Variant!

Because of the success of the Stylophone, a few companies attempted to come up with a rival
(or cheaper) instrument.

The similarities on the model below are obvious to see........

This is a 'CHARLIE', made in Hong Kong for the German market around the mid to late '70s. The size is very similar to the
Stylophone, at about half-inch bigger in length and width.

Common Stylo features are there:

There is one big difference however in the playing of the instrument - NO STYLUS!.

In place of the normal keyboard is a plastic 'membrane' affair. The idea is that you simply TOUCH the keyboard to
play it. A little pressure is all that is needed to get the note you want, and you can run your finger up and down the
smooth 'keyboard' with ease.

The ease with which you could play a recognisable tune
however, may be a different matter.

A human finger is considerably larger than the standard
stylus used on the genuine article, so you may find yourself
hitting notes you didn't intend to.

You could always use the 'wrong end' of a ball point pen to
play the notes, but the keyboard is just thin plastic covering
the paper-printed keyboard layout, so anything other than a
finger would probably wear it out in no time. Anything
sharp would certainly mark - or even tear this plastic.

It's cheap, cheerful...... let's be honest.... it's tacky!.

The design is obviously taken from the Stylophone of
course, but the 'soft touch' keypad takes the concept a
little further.

I'm really surprised this particular example has survived
the years with the keyboard still intact.

The idea of including this model amongst these
Stylophone pages however is not just to slate it.

The simple fact that an instrument such as the
Stylophone should attract manufacturers to try and
come up with an alternative based around the UK
design is testament to just how successful the
Stylophone was over the years.

Because of this, the 'CHARLIE' deserves some space
here on the site.

On/Off switch

Vibrato switch

Output

9v battery power

Partly disassembled,
the flexible keypad
overlay is gently
folded back to show
the board contacts.

Speaker is held in
place by someone
going barmy on the
plastic with a
soldering iron

Output, volume control,
and 9v adaptor socket.

a 'slide - on' battery
cover, very similar to
those models seen on
the 'Hong Kong' page

same layout of on/off
and vibrato controls

The sound this circuit layout creates can
be likened to a cat - being trod on.

The tonal scale is very high; one octave
higher than a normal 'treble' model !