Hohner History

[JIM D.]

HOHNER Accordions & Their Impact on Culture & Music Worldwide

An interview between HOHNER Brand Manager Gilbert Reyes and Accordion Life Academy's Patricia Bartell about the fascinating history of HOHNER accordions past and present.

accordionlifeacademy.com

 

[debra]

Many thanks for sharing this link. Good to learn a bit more about the history of Hohner. Sadly it's mostly about diatonic accordions, some about piano accordions coming along and not a word about CBA, which by its absence illustrates that Hohner never focused on that branch and it shows (for instance by not putting a cassotto in the Morino Artiste IV and VI series...). And Gilbert Reyes appears to have a bit of a twisted view on the Hohner accordion production as well: "...and they decided to make a high-end piano accordion in Italy as well. The Matteo was born. This paved a new road for collaborations between the Germany and Italian factories..." Outsourcing production to an Italian company suddenly became "to make ... in Italy as well"... And the "Matteo was born" illustrates that he doesn't even know the model was called "Mattia". And he conveniently leaves out that Excelsior had been making Morino accordions for many decades... How twisted can someone's view on history be... (and no, I'm not referring to Putin here).

 

[Alan Sharkis]

Many thanks for sharing this link. Good to learn a bit more about the history of Hohner. Sadly it's mostly about diatonic accordions, some about piano accordions coming along and not a word about CBA, which by its absence illustrates that Hohner never focused on that branch and it shows (for instance by not putting a cassotto in the Morino Artiste IV and VI series...). And Gilbert Reyes appears to have a bit of a twisted view on the Hohner accordion production as well: "...and they decided to make a high-end piano accordion in Italy as well. The Matteo was born. This paved a new road for collaborations between the Germany and Italian factories..." Outsourcing production to an Italian company suddenly became "to make ... in Italy as well"... And the "Matteo was born" illustrates that he doesn't even know the model was called "Mattia". And he conveniently leaves out that Excelsior had been making Morino accordions for many decades... How twisted can someone's view on history be... (and no, I'm not referring to Putin here.

When a representative of any company, accordion or otherwise, talks history, it’s usually from the standpoint of sales, even if no sales pitch is intended. So, the most successful products of that company are emphasized in that talk, the company itself is cast in the most nostalgic, rose-colored light, and a glimpse into future developments must also be mentioned. In this case, in decreasing order of importance (read, sales) it’s harmonicas, then diatonic accordions, then PAs. Notice also, that a big deal was made about collaborations with Italy, but since this was an intterview conducted in the US, no mention of Hohner’s collaboration with China was made. When I hear talks like this one, I take them with a particle of NaCl.

 

[debra]

When a representative of any company, accordion or otherwise, talks history, it’s usually from the standpoint of sales, even if no sales pitch is intended. ...

I still have a lot to learn about sales talk. The sentences "they located a factory in Italy for their premium Anacleto line" and "they decided to make a high-end piano accordion in Italy as well" for me are very strange ways to say that they outsourced production to an in Italian accordion manufacturer. But of course it appears that Hohner still did something themselves: stamp "made in Germany" in accordions that were made in Italy by Italian accordion makers...
I may sound negative, but course there's nothing wrong with the accordions themselves. I am very happy with my Hohner Artiste X S, made by Excelsior. Excelsior has made great accordions and I don't care too much that it says Hohner instead of Excelsior.

 

[Waldo]

It should be noted that Gilbert Reyes hosted the only really good 3-row forum that was dedicated to Mexican Border Music (regrettably defunct). As such, this is his area of expertise (diatonics), despite his "Brand Manager" title. Perhaps the interview would better have been with the "Brand Historian". Hohner has a long history that could only be accurately recounted by a company librarian. I doubt there is anybody at Hohner who can recount their complete history.
PS, My understanding is that Gil closed down the "Reyes Forum" when he was hired by Hohner, due to the workload. This is another reason to laud Knobby's efforts here! Thanks again, Amigo.