One gets the impression that German made Hohners have some kind of a cult following, are special in some way, because of German know how and German production excellence: invocations of the elves of the Black Forrest and all that jazz.
To an extent, I too was swayed in this mythology.
However, since having being exposed to this forum, I've come to the conviction that (with the exception of some few top of the line models, some not even made by Hohner, or even in Germany), in reality, the brand is pretty ordinary and I would now need considerable convincing to actually buy even an older Hohner ( let alone a current one).
The West German Workhorses do have a bit of a "cult following" among roots/folk players, for good reason. A pristine Concerto iiiN appeared on Reverb a couple of weeks ago with a US chain store priced at just under a grand, and spent about three days there.
If you like their characteristic sound personality, a timbre not universally adored, but beloved in many roots/folk subgenres, there's nothing like a WGW. Weltmeister gets close, but at higher prices for plastic reed blocks and bass mechanisms, and a voice that is close but not quite. The Asian Hohners also get close soundwise, but with QC risks as discussed here, and again, something not quite there in the power and body of the sound.
I've never heard it attributed to any woo-woo magic. But a WGW acquired in good repair if well cared for will probably still be going long after its brand-new Asian Bravo counterparts have collapsed. My techs hate working on the Welt folk-size boxes and the Asian stuff, but they can repair 40-year-old WGWs all day long provided the damage isn't huge.
There is also size, availability, and price. Inconceivable though it may seem to the devotees of refrigerator-size accordions on this site, many roots players have zero interest in or use for full-size accordions. While Hohner seems to have produced scads of workhorses as 26/48 MMs, 34/72 MMs, and 34/72 LMMs, the surviving ordinary-issue Italian instruments seem more numerous in full size or in "student" or "ladies" 41/120s, often with skinny keys and/or LM voices. Vintage MM or LMM Italian instruments of 26, 30, 34, or 36/37 treble sizes and 48 to 72-ish basses are far thinner on the ground and disappear very quickly from used stock.
Currently a new Italian made 26-key will run you $3K to $3300-ish if you can find one, and that would be Durall reeds---the premium product from Petosa, Gabbanelli, Hohner Anacleto will be one very, very pricy 26-key indeed. 30/72 and 34/72 configs higher still with similar boost for the fancy stuff.
Should roots/folk players really have no choice but to pay these prices or go Chinese? Yes indeed, Hohner's vintage workhorses do have a following. No fairy dust involved.
