DIY Hohner

[Morne]

Has anyone come across these? Or similar DIY kits by other manufacturers?

This obviously isnt a very high end instrument, but it might be fun to tinker with and you get to paint or decorate it however you wish.

Here are some photos of this 1-voice Hohner 26/40 kit:
<ATTACHMENT filename=Box.jpg index=0>
<ATTACHMENT filename=Parts.jpg index=1>
(from: https://www.ebay.de/itm/AKKORDEON-H...462919?hash=item1edc34be07:g:57cAAOSw8mRarquu)

Heres what it sounds like:


Heres another link with more photos:
https://www.ricardo.ch/de/a/hohner-akkordeon-bausatz-zum-selber-baue-977161928/

 

[jozz]

"absolute Rarität von 1994"

looks very cool, would buy if I ever came across one nearby

 

[debra]

I have seen this (not in real life, only on the net, like in this post) and "selberbauen" is a bit of an overstatement as all the hard bits have already been prepared. What's left for the customer to do is everything you can expect a layman to be able to do: put together subassemblies that have been carefully prepared.
It looks like a fun project, but it is a "kit" and assembling a kit is not really like building an accordion. A kit can be a good start though at understanding bits of how an accordion works.
I started in the world of electronics by assembling some kits and only later started creating my own designs and even publishing them in articles and a book... It's as long way, and so is the distance between assembling a kit accordion and understanding all the ins and outs, but a kit is a fun way to get started!

 

[TomBR]

I came across a completed one about 11 or 12 years ago. A woman was playing it for Morris dancing and I was intrigued by the look and asked her about it. She said it had been assembled from a kit (she didn't say who, but didn't say "I") and said she enjoyed playing it and found it suited her purposes very well. I think this was at a time when the natural wood coloured Italian melodeons, led by Castagnari, were well established, but I think it was before the woody piano accordions like the Saltarelle Clifden appeared.

Trouble with the Ebay listing above is, is it more interesting and valuable as an unassembled kit than it would be when completed?

 

[Morne]

I wonder whether this was a once-off thing, or whether Hohner thought this would generate a bit of interest. I havent had much lucking finding more information online.

Trouble with the Ebay listing above is, is it more interesting and valuable as an unassembled kit than it would be when completed?

I suppose the trouble with a completed kit intended for playing is that youd have to compare it to a similarly specd Hohner Student. I suspect the Student would most likely be a slightly better, and more versatile, instrument. Youd get fuller basses and some of them have MM couplers. On the other hand, the DIY model would be somewhat lighter if that was a big concern.

 

[jozz]

I like how the grille is just a piece of board and you are supposed to go at it with your figure-saw