Paul & Co.
Paul & Co are a Kolkata harmonium workshop whose instruments are among the most sought-after made in India. They build only three-reed and four-reed harmoniums, and almost all of them are scale changers. We have sold them for 27 years and ship them worldwide.
Two things that save people a lot of searching:
Paul & Co have no website. No official site, no online shop. They are a workshop — they build harmoniums. If you have been clicking through results looking for their own site, it isn't there.
H. Paul & Co is a different company. Similar name, different maker. Worth knowing, because the names are close enough to send a lot of people to the wrong place.
What we have now
Paul & Co models are usually named by two numbers: scale changer positions first, reed banks second. A “13/4” is thirteen scale positions and four reed banks. A “9/3” is nine positions and three reeds. Those are the two we stock.
Paul & Co 9/3 — 3 reeds, 9-position scale changer, dark mahogany (No. 612). Three reed banks and a nine-position scale changer. The one most players choose: enough reed depth to carry a room, and nine positions covers the keys most accompaniment actually asks for.
Paul & Co 13/4 — 4 reeds, 13-position scale changer, mahogany (No. 624). Four reed banks in a bass–male–male–female arrangement, and the full thirteen-position scale changer. This is the top of what Paul & Co build. If you accompany singers in whatever key they arrive in, the extra four positions are what you are paying for.
Why they cost what they cost
These are expensive instruments and it is better to say so plainly than to have you discover it at the third click. A Paul & Co costs several times what a good Delhi-built harmonium costs, and several times our own Maharaja Musicals instruments.
Part of the answer is the reeds. Kolkata-built harmoniums use Palitana reeds — made in Palitana, Gujarat, which is where most of India's harmonium reeds come from — and the Kolkata workshops are known for how carefully those reeds are matched and tuned before the instrument ships. The construction is heavier and more thoroughly engineered than a standard Delhi-style box.
The rest is time. The wood is seasoned for years before it is used. The reeds are tuned by hand, and the way air moves through the box is worked out to a degree of fineness that is not obvious from outside.
A harmonium is a simple instrument. Many people make one. The difference is how carefully it is made, and that is slow work — which is most of what you are paying for.
Buying a genuine Paul & Co
Paul & Co have no website of their own, which is why a lot of people end up unsure whether what they are looking at is the real thing.
The simplest answer we can give you is Paul's own. In the video below he talks about the copies in circulation, and about us.
Beyond that: before you order, we will send photographs of the actual instrument — not a catalogue image — and answer anything you want to ask about it. If you would rather talk it through first, message us on WhatsApp.
