Tiger Combo-cordion 1960's printed gig-bags?

[OuijaBoard]

I think it's time for a comeback. Who has the patents on these babies?

 

[JIM D.]

I'm very doubtful there was a patent on quint tuned reeds on accordions. For the past 100+ years a quint stop was used on organs and offered on accordions special ordered. The quint stop or shift simply sounded a fifth above the root note. Many Italian accordion makers have models with a quint shift or offer it by custom order. The Tiger model accordion was suggested by the late Palmer & Hughes to the Deffner corp. in the 60's and Faith Deffner decided to have her Pan (Crucianelli) division to produce them with the brand names Tiger & Titano.
These Tiger types were sold by Pan and Titano dealers and were widely advertised. Johnny Carson even allowed Palmer & Hughes to present it on a TV show in the 60's.
I was working for a Titano dealer at the time and 40% of them sold and 70% of them gathered dust for months.
Most accordion dealers found the same result and some finally sold them for close to cost.
The Tiger fad wavered and after 5 years of production they were cancelled.
The problem with the model was that is was designed for the accordionist that played Jazz tunes and Jazz lines.
The occasional accordionist found the quint tuning of no practical use.
Today the old Tiger's have just become a collectors item.

 

[OuijaBoard]

Yeah, but todays hepcats are ready for the look and the design to make a big comeback, gig bags too. I can feel it, with an expanded color palette. Could be sans quint if quint is quaint.

 

[Eddy Yates]

I’m with you, OuijaBoard. I’ve written a few pieces with the quint tuning that could probably be played by two accordions or one with the same tuning. It really is a wild sound.
When my Main Squeeze accordion fell apart on a tour, I rented a Tiger from a young lady who didn’t want to let it out of her sight. I don’t blame her!

 

[Eddy Yates]

If you know anybody who “just has to have” one of those zebra stripe cases, I’m willing to part with mine for filthy lucre. I know it’s a collectors’ item, so I carry my Tiger in a Weltmeister backpack.

 

[OuijaBoard]

A 120-bass flaming orange/red Tiger went up on Reverb earlier this month in mint, and I mean Mint, condition. The post lasted just over one week:

https://reverb.com/item/15923432-titano-tiger-piano-accordion-combo-cordion-1964-bright-red

 

[Eddy Yates]

I like the “quince” tuning, but I wonder if they have “pear” tuning? <EMOJI seq="1f603">?</EMOJI>
Didn’t know there was a 120 bass model. Thought they were all 72.

 

[AccordionUprising]

That Reverb auction "Tiger" is a Titano Combo 'Cordion, not branded Tiger at the time.
They're oddly parallel product lines, released by connected companies but have their differences. Only the Tigers had the unusually angled keyboard. The Titanos were more traditionally shaped, but shared features like the mod colour scheme and fifth-tuned register.
I'm given to understand the Titanos were better accordions, and some apparently had a cool "note bending" feature that I'd love to hear demonstrated. (Something to do with a half-open register regulating air-flow so you could control note-bending.)
This one looks like a prize.

 

[Eddy Yates]

Yeah, but it doesn’t have a ZEBRA bag!?

 

[JerryPH]

I've seen one in real life... never heard one though... what do they sound like???

 

[Eddy Yates]

I’m jammed for the next 2 months but will record a bit of mine after that, Jerry.

 

[Eddy Yates]

Here’s mine: