Fake or genuin hohner?!?

[Soyoung]

Hi!

I recently saw someone selling this vintage hohner accordion. The seller says that his grandpa used to play it in 1960’s.

I found that it looks very similar to the model ‘morino 5555’, but the way that the logo atteched to the instrument makes me doubt if it really is so. Furthermore there are some button looking kinda things on the front that do not have any function.

I’d appreciate any opionion from you people!

Thanks

 

[Big Squeezy Accordions]

This appears to be an early Morino. The grille design is very similar to my 1930s Morino, and the bass section design is almost the same as my 1956 Morino IVM, with the square ends. I have no idea what the register switch-looking things on the grille are, as you already have those sadistic metal sliders on the edge of the keyboard. The name plate does look a bit modern. It's possible that it was added later.

 

[debra]

I don't know whether the accordion is a real Hohner. The clumsy register mechanism certainly (on the edge of the keyboard) is typical for early Morinos. The Hohner label is certainly not original. It is of a much more modern design and even unlikely made by Hohner. You can get such labels made in many places, with anything you like printed on them.

 

[boxplayer4000]

Soyoung: A picture with the grille removed might be helpful. Bellows pins are not in evidence on your photos which might suggest that Morino's own locking system between treble and bellows is used.

 

[Soyoung]

Soyoung: A picture with the grille removed might be helpful. Bellows pins are not in evidence on your photos which might suggest that Morino's own locking system between treble and bellows is use

I don't know whether the accordion is a real Hohner. The clumsy register mechanism certainly (on the edge of the keyboard) is typical for early Morinos. The Hohner label is certainly not original. It is of a much more modern design and even unlikely made by Hohner. You can get such labels made in many places, with anything you like printed on them.

 

[Soyoung]

I don't know whether the accordion is a real Hohner. The clumsy register mechanism certainly (on the edge of the keyboard) is typical for early Morinos. The Hohner label is certainly not original. It is of a much more modern design and even unlikely made by Hohner. You can get such labels made in many places, with anything you like printed on them.

 

[Soyoung]

I see. Now I am 75% sure that it is a fake. Ha! I liked its LP or old radio kinda sound that its oldness generated.. Thanks!

 

[Soyoung]

I don't know whether the accordion is a real Hohner. The clumsy register mechanism certainly (on the edge of the keyboard) is typical for early Morinos. The Hohner label is certainly not original. It is of a much more modern design and even unlikely made by Hohner. You can get such labels made in many places, with anything you like printed on them.

Soyoung: A picture with the grille removed might be helpful. Bellows pins are not in evidence on your photos which might suggest that Morino's own locking system between treble and bellows is used.

boxplayer4000: Interesting..I didnt buy the accordion yet so I cant get the image with grille removed. (The price was 200dollers by the way)
I dont really know much about the general accordion structure but the seller did mentioned that he once tried to open it but he couldnt because the panels seemed to be kinda gluded eachother instead of being pined..

 

[John Doe]

The apparently pinless case to bellows system certainly makes it seem quite plausibly a Hohner. Works quite well and took me by surprise when I first came across it.

Is the switch through the bottom of the treble underside to lock the bellows? Again something Hohners of the era were trying out.

The plastic name plate is really unlikely to date from any Hohner of the era that one would presumably be from. I'm awash in old accordions and without exception all the Hohners from the 20's theough mid 60's have really prominent/gaudy "HOHNER" badging built into the case or grill. There could of course be some where that's not the case- but the little screwed on badge while not a negative surely doesn't advance the case that it's a Hohner.

The thumb sliders as implemented are a feature of many old Hohners.

The bottom removable plate under the treble section (access to the switching mechanisms) appears to be the (usually aluminum) plate from Hohners with the thumb sliders on the front edge

I vote a resounding "Could easily be".

Does it play well for the price? If so, unless you're some kind of accordion speculator, the authenticty is moot as I take it. If not, and you want it "just because" it's a "vintage Hohner", you'll have ponder and roll the dice. I have been informed, but have not done it myself, that one can contact Hohner with a serial number and get a date and a model. No record increases the likelihood that it's just a full featured old accordion from a non big name company who might be perfectly capable of making a very nice instrument copying some Hohner features rather than a Hohner...

Best wishes-
Henry

 

[JerryPH]

I see. Now I am 75% sure that it is a fake. Ha! I liked its LP or old radio kinda sound that its oldness generated.. Thanks!

Well, we know the badge is not correct for that accordion. The Hohner badge being wrong for that accordion is the start of a bit of a downhill spiral. Taking a bit of a closer look at that very register mechanism... it is an incredibly sloppy install with bits and pieces of wood and bent metal slides. You can be pretty much sure its not a Hohner... but if it is, it is a poor example using sliders from one generation and basically duct taped together and identified with a badge from another generation.

I would recommend looking elsewhere. If it is the way it is on the outside, you can bet that the inside is likely 2 times worse.

 

[Gonk]

Yes, I'd say this is a genuine Hohner with a lot of confidence. I'd put it around 1930. I do think it is what is sometimes called the Morino 5555.

The modifications to the thumb sliders would not scare me away, personally, if the price were good. The modifications look like they were made by a musician. Not necessarily lovely, but practical and functional. I also see the new logo as the hand of a musician who wanted to show that it was a Hohner, but not necessarily to restore it to its original appearance.

The red one I'm linking an image to is probably one you have seen already, since you have searched for the "5555." The black one here is another example, with a sideways logo. This one does not have the thumb sliders or 'squared' basses, so I'd guess it is slightly later. In the early '30s, Hohner did try the 'squared' layout on many instruments. The combination of the French-style thumb switches and the squared basses was common on the Organola series, as well as the 5555.

 

[Gonk]

One more link, showing the internals, including the reeds.

Hohner, Morino 5055 / 5555 – AKKORDEON MUSEUM – "Sammlung historische Handharmonika 1830 – 1945"

akkordeon-museum.ch

I wonder if your register switches (the front ones) were another modification by its former owner.

 

[Vladimir M.]

Hi,
it is the model Hohner 5555s. It is not usually found in contemporary Hohner´s catalogs (40s of the 20th century). This model did not have the two rows of freebass buttons in the bass (towards the bellows) and unlike the large model 5555 it only had one bass register switch slider.
In contrast to the original state the instrument on your photos:

• has a different gauze in the decorative openings of the treble cover
• a non-original logo that was never produced by Hohner
• non-original black bass buttons (original=white)
• non-original outlet next to the bass fretboard of the buttons
• bad repaired base of the treble register sliders and
• non-original decorations in the shape of the four register switches in the treble cover (I highly doubt it would be functional)

Models 5555 and 5555s also had other treble covers (basically there were two variants - this one and the simpler one, but both are newer, from around the 1940s and differ from the "baroque" of the 1930s.).

Without an image of the internal state of the instrument, you know nothing. What is the state of reeds/reedplates? What is the condition of the wax? What is the state of the bass mechanism? What is the felt on the flaps? Etc...

The model 5555s is rare and even rarer than the model 5555.

Best regards, Vladimir

 

[JerryPH]

Hi,
it is the model Hohner 5555s. It is not usually found in contemporary Hohner´s catalogs (40s of the 20th century). This model did not have the two rows of freebass buttons in the bass (towards the bellows)....

That would be 3 rows for the Free Bass, but wow yeah, I'm convinced it's a Hohner, that black one is very near identical!

 

[Vladimir M.]

Hi,

That would be 3 rows for the Free Bass,...

Hohner 5555:
Before II. world war, the situation was different than it is today. At that time, the accordion was not yet established in conservatories, it was still considered an inferior instrument of musical entertainment for the socially lower strata of the population. At that time, there was more experimentation with development and construction. The first independent free bass appeared (in the form of separate buttons) and also a first attempts for a converter construction. The systems have not yet been established. That is why even Venanzio Morino experimented before the war with a two-row melodic bass, both in the case of button as well as piano instruments. It was the so-called 6:6 ("Beyreuther") system and had a G-h´´´ (41 tones) range in only two rows of buttons. The melodic bass contained only one single choir (and not two, like the Morino VIN), but this is precisely why it is constructed as a full cassotto choir. In the bass, the model has two register switch-sliders with the possibility of four different combinations in the standard bass. This greather model Morino 5555 has 164 bass buttons, the first two rows (41 buttons) belong to the free bass.

Hohner 5555s
It has a simpler bass mechanism without melodic bass and has only one register slider. But! The full range of five octaves (the standard bass has five choirs: 12 x 5 = 60 notes/tones) and the full bass-cassotto remain. This model is the direct predecessor of the Morino IV M model, whose first forms also have a full basscassotto.

Best regards, Vladimir

 

[Soyoung]

Thank you so much to you all for the rich information… sincerly, I am so impressed.

I bought the instrument and the mistery of the logo has been solved! Underneath the fake logo tag, I could see the reminescence of the original logo!!!

The body had been screwed eachother instead of having its own locking system and seeme to have been repaired extensively.

I dont know if the internal structure is original but I could identify some letters scrached here and there inside( probably by the person who repaired or owned previously)
And there was the number 38 imprinted and written clearly inside body panel and i wonder if it is the serial number.

By the way, here is South Korea. The grand grandpa who used play this, had lived in Japan during the japanese colony era, and I guess he encountered this instrument through Japan. The whole history and the jouney this accordion retain, all the way from Germany to the far far east world, is really intriguing!

Thank you..!

SoYoung