Info on old Hohner box

[BrianM]

I have my grandfather's Hohner button accordion, and I'm interested in how old it is, and so on.

 

[Tom]

Welcome Brian! Do you have fond memories of your grandfather playing this accordion? Pray tell!

It’s difficult to say exactly how old this accordion is. I would say “circa 1930s” or “early 20th century”. Maybe someone on here can be more specific. Among us accordion nerds, we would say you have an “eight bass, two row, diatonic button accordion.” This means that each key will produce different notes (or chords) whether the bellows are opened or closed. These were produced by the hundreds back in the day, mainly for use in playing traditional or folk music in two or three musical keys. Hohner was a good company, and its instruments were solidly constructed. Unfortunately because these accordions are so old, many are in need of repair to be useful, although many others still play reasonably well. It’s a crapshoot. Because of the repair issue, many of these have a higher value as a beautiful and attractive collector item than as a useful musical instrument. Value (for me, in my location) would be about $50 - $250 wholly based on condition of the accordion. Good luck!

 

[BrianM]

Welcome Brian! Do you have fond memories of your grandfather playing this accordion? Pray tell!

It’s difficult to say exactly how old this accordion is. I would say “circa 1930s” or “early 20th century”. Maybe someone on here can be more specific. Among us accordion nerds, we would say you have an “eight bass, two row, diatonic button accordion.” This means that each key will produce different notes (or chords) whether the bellows are opened or closed. These were produced by the hundreds back in the day, mainly for use in playing traditional or folk music in two or three musical keys. Hohner was a good company, and its instruments were solidly constructed. Unfortunately because these accordions are so old, many are in need of repair to be useful, although many others still play reasonably well. It’s a crapshoot. Because of the repair issue, many of these have a higher value as a beautiful and attractive collector item than as a useful musical instrument. Value (for me, in my location) would be about $50 - $250 wholly based on condition of the accordion. Good luck!

Thanks for the response, Tom. I remember him going down in the basement to play, and in fact he did a few tunes at our wedding in 1970.

I have no plans to let this family heirloom go. It's eminently playable, but the fact that it's in the keys of C/F make this B/C guy a little nuts.

 

[Tom]

Cool! So you play a B/C accordion? Seems pretty rare for New York.

 

[BrianM]

Cool! So you play a B/C accordion? Seems pretty rare for New York.

I play almost exclusively Irish traditional music, and B/C is pretty much the standard for that (or so I'm told). Anyhow, the accordion I play was inherited from my deceased uncle, and it was B/C, so that's what I learned.

 

[dak]

I play almost exclusively Irish traditional music, and B/C is pretty much the standard for that (or so I'm told). Anyhow, the accordion I play was inherited from my deceased uncle, and it was B/C, so that's what I learned.

Frankly, the impulse for most people inheriting a musical instrument is to turn it into money rather than play it. Who is going to buy all those old instruments? I like your approach better.

 

[dunlustin]

On this side of the Pond, these old Hohners still carry some value, in good condition:

Melodeons – The Box Place

theboxplace.co.uk

I would guess 1930s-ish too.

If you search you should find they can be 'with accidentals' or 'with low notes.'

Melodeon.net has diagrams and a lot of experience

If you want to explore - Dminor is a v useful scale on the Pull and if it has accidentals you will see that G and D maj are possible with a bit of effort.