure. 

The box certainly seems to be a one off, but Crosio went out of business way back in the 90s, I think.

 

[Deleted member 48]

This kind was mass produced. The French call it "un harmoneon",  a free bass for left hand thumb use. 
Several French makers produced harmoneons.

 

[debra]

I saw an accordion a bit like this (but with a more elaborate right hand (4 reed, LMMH, cassotto), used by someone in the accordion orchestra from Dinslaken (Germany). I don't know what brand it was, and haven't seen one like it since then.

 

[Deleted member 48]

If you want to read about the history and development of the harmonéon , heres a lot of info and photos:

http://lharmoneon.over-blog.com/2016/08/l-harmoneon.html

Maugein, Fratelli Crosio, Crucianelli, Busato, even Hohner, Cavagnolo, ... made some in series/mass production.
Because in those days, some accordion teachers wanted a strict separation between stradella bass accordion and free bass accordion.

Later, the convertor models became the standard at conservatory level.
The convertors won , because for students having to buy two separate accordions was too expensive for students.

And theres also mixed pieces with SB and FB in the same music piece, so the convertor accordion won in the end.