1. Cute little wooden organ with crooked keys
Most likely manufactured by Emenee as a number of other models looking similar to this are accredited to the musical instrument company. The cute gold, green and red sunburst motif top center does not seem to appear on any other instruments we’ve seen. It’s a fairly ornate surround with pipe organ style front speaker, carved wood, and some kind of knob at the bottom right which may be for operation, but the keys are purely plastic and, unsurprisingly for an instrument from the 1960s or 1970s, not in the best condition.
You can read more about the Emenee company in this PDF uploaded by the Stryker Area Heritage Council.
2. Malysh Russian musical keyboard instrument
From around 1989, this produces a monophonic tone not unlike the stylophone. Being vintage Russian, it is quite difficult to get definite information on this keyboard, but we believe it is a toy one with miniature keys marketed for children, with very limited features. It seems to be available in both green and red body.
3. Cute yellow 1-octave keyboard with strap
We have very little information about this toy keyboard except that its brand is supposed to be “Play ‘n’ Learn”. In fairness, the market is awash with these types of music keyboards aimed at the very young babies and toddlers, as some kind of introduction to music. Their quality is usually low, and we could’ve picked any number of quirky designs. They don’t stand the test of time, which is why, a few years on, they have usually disappeared and been replaced with another brightly-colored plastic-bodied instrument with almost certainly the same, or similar, innards to make it beep and squeak.
Cute, all the same, although it probably eats batteries all day long. Cheap, easy and safe enough as a candidate for beginner circuit bending, perhaps.
4. Yellow elephant dual keyboard
This bright yellow elephant keyboard showed up on an Etsy listing (now sold) and it’s rather a mystery. The only clue as to its origin on the instrument itself is a “Made in Hong Kong” embossed onto the battery compartment, which doesn’t narrow things down much, although the listing suggests it’s made by a company called “Blue-box”, who seem (or seemed) to make other toy instruments.
There are many toy keyboards around, some resembling animals, and most producing bell or tone noises. They’re all rudimentary but do provide a basic introduction to music making. This one has an octave of notes, presuming they are the white notes in a C major chord. They are numbered 1-7 and then i — not sure what the ‘i’ represents but it’s there anyway. There is also a row of colored metal bars in a separate section above, suggesting a xylophone or glockenspiel type of thing, although no obvious hammer to strike them with.
5. Funky-looking “Xylomatic”
Definitely all mechanical and analog by nature, no batteries required, this 1970s Xylomatic (Automatic Mechanical Xylophone) by Congost seems to work by setting pins in a cylinder which, when rotated, causes different metal bars to be struck, producing musical tones. It’s a bit like way a player piano roll works, except on a much smaller scale, and (despite the automatic name) requiring human intervention to get it to work.
A Xylomatic search on YouTube brings home this point; one upload sees two Xylomatics being used in order to create even a moderate length tune. Quirky, and seemingly quite rare now, there’s something quite ‘fairground’ about this. Practically, not necessarily very useful for music making (not live, at least) but could be good for sampling or creating short repeating melody loops.
6. Lovely green and purple toy 32-key keyboard from Kawasaki
Although Kawasaki might be more renowned for its motorcycles, it has in its history made a variety of musical instruments including novelty and entry-level keyboards. Not to be confused with Kawai, it came up with funky designs such as this 57758 “kids” mini electronic digital piano in the 1990s. Its features are fairly basic but it presents them with big, colorful buttons and rolling shapes, plus a carry handle, making it more appealing to a younger audience.
7. Vintage toy glockenspiel
We have no clue as to the age or manufacturer of this glockenspiel. We initially called it a xylophone but taking a look it is clearly fashioned from metal, although the base may be wood. It oozes antiquity, although it could just have been stored really badly. Numbered 1 to 12 we’re guessing it is a chromatic octave. You’d turn it through 180 degrees to have the lower notes (longer bars) on the left. It looks as if it might be quite tricky to play as the metal being struck looks like fairly thin circular pipes.
8. Magnus Organ with 2 octaves
Magnus organs were small, portable electric organs produced by the Magnus Harmonica Corporation in the mid-20th century. They were popular in the 1950s and 1960s. They used reeds for sound production, with an electric fan blower to provide airflow. This model has two octaves.
9. Red and blue Schylling toy accordion
Schylling Toy Accordions are small, beginner-friendly accordions made by Schylling, a company known for producing classic and nostalgic toys. These toy accordions are designed for children but can also be used by adults looking for a fun, simple instrument to play.
This model features seven treble buttons for melodies and two bass buttons for simple harmonies, bellows-driven sound, durable plastic/metal construction, and just seven inches wide.
10. Sesame Street All-Star Band octave toy instrument.
he Sesame Street All-Star Band Octave Toy Instruments were part of a line of musical toys featuring beloved Sesame Street characters. These toys were designed to introduce young children to music through fun, colorful, and easy-to-play instruments.
Bright and simple to play, designed for toddlers and young children. At different times Sesame Street instruments were produced by companies including Fisher-Price, Tyco and Hasbro.
11. Vintage Schoenhut Metallophone Alice Perry’s Toy 1895.
A metallophone is a percussion instrument similar to a xylophone, and uses metal bars. It produces a bright, bell-like tone when struck with mallets.
Schoenhut’s versions were designed for children but had a surprisingly rich and musical sound. They were compact and easy to play. This one dates from the late 19th century.
12. 1950s Vintage Rosko Portable Kids Organ.
Produced from the 1950s to 1970s, Rosko produced battery-operated toy organs primarily designed for children. Tended to use blown-reed sound production, was small, portable and had colourful keys.
13. Vintage Proll Toys Keymonica Harmonica & Keyboard
This vintage toy instrument is a cross between a keyboard and a harmonica, powered by the human breath, and in this respect is similar to modern day melodicas. This is constructed in plastic with bright, interestingly-shaped keys/buttons. They are quite rare now and hard to find.
14. Vintage Playskool talking animal keyboard.
Very much a novelty item designed for young children to begin a musical journey and also have fun with animal sound effects. The bright coloured keys play either a musical note or an animal sound.
15. Vintage Old Wooden Schoenhut Childrens Toy Piano
This looks to be an early example of the Schoenhut toy pianos, with wooden construction, 30 notes (2.5 octaves), and a sound closer to that of a regular piano than many other toy pianos.
16. Vintage Kenner PLAY N PLAYBACK ORGAN
The Kenner Play ‘N Playback Organ was a vintage toy organ produced by Kenner Products, a company known for its educational toys and games. The Play ‘N Playback Organ was introduced in the 1970s and became a popular choice for children due to its unique design and fun features.
It had a rudimentary recording feature allowing played notes to be recalled. Its bright colours and simple functions made it great for children.
17. Vintage Kawasaki electronic organ
Here we have another Kawasaki electronic organ, extremely bright and appears to have a few functions on board. Can’t see the model number on this one.
18. Vintage General Electric Chord Organ
Sporting the similar beige found on many organs and keyboard instruments of the mid-20th century, the GE vintage chord organ featured chord buttons, compact size, reed-based sound generation, and electric blower system.
19. Vintage emenee Toy Accordion
The Emenee toy accordion is a vintage children’s toy accordion made by the Emenee Toy Company, which was a popular maker of musical toys during the mid-20th century. Emenee produced a range of toy instruments, and their toy accordions were designed to offer children a fun, accessible way to explore music and the sounds of an accordion without the complexity or cost of a real one.
20. VINTAGE EMENEE GOLDEN PIANO ACCORDION MUSICAL TOY
This is a ‘golden piano’ accordion also from the Emenee Toy Company. It looks very similar in construction to the instrument above, with alternative colouring. It has 18 keys (about an octave and a half) and looks like it came in a cardboard box with plastic covering, with an instruction manual which may have contained simple tunes to play.
21. Vintage electric cord organ Magnus
The Magnus Harmonica Corporation created a number of electronic organs in the 1950 and 1960s. The used air-blown reeds, similar to that of a harmonica or accordion, to produce their distinctive tone. An electric motor-powered air blower operated. The version above looks beige (whether it was this colour to begin with or the plastic has yellowed with age isn’t clear) and features a two octave full size keyboard with buttons on the left to play six major chords (Bb, F, C, A, D and G),. The keys are numbered so a song book could be created with numbers instead of note names if desired.
22. Vintage Childs Emenee Blue Keyboard Accordion
Another variation on the line of accordions from Emenee, this time in a mid-blue colouring. This one is actually slightly smaller, having just 13 keys.
23. VINTAGE BONTEMPI MUSICAL TOY CHORD ORGAN
Bontempi was a well-known Italian manufacturer of mainly electric fan-blown reed organ keyboards, mainly manufactured in the 1970s and 1980s. Though the scale of this musical toy chord organ isn’t completely clear, the ‘toy’ nature along with the company’s manufacturing history would point to these being miniature keys – two octaves of. This one only has the keys and no additional chord buttons.
24. VINTAGE Bontempi KIDS MUSICAL INSTRUMENT MUSIC Accordion
As well as organs, Bontempi also made accordions. This colourful kids musical instrument features interesting shaped keys and chord buttons. The coloured dots look as if they have been added by the user after purchase rather than being part of the original instrument.
25. VINTAGE BONTEMPI B4 ELECTRIC CHORD ORGAN
This is a classic look of Bontempi organ — very similar to one I had as a child. It has two octaves of full sized keys, two rows of chord buttons in both major and minor for Bb, F, C and G. The volume control simply altered how much air was blown across the reeds, meaning that at low volumes or with several keys depressed, the sound would fade and cut out as there wasn’t enough air to vibrate the reeds for sound creation.
