Soprani Midget Grand

[AccordionUprising]

I just got this interesting little Soprani, a “Midget Grand.” It is the same size as my daughter’s little 12-bass beginner’s instrument, but has 90 basses and quite a few other features that seem rare for such a small instrument. I’d love to learn more about it.

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I just did a post on my blog about it which Ill reprint here. Theres more pictures on my site if you want to see them.

Comparison with another full-size Soprani (discussed on this very forum) with some similar features, suggests that this Midget is from the 1940s. At that time though manufacturers weren’t making many full-featured small instruments. Nowadays we hear from lots of folks looking for smaller ones to travel with (or help their aching backs) so I suspect I’d have no trouble finding a home for it.

It has swell little mute-flaps with a switch on the front giving a bright/mute lead option. Fun! And instead of outside fasteners, these Sopranis have bellows-lock knobs on top (with the arrow) that works fine but feels a bit flimsy to me. (Ironically of course, the idea didn’t catch on). Mine also has nifty register-indicators that show which reeds are playing (i.e. the right hand one shows “2” or “3”; the bass indicator is stuck on “4”.)

I’m assuming mine is a mid-level instrument. The reeds seem good (a few leathers and valves need help), the bellows may need repair or replacement, but they function well enough to play around with. The left-hand bass register doesn’t work, so I have to open that up and hope it will be a simple fix. The narrow “ladies” waterfall-type keyboard is physically longer than my daughter’s little red accordion, but the “Midget’s” body is less deep than the beginner’s. It weighs a bit more as well. The Soprani Midget Grand compared with a childs accordion

Meanwhile inside, the “little-soprano-that-could” has 15 reed-blocs! My daughter’s by comparison has 4. The Soprani’s little blocks are packed in sideways and I suspect they’d be a pain to service. Look cool though.

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On the front it has the label “Soprani Inc.” and then “Midget Grand” with a little initial or something I can’t figure out, maybe “Midget Grand H2″? What would the “H” be for? Any ideas?
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Also, I found an advertisement! And yes, it’s from 1941. (I searched for 90 bass accordion and it turned up since thats a bit unusual.)

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“Easy to Play, The smallest, lightest, full-volumed 90 bass accordion ever designed. It’s the new Soprani Ampliphonic Midget. Think of it! 34 treble, and 90 bass keys, beautiful tone, amazing volume. See and try this wonderful new Soprani at your dealer’s or write for a FREE booklet. Soprani, Inc. Chicago, Ill. (Popular Science advertisement, Jan 1941, pg 43.)


I wonder why we don’t see more older accordions of this size? I’ve heard that dealers then sold (or even loaned out) bare-bones beginners’ models and later encouraged/pushed customers to buy full-size 120 base instruments. No price is listed in this ad from 1941. I wonder if it was at all cheaper than a larger instrument with similar features? At any rate, nowadays little ones with extras like this are quite uncommon.


Now if only it was a chromatic button accordion instead of piano keyboard, my accordion dreams would be realized! Still, such a neat little guy. Which reminds me to mention that of course “midget” isn’t the friendliest thing to call anybody these days (if it ever was). Not making fun of people should be considered basic good manners.

 

[Glenn]

It looks lik r a lovely instrument even if it has yellowed terribly. How does it sound though? Not everything small is beautiful. I wonder what was in the "free book "?

 

[JIM D.]

A very rare one indeed. Very few were made and even less have survived. For the time they were very well made and would be considered to costly to produce in today's market needs. I have seen two of these, both in the hands of collectors. They never caught on as they were costly for their size, the volume of sound was small and a small hand was needed to play it properly. Most all of them were used for a young small students instruction purposes. The 60's the Titano firm also imported a small Titan 16" 48 bass accordion for instruction use and are also no longer made and valued by instructors. A nice find in great condition.

 

[AccordionUprising]

I think some of the yellowing in the pictures is due to my picture-taking (or I could blame it on the camera). It looks quite nice even though the bellows are a bit worn. I would love to have that "FREE BOOK!"

I saw a similar looking Soprani online but without register switches, so kind of a stripped down version of this.

I'm going to add some new info to my blog since I also found more advertisements from 1939-1941. They appeared in Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, and I think it was promoted to teachers in The Etude and "School Musician" magazines. I haven't got those yet.

They do seem to have tried to promote them over several years at least. But no telling how many sold, or why they didn't.

I have to ask, wouldn't it have cost more to put all these features and reed blocks into such a small space? Like a laptop can cost more than a similar-featured desktop computer? I assume it would have been a spendy item for its size regardless, and people weren't buying compact-cars you know? Big was better! So no small accordions.

Overall, I wish we had better documentation from the various manufacturers about models and numbers shipped and such. That would help come up with an idea about what kind of accordion was selling when, and eventually I think it would add some economics to the reasons why accordions finally stopped selling in the 1960s. (That's a longer discussion that has gone on for years, but I wish we had more data to base it on.)

 

[Soulsaver]

A common issue with digital cameras is to 'yellow' tinge objects - I have to fiddle with various settings to get a realistic pic for some stuff. Would be 'key' in accordions for sale, for instance.

 

[AccordionUprising]

This is the very similar little Soprani Petite I see on ebay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/390992322797

It doesnt have a bass switch, and the right hand is with a palm register instead of the radio buttons.

Otherwise, looks like the same instrument. If I could check to see if the bellows were good (and fit) I might get it for that, and for other parts if need be.

I wonder if its laid out the same inside, with the reed blocks sideways?

 

[Deleted member 48]

Hi Bruce,
I revisited your accordion blog for documentation about the Soprani ampliphonic midget grand piano accordion, and the comparison with a red 12 bass piano accordion for a child.
quote:
" the “Midget’s” body is less deep than the beginner’s. It weighs a bit more as well. The Soprani Midget Grand compared with a child's accordion"

My question, do you have any specific information on the netto weight in kg or lbs of this Soprani Midget Grand PA ?
And what is the netto weight of this red 12 PA for a child?
Or is this information about the weight already available on your website?

Greetings,
Stephen

 

[Tiposx]

Very nice indeed. The logo looks like A2 - for "Ampliphonic" I guess.

 

[jozz]

midget grand made me think of Vanessa Grand