The Jennings Model J "Accordioline" organ

1959-1960

A detail from a promotional page aimed at dealers, March 1960.

The "Model J" Accordioline organ, an Italian-made reed chord organ/accordion, was brought to market by Jennings in 1959 and remained in its catalogue certainly through to spring 1960 and probably for the most of the rest of the year too. By 1960 two models were available - the 40 and 60 Bass, the "40" and "60" perhaps being the number of buttons at left.

The page below - the earliest appearance of the Model J Accordioline to have emerged so far - was drawn up to promote the Jennings stand at the National Accordion Contest finals in London, November 1959.

November 1959 - 35 guineas (£36 and 15 shillings). It is possible that the Jennings photo-drawing is not wholly accurate in its rendering of numbers of buttons and position of the mains switch.

The G1/10 amplifier (27 guineas), in many respects quite old fashioned at this point, was evidently felt to be best suited to the accordion rather than "beat" market.

The sound obtainable from one of these organs can be judged well enough from this (evidently a slightly later model than the one stocked by Jennings).

Quite how many Model J's were sold by Jennings is unknown - possibly a reasonable number though. Presumably some if not most were given a "Jennings Organ Company" serial number plate and a bronze "Jennings" plaque. It is worth noting that the Accordioline was not the only thing tdo have been imported by JMI from Italy in the later 1950s. Meazzi echo units (of various types) were sold at the shop in Charing Cross Road, along with certain Wandre guitars, and a selection of items/products sourced from Geloso.

Specific/unique to early Accordiolines, which were made by the Italian company "Accordiola" (based at Camerano, near Ancona), are the parallel horizontal bands across the main front panel. This may help identify Italian analogues.

An Accordioline sold some time ago, not quite the same as the Jennings in detail, but with the same horizonal bands and logo on its front.

The label on the underside of an Accordioline recently offered for sale in the USA.

Organs of this type were incredibly popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Bell, for instance, offered the Farfisa Pianorgan in 1959. Organs similar to the Farfisa - perhaps all made in the same factory - were sold under a variety of names outside Italy.

November 1959.

Detail of the above.

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