Hohner HARMONETTA RARE VINTAGE

NO A EASY PICE TO FIND!!!! open to negotiation!!

In the 1950's Hohner manufactured this perculiar mechanic wonder: Harmonetta chord harp. Harmonetta is an interesting combination of accordion and harmonica. There are a set of keys on top. Each key selects the playable note when blowed (or drawed). The key opens up to three reeds each one octave apart. The musician can then select the playing octave by varying the playing position.
Because the same set of notes are produces with both blowing and drawing, this enables the production of very fast and accurate rythmic patterns, which is a great benefit to an accompany instrument like this.

From the construction point of view, this means that each note requires two reeds - one for blowing and another for drawing.

Harmonetta is an ideal instrument for producing incredible complicated chord structures. In theory is would be suitable for playing melodies too, but the cumbersome key layout and fine air hole structure makes it very difficult to pick up the right notes.

Harmonetta has reed plates which have flat valves, so overblowing or note bending is not possible. In addition the physical distance between the holes and the reeds does not allow fine tuning of air flow, thus articulation variations are quite limited. It is unfortunate that Hohner decided to cease manufacturing this fine chord instrument already around 1960's. Harmonetta capabilities as accompany instrument are yet to be defeated.