Paolo Soprani logo from 1950s box
(Han Speek)

The Paolo Soprani Story (continued)

Many modern players of Paolo Soprani accordions have their boxes re-tuned for a drier sound, with hardly any off-tuning, which also reduces the volume and makes the instruments less dominant in sessions….which is good or bad depending on whether you like accordions or not ! The most popular Paolo Soprani button box for Irish players has been the 2-coupler, 4-voice/3voice "Elite" model, which provides the best compromise of weight v power with a choice of two sounds, low or high-pitched. There are 3-voice no-coupler models and also 4-voice 9-coupler models which some players deem to be the most solidly-constructed of the range, but heavy to play. While the most common colour was red, there are also grey, blue and black examples in circulation. In recent years the new instrument market has been dominated by lighter, drier-sounding boxes from the likes of Castagnari, Saltarelle, Serenellini, Mengascini, Bertrand Gaillard and Irish makers: Cairdín (Pat Clancy) and Kincora (Martin Connolly).

Logo from 1980s Paolo Soprani
(Han Speek)

The German Hohner black-dot 2-voice and 3-voice boxes cater more for the beginner's end of the market, although some experienced players favour 'souped up' Hohners which have had some modification to the button action and the tuning, for a light lively box. Newer Hohners are produced in China and some players think them not to be quite so robust as the older German-made instruments.      NEXT >>