Where is the serial number (Atlantic IV N Deluxe)?

[dak]

The Hohner Morino M series comes in to versions: an older version with Artiste reeds on the treble side (and inferior reeds on the bass side) and a later version with Bugari tipo a mano reeds. Everyone I know who knows that these two versions exist told me and others that when looking for a Morino M (for instance the most popular, the IV M) to look specifically for one with the Bugari reeds. I have worked on both and I must agree: the Bugari tipo a mano reeds are better than the Hohner Artiste (hand made) reeds. Hohner probably cherry-picked the best ones from whole series that were made to put in the Gola.

The story (urban myth?) I heard was that while Giovanni Gola himself was responsible for the instrument lines, he (or whoever did the actual work under his purview) used 3 complete a mano sets of reeds to pick best matching and responding reeds for each instrument he signed off on.

If that story holds water to at least some degree, that would result in a number of (less consistent) a mano reeds to be employed in other instruments. In that case, I'd expect a hard cut-off date on those "some lesser instruments have surprisingly good reeds" effect like seen with the Bugari Atlantic de luxe instruments: stopping that cherry-picking is a very obvious way to save a lot of money on quite diminishing returns and would probably have ceased within a year of Gola keeping tabs on the production (as opposed to Morino, I think he returned to Italy after being pensioned and so there would be rather little grace period before checking what practices to leave in place and what corners to cut).

 

[debra]

The story (urban myth?) I heard was that while Giovanni Gola himself was responsible for the instrument lines, he (or whoever did the actual work under his purview) used 3 complete a mano sets of reeds to pick best matching and responding reeds for each instrument he signed off on.

If that story holds water to at least some degree, that would result in a number of (less consistent) a mano reeds to be employed in other instruments. In that case, I'd expect a hard cut-off date on those "some lesser instruments have surprisingly good reeds" effect like seen with the Bugari Atlantic de luxe instruments: stopping that cherry-picking is a very obvious way to save a lot of money on quite diminishing returns and would probably have ceased within a year of Gola keeping tabs on the production (as opposed to Morino, I think he returned to Italy after being pensioned and so there would be rather little grace period before checking what practices to leave in place and what corners to cut).

I can easily believe that Gola did cherry-picking on Hohner Artiste reeds to find the best ones. The discarded ones could then go towards other (lesser) accordions. That may explain why I never liked the Artiste reeds I saw, especially not the piccolo reeds.
I have not yet seen an Atlantic de luxe with Bugari reeds. I wouldn't be surprised if that sounded better than the ones with Artiste reeds. People also prefer the Morino M accordions with Bugari reeds over the ones with Hohner reeds.

 

[dak]

I can easily believe that Gola did cherry-picking on Hohner Artiste reeds to find the best ones.

Oh, I don't think that there ever was a Gola with Artiste reeds, was it?

 

[debra]

Oh, I don't think that there ever was a Gola with Artiste reeds, was it?

I don't know but the one I worked on that was from the 1960's definitely did not have Artiste reeds. I don't remember if I could see what make the reeds were, but I certainly didn't notice. (Some manufacturers deliberately put reed plates backwards so you cannot see the markings that identify the maker.)