Irregular tremolo in brand new accordion plus other issues

[tcabot]

Nah, Weltmeister players are fine.
They can always laugh at Royal Standart.




*Just kidding, I don't have anything against Royal Standart. As a matter of fact one of their old flagship models is considered to be of exceptionally high quality.

 

[debra]

I have to say, all this Hohner bashing is quite disturbing given that I'm waiting for my first ever Hohner squeezebox to clear the great British customs.

Not to worry if you made sure the squeezebox you ordered is not a Chinese one but a nice box made in Italy (like a "Morino+" for instance).
In our capitalist world the goal of every company is to produce as cheaply as possible and sell for as much money as possible. Hohner is in some sense "simply" no exception. But at the same time you can try to reach this goal without lying about your products. By now it is well-known that the new low to middle range Hohner accordions are made in China, but for decades Hohner just stamped "Made in Germany" on all their accordions, including the ones made in the Czech republic (like some student models) or those made in Italy (like the Morino N and S series).

 

[tcabot]

That's what Tula are doing these days apparently. 99.9% made in China apart from the "tula" badge that is stamped on in Tula. They've learned from the best in the accordion industry .

Mine's an old one, will most likely be an all-German build, pre Excelsior.

 

[dak]

Not to worry if you made sure the squeezebox you ordered is not a Chinese one but a nice box made in Italy (like a "Morino+" for instance).
In our capitalist world the goal of every company is to produce as cheaply as possible and sell for as much money as possible. Hohner is in some sense "simply" no exception. But at the same time you can try to reach this goal without lying about your products.

To be fair, that's sort of what Hohner was trying to do for quite a long time. Making money selling musical instruments in large numbers became tricky at some point of time because of limits in the possible asking prices as making music yourself became increasingly a fringe occupation and/or laced with electronics and remixing. Hohner got into debts with Taiwanese contractors (KHS Musical Instruments) and had to resort to paying them in shares rather than from ongoing lacklustre revenue. At some point of time, the contractors were sitting on a controlling ratio of company shares. Some years later they ended the charade by buying out the rest. They are not overly interested in messing with the branding but they do want the company to be profitable, and of course they have thorough access to Chinese workmanship and materials and want to capitalize on that.

 

[Ventura]

*Just kidding, I don't have anything against Royal Standard. As a matter of fact one of their old flagship models is considered to be of exceptionally high quality.

yeah and there is a guy in New York (Craigslist) who has been selling one for at least 3 years now
at $3000 .. just the usual CList bait

he has a Nobel for $3000 too he added tons of rhinestones at no extra charge.. been
relisting that one for 3 years at least..

hey, only need one sucker, and perpetual relisting is free on CList and ebay

 

[dak]

yeah and there is a guy in New York (Craigslist) who has been selling one for at least 3 years now
at $3000 .. just the usual CList bait

You can easily pay double for a new instrument bearing the "Royal Standard" logo.

 

[Ventura]

interesting

"Since 1994 we have been a company that has specialized in the development, production, sale and export of classical musical instruments from Germany and Europe."

and

"We also produce the legendary accordion brand ROYAL STANDARD® under the name “German Design - Made in Italy”."

so they got the rights to Royal Standard somehow and revived it after all these years..
completely amazing to me as that implies there was/is a large enough fan-club
for these in Europe to make this profitable ? as far as i would imagine, it's only saleable
"cachet" would be an accordion that sounds like a German instrument that can
compete with Hohner (as there will always be some people who will not buy a
specific brand from some real or imagined slight, so there is a market for a product
"German, anything but Hohner"

except it is now made in Italy, so it would no longer sound like a German accordion...
not that there are any accordions made today that sound like a German accordion
from the 20th century

i am now left wondering, is there something mechanically or technically unique that set
this brand apart or above it's peers back in the day ?

 

[OuijaBoard]

I have to say, all this Hohner bashing is quite disturbing given that I'm waiting for my first ever Hohner squeezebox to clear the great British customs.

Tune out the interference and focus on enjoying your new acquisition. German or Asian, there are tons of players having a wonderful time with Hohner instruments, including pro folk players. That includes folk and blues players who gig with Asian-made Hohners both unisonoric and bisonoric, and have a blast with them. Yes, horror stories happen, but operate on the assumption that any issues that come up--as they do with all accordions regardless of origin--will be addressable by a competent tech without too much anguish. The odds of this are much better than the online dramatizing around here might give you to believe.

That goes for law enforcement out on the US Left Coast:

 

[tcabot]

will be addressable by a competent tech without too much anguish

Unfortunately, they are going to be addressed by an incompetent tech (yours truly) with more anguish than is necessary

 

[dak]

interesting

"Since 1994 we have been a company that has specialized in the development, production, sale and export of classical musical instruments from Germany and Europe."

and

"We also produce the legendary accordion brand ROYAL STANDARD® under the name “German Design - Made in Italy”."

so they got the rights to Royal Standard somehow and revived it after all these years..
completely amazing to me as that implies there was/is a large enough fan-club
for these in Europe to make this profitable ?

Frankly, I don't see why not. Royal Standard was one of the best of the Klingenthal manufacturers in the GDR before the consolidation into the Harmona VEB. They produced PA instruments at export quality.

i am now left wondering, is there something mechanically or technically unique that set
this brand apart or above it's peers back in the day ?

They were one of the better ones while there was still choice in the GDR. Not conservatory level, but solid build quality, nice looks, good internals (might have had 5-reed basses but I don't know for sure). No plastic mechanics: that was a later development.

 

[kimric]

Having spent some time in the factory in Tula, they are making the majority of their own instruments. The exception as it was explained to me is the piano keyboard instruments. They get the shells with keyboards from china and fit their own reeds and parts. I was in the process of getting some beginner freebass instruments when the invasion started and I canceled the order.
Amusingly the company Mossimo claims their instruments are made in Italy, but I saw them being built in Tula, the factory instagram even has a video.

Royal Standard was a klingenthal company owned by a family that has been trying to restart in the last few years. They were having Victoria? make the prototypes? Apparently the Italian company took the money and had produced nothing at the time I heard the story and lawyers were involved , this was about 2020. I don't remember all the details.

The Hohner Bravo instruments as I under stand (and also by working on them) are made in asia using the old German equipment. The quality of the reeds is much better than typical chinese reeds, but the actual tuning and gapping is no better that of a typical chinese instruments.
Hohner did some really shady stuff in Klingenthal right after the wall came down and it is arguable whether it was pirating or sabotage, either way it was crappy.
My feeling is that the Bravo sells for enough that that Hohner should be able to apply qualified people on the final tuning.

 

[Ventura]

hehe.. "shady stuff"

you're not kidding.. but hey the place is open today and history has been re-written
so visitors will believe that production never stopped.. skills were handed down..
total bull of course..

the accordion factory was shuttered for decades.. what was left of a once skilled workforce
either moved to Italy or retired or found a new line of work..

but perception and marketing seem to trump everything in the accordion world

 

[tcabot]

The exception as it was explained to me is the piano keyboard instruments

I think the bottom of their range is Chinese-made, or so I've been told, with horrible "plastic-enhanced" mechs. I've seen photos of these mechs (including plastic lever bushings and linkages!) disintegrating after moderate use.
The very top of the range is supposedly still high quality Tula-made and I have no idea about the middle.

 

[Ventura]

for the Royal Standard i wish them luck.. guess the plastic key version is what we
see in the USA mostly and why they were/are sorta a joke brand here

 

[Ventura]

this thing about chinese bare bones boxes being finished in the West
to varying levele is here to stay, what i hate is the continuing
deception and shading of stories to hide that

and while i realise e Soprani is now a (relatively) honest chinese accordion
marketer, the simple reason i have a permanent "barf" reaction to the brand
is that they were the FIRST to sneak Chinese boxes into ITaly and slap
"Made in Italy" labels on them (for which they quickly got caught and fined)
but the damage was done and things have never been quite the same since

 

[JerryPH]

I have to say, all this Hohner bashing is quite disturbing given that I'm waiting for my first ever Hohner squeezebox to clear the great British customs.

They’re all crap.. you’d never see me EVER wearing one.

Kidding aside, the Hohner Bravo III’s should be kind of avoided, if what I experienced with my uncle’s new Bravo III that ended up getting sent back in under 24 hours after the purchase… lots was wrong with that unit! There are better used accordions out there for less as long as you deal with a reputable accordion dealer/repairer.

 

[tcabot]

@JerryPH

Yeah, Gola's just a status symbol, everyone knows that.
Unfortunately, I'm not cool enough for a Gola, so had to settle for a poorboy's Morino.

 

[dak]

@JerryPH

Yeah, Gola's just a status symbol, everyone knows that.
Unfortunately, I'm not cool enough for a Gola, so had to settle for a poorboy's Morino.

My avatar Morino was pretty affordable. I got it in a sell-off to tide me over the restauration of my intended permanent instrument: what could go wrong™ at the price? Enough that I was tempted to send it back when I finally got it. The temptation did not last.

Turns out that it actually works pretty well as a status symbol, too.

 

[Tom]

My price for the Corona Ii just went up to $1500, thanks guys!

 

[debra]

@JerryPH

Yeah, Gola's just a status symbol, everyone knows that.
Unfortunately, I'm not cool enough for a Gola, so had to settle for a poorboy's Morino.

The Gola is definitely a special accordion, at least the old ones are. A gola from about 20 years ago is not a very special accordion. It's a very good one, but no better than a top of the line Pigini or Bugari, imho.
People who wanted a status symbol instead of a Morino used to buy a Hohner Goletta (sometimes called Golina). These accordions look like a Gola, but internally they are just Morino quality (including e.g. just tipo-a-mano reeds instead of a-mano), but they tend to go for twice the price of a Morino. You can buy a "gold" Gola label to replace the Goletta label, and most people would probably not notice that the accordion was not a real Gola. People who really know about accordions would notice it instantly though.