Hohner Lucia IV P date

[Glug]

Hi folks,
Just bought a Hohner Lucia IV P on Ebay, seems to be in fairly good order.
So I've now got an accordion collection, ie. two.
It's one of the older ones with 'gold' register switches.
Eventually found the serial number: 553567.

I've read the Hohner Accordion list and that says it should be early in 1953, 1956-1961, 1973.

The Hohner web site says they will do me the honour of telling me when it was made for a mere 30 euro.
So my question is can anybody give an idea of the date, or how to find out for freeish ?

Cheers,
Glug

 

[Glug]

I gave in and sent them the money, turns out to be 25 euro or 30 USD.

Took 10 days from starting money transfer to the date on the certificate that was delivered today (post was 3 days).
Maybe that means their records aren't computerised.

Lucia IV P 553567
Delivered to England 12th February 1959
Gold register switches
'H' reeds on treble, 'T' reeds on bass

Not sure why I want to know how old it is, doesn't really make any difference, but still interested. Turns out it's 1 year younger than me

Hopefully somebody else might find this useful,
I'm guessing Hohner serial numbers are unique across all accordions at the very least.

 

[Stephen Hawkins]

Hello Glug,

I recently added a Hohner Arietta IV M 120/41 to my stable of accordions, a photograph of which can be seen under the title: "Arietta IV M 120/41 (pictures)" The post is dated Sept 28th 2017, and is on the Accordion Chat thread.

I emailed Hohner with the expectation of discovering the age of my instrument, but was advised that I would have to pay 25 euros for the privilege. My curiosity was tempered by my reluctance to part with money, so I did not pursue the matter further.

The 120/41 Arietta was made between 1952 & 1961 (or so I am led to believe) and, from what I was told by the former owner's daughter, it was probably purchased in the early to mid 50's. That is close enough for me.

I did discover that many of the 120 Ariettas were produced in Switzerland but, without shelling out money, I am unlikely to find out if mine was Swiss or German.

Kind Regards,

Stephen.

 

[Glug]

Hiya Stephen,

I did have Arietta on my pick list, I was looking for a light weight 3 voice with a nice musette, so I thought probably a Lucia III.
I did a lot of research in here and online and then a local Lucia IV P showed up on Ebay for £220

Adverts show the Arietta IV M as 8.16kg, my Lucia IV P is 8.41kg + straps so it's slightly heavier but also slightly smaller. And of course it's 96 bass instead of 120, but that's more than enough for me so far.
A Hohner brochure from the time shows Arietta IV M as 8.4kg, Lucia III as 8.3kg, Lucia IV P as 8.7kg.
The exact weight doesn't really matter, but I've already looked it all up to make the pick list.

My certificate from Hohner shows model / colour / delivery date / delivery location / original list price.
Of course the exact info may depend on the model.

I did forget to mention it has "Made in Germany" on the back at the bottom of the keyboard.
And the original price was DM 675, which was £57.5 in 1959.

My brain wasn't quite working in the previous post, this Lucia IV P was delivered 6 weeks after I was, spooky.

Cheers,
Gareth.

 

[Stephen Hawkins]

Hello Gareth,

It sounds as though you have the right instrument for the job, which is great news.

A 96 Bass is plenty for most music, and I can't see why you would need anything bigger. It all depends, of course, on what type of music you play, and what you wish to add to your repertoire in the future.

I have never given much thought to the weight of my instruments, though I have noticed that my 120 Bass Arietta feels lighter than my 72 Bass Chanson. The Chanson is physically smaller than the Hohner, so I guess the materials it is made of are heavier.

It must be nice to be younger than your accordion, but I'm afraid that I am not. I think that my Arietta is one of the very early ones (1952 ish) which still makes it several years younger than me. Groan !!!

Let me know what kind of music you play, and where you play it.

Kind Regards,

Stephen.

 

[Glug]

Yep,
I think it's better than I will need for a few years

I did read your original post about the Arietta and do see your point about weight versus playability. But I've only ever handled 2 accordions so don't have much to compare yet. I've also got a slightly mangled left wrist so my experience is going to be a bit different. I think I may have to go to Allodi and browse at some point.

I briefly 'played' an accordion 40 years back and then it got mislaid while I was at univerity. Found it again a few months back while clearing the old family home (back of the cupboard under the stairs and stored the right way up!!), so I'm now learning accordion from the start again. My original accordion is an Italian 48 bass from about 1935, which I've restored fairly well - it's definitely playable. That's 34key 2/5 with no registers and weights 6.5 kg so the Lucia is a big step up. Another big advantage of the Lucia is it's metal so not prone to warping and woodworm, it's also designed so everything comes apart easily (bellows pins and keyboard axle not required).

Now I have to go and practise some more
Reine de Musette (hence the need for 96 bass)
Trumpet Hornpipe (because you can't have too much pirate music)

Cheers,
Gareth

 

[Stephen Hawkins]

Hello Gareth,

So, you have prepared yourself for the frustration of learning it all again. Well done you !!!

It is quite a step up from a 48 to a 96, which will be a bit awkward at first. My step up was similar, from a 72 to a 120. It took a little while, but I'm okay with it now. Actually, I now find it difficult to play the 72.

I am now facing the dilemma of whether to have a couple of my instruments restored, or to nip out and buy a new one. Whatever I ultimately decide, the finite resources of my pensions will limit my choices. (unless I win the lottery)

Anyway, you enjoy yourself.

Kind Regards,

Stephen.

 

[Soulsaver]

Hi Glug - Congratulations - I really like the Lucia - possibly the best value for money 4 voice you can fairly easily find in good condition. Have you got a pic of the little beast? Is it like https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HOHNER-L...HPDBsPnpcU%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc

I ask because Ive had trouble relating some design changes in this model to their date & you have the evidence for it now.

 

[Glug]

Hiya,
Its remarkably similar to that one - mainly because it is that one
Apparently Ive only had it 1 month, sheesh, feels a lot longer.

And the stick on paper did come off, it now has the original amber register switches in the corrrect order.
Also replaced a couple of dodgy screws and two valves, now seems to be fine.
I can supply any pictures you need, just ask.

I tried to check if and when there were changes to the Lucia line. But so far I havent found any details
except cosmetic changes like the register keys and the well known foam pads issue.
This one doesnt have foam pads, it has very nice plump felt ones.
But Hohner are also known to change which reeds they install, Im not saying that happened for the Lucia IV line, just they do do it.

Something slightly useful I found was this: https://translate.google.com/transl...ohner-lucia-iii-oder-iv-p.263056/&prev=search.

So I think amber switches and felt pads goes from 1956 to at least Feb 1959, which leaves 59-61 and 1973 for other versions.

Gareth.

 

[Glug]

And another thing ....

I found a couple of old Hohner brochures while doing research, I just managed to relocate them.
From http://syner-g.no-ip.biz/mymusic/special-pdf-files/

April 1973 full brochure in german - http://syner-g.no-ip.biz/mymusic/files/Hohner Musikinstrumrnte brochure - green.pdf

Probably same age in english - http://syner-g.no-ip.biz/mymusic/files/Hohner brochure - Blue.pdf

These also show the Hohner Pirola IV P (fur Damen) which looks like a 41/120 Lucia IV P with slightly smaller (lady) keys.
<ATTACHMENT filename=atlantic.2.jpg index=0>

 

[JerryPH]

And another thing ....

I found a couple of old Hohner brochures while doing research, I just managed to relocate them.

Yes, that would be both my website and scans made to PDF of my original Hohner brochures.

 

[Glug]

Thanks for doing the site and the scans then

I'm not trying to take any credit, I was finding it hard to find period Hohner information.
In fact that's the only old Hohner brochure I've seen, apart from an advert for a 1957 one
on ebay.

Hohner did do a book "History Unfolds: 100 years of Hohner in pictures" in about 2004,
but the "Hohner Accordion List" data seems to be from 2006 so it's more recent.
And that book is £65 on Amazon.

Cheers,
Gareth