Franklin Mini Organ/Piano

[lizzyanne]

Found this in a thrift store, so I have no idea of its origin or history. It's approximately 1ft by 2ft. The front says "Franklin" and the only words on the back are "Made in Italy." I plugged it in and it still works. I appreciate any information or guesses as to what this is!

[mart]

I looked for this yesterday but all I found that were similar although different brands were called combo organs !!  Still looking for yours !!

[frogpatch]

That's a chord organ for playing on your lap or on a table. They were pretty popular in the 60s. It is sort of like a horizontal accordion but a lot easier to play. If you could play a tune with your right hand, and were not tone deaf, you could figure the rest out with practice. Magnus was a major producer of those at the time. Searching Franklin is hard because of Ben and Aretha. I tired putting it in quotes on Google but I still get a ton of irrelevant info from the music industry and churches that have an organist or pastor named Franklin 

[mart]

Same problem I had Frogpatch !!  And there are a lot of them !! I finally just dropped the name and had a little better results. There are several brands of these so shouldn`t be much difference in price !!

[lizzyanne]

Thanks so much for the information! I had no idea what it was, and my Google-fu was not up to the challenge of finding out, so I appreciate the help. It'll be a nice little conversation piece for the den while I try to find out more about it.

[frogpatch]

Learn to play it and entertain company. Have a Polka party! I have played one when I was a kid. I could only play tunes with my right hand and the chord buttons just follow the melody. Its easy. I tried to play the Doors, Light My Fire on it not the Polka.

[KC]

During that time period so many were made and Franklin may not necessarily be the name of the company that made it....but may be the style of it.  Many companies did odd things.

I also find it odd that it says Italy on the back.  Can you please post a pic of this.  Franklin isn't an Italian name and couldn't find any company that was Franklin.  Parts may have come from Italy?!?!?!?!?

[lizzyanne]

After looking a bit closer at the bottom, I noticed spots in each corner where legs could be screwed in, and there is a faint number printed on the bottom. I think it's 26_5.

[mart]

Yep !!  It would have had legs that screwed in there !! The other number is either a 8 or 3 !! That would be the style number but its no help in finding the company !!  Only way the number helps is if you worked there !!  Each style they produced would have a different number !! Now if you find company info you can look up that model by the number !!