The bandoneon 144 tones

The bandoneon is the instrument I study and I play, in particular in the version called "Einheits" of 144 tones. This is not the common choice for playing bisonoric bandoneon, since the 142 "Rheinische" is the standard choice and synonymous of bandoneon itself.

The reasons of my choice

When I decided to start playing bandoneon, I read as much contents as possible regarding this instruments, and at the same time I started the search for an instrument to play. All the blogs and websites I found talked about the bandoneon in the terms of the 142 Rheinische, and mentioned the 144 Einheits just as a variant introduced in Germany in 1924, never accepted in Argentina and with several features making it unappropriate to play Tango and unable to produce THAT sound you love, i.e., in Piazzolla or Orchestra Tipica recordings.

Affected by this information, I was convinced I would have buyed, sooner or later, a genuine, true 142 Rheinische Tonlage Bandonion. But actually, after a very, very long search on Ebay, and even in South America ADs sites, I had to accept the harsh reality: 142 bandonions are very rare, and very, very expensive. I realized I cannot afford one, and I was so frustrated I was about to decide to give up.

In the same time, I noticed a great offer for 144 bandonions, most of them from Germany, almost all in good conditions at affordable prices. I buyed one on Ebay with a strange idea in mind: comparing and converting it, somehow, into a 142 zinc instrument. Yes, my concept was still to play the 142. But actually my musical idea was taking shape: I was interested into bandonion as instrument, with the purpose to play on it every music I love, from folk to classical and jazz music, not Tango in particular. This decision was crucial to realize the 144 did to my case.

144 Einheits Bandonion

The instrument in my hands

I buyed a 144 Einheits on Ebay, in good conditions and playable, for less than 400 €. I started to compare this instrument's keyboard with a 142 Rheinische layout. First, I noticed that right sides on the 2 different instruments (the 144 and the 142) were not so different.

142 and 144 bandonion right "opening" keyboard confrontation

But what I noticed after was also quite interesting.

144 Bandonion: a "complete" instrument

I checked the chromatic possibilities of both sides of the instrument. I noticed the 144 tones bandoneon has a complete chromatic range of notes, without missing or repeating notes unlike its "cousin" 142. The possibility to make a complete chromatic scale on both sides using bellows without alternating between opening and closing sounded interesting to me, especially for the possibilities to play classical music as Bach or similar. Furthermore, on right side I noticed the scale starts from 2 extra notes wich are missing in 142: the g and a g#. These 2 extra notes are a "godsend" if you want play in C or G tonality (lots of folk music and classical also are in these tonalities). The 142 otherwise starts from a and doesn't give the possibility to have a low root or a low fifth on the right side if playing in C or G.

142 and 144 sound different: how much?

144 models have the same reeds quality of the 142 models (the iron makers were the same) but generally arranged in 3 reed system: this means every button opens a valve and air passes throught 3 reeds concurrently. Among these 3 reeds, 2 are tuned at the distance of exact octave tuned and one is at the same octave as the highest, but slightly "out of tune" in order to create tremolo effect.

This tremolo effect makes the sound different, surely not THAT sound makes a Bandoneon a unique character among free reeds instruments.

But, as you will read later, actually you can convert easily a 3 reeds instrument into a 2 reeds one.

About plates supporting reeds (called peines): on 144 they are mostly aluminium made, while 142 models generally have zinc plates. This affects a bit the sound... but how much? I cannot answer to this question, you must compare them and make your own experience. But, actually, several bandoneons were sold with aluminium plates in Argentina also, and were used for Tango.

In short: are 142 and 144 tones Bandonions so different?

As told before, right sides are almost the same. Otherwise the left sides are seriously different, with an exception for the central part of the keyboard.

So what to choose between 142 and 144?

The answer depends by repertory you want to play, and by the sound you want to have.

If your repertory is Tango, and you are going to learn the fingering options used in the most popular methods for Tango (i.e. Marcos Madrigal) it is better to find a 142 Rheinische.

Otherwise, if you don't want to play Tango only but other genres, 144 Bandonion is good enough, and even better especially for folk and classical music, in my opinion. Futhermore, consider that even if you want to play tango, you can always solve your own fingering options for 144 layout.

About sound: as I told before, 144 Einheits are generally 3 reeds (2 are octave tuned and 1 is for tremolo) and with aluminium peines, while 142 are 2 reeds octave tuned and peines are zinc made. The aluminium peines affect the sound, but not so much in my opinion (actually, a lot of Tango bandoneonists played with aluminium models, especially those who played the 152 tones model). Furthermore, the aluminium grants more reliability and resistance in time and requires less maintenance because doesn't oxidize.

About the 3 reed system, you can convert it stopping the air passage in the tremolo reed row with a thin paper sheet. In this simple way you will have a 2 reed system octave tuned.

Otherwise, you could search for a 144 Bandonion 2 reeds system with zinc plates. They exists, but are very rare, probably even more than the 142 models; so you must be very lucky. :-)