New Hohner XS

[mlineguy]

[video=youtube]
New Hohner XS for kids

I think it looks.... uhh... different.

Thoughts?

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Another video of the Hohner XS:

[video=youtube]

 

[debra]

Looks interesting. I will hold on to my own (Artiste) XS. If XS is supposed to stand for eXtra Small that certainly does not apply to my XS...

 

[jozz]

i applaud them for trying to get the kids involved like this

 

[OuijaBoard]

Ha, saw this a few weeks ago---the NAMM marketing said it's aimed at kids, but obviously will make its way to grownups as well.

In other news, the PR material said they're also bringing out a Corona made in Germany, in response to the longing for that. Not that I play bisonorics these days, but it's kinda cool---the fact that they're dreaming up new stuff is surely a sign of industry health?

 

[AccordionUprising]

That is the coolest little accordion design in years. I totally want one (in a cba please?). 

So much clever thinking went into that thing. I'm really happy they're doing this. Imagine the instruments these kids are going to want when they grow up? Maybe they'll design them themselves. That's radical stuff design wise. Game changing. I'm really excited by this. Did I mention I want one?

 

[AccordionUprising]

I'm eagerly waiting to find out how much they cost. If it's comparable to other student instruments I predict good things.

Beginners' fiddles might cost €200. The "children's" Pigini Simba costs €2,000.

If this Hohner kids' model costs less than €400, that will make it a great competitor. Lower than €300 and I suspect they'll sell really, really well. They'll also sell future accordions when kids outgrow these. I'd like to see Hohner's "middle-school" version.

I've always thought Roland should release a really affordable model priced to compete with other keyboards, not with comparable hand-made acoustic accordions. I don't imagine they sell many to people who don't already play accordion. Maybe the v-accordions are just too expensive to build. I hope these Hohner's break that barrier.

 

[AccordionUprising]

Im eagerly waiting to find out how much they cost. If its comparable to other student instruments I predict good things.

Beginners fiddles might cost €200. The childrens Pigini Simba costs €2,000.

Checking up, I see prices for the Hohner XS from €465-550.

https://www.lamalleauxaccordeons.fr/en/501-hohner-xs.html
https://fonteneau-accordeons.fr/products/hohner-xs-enfant-clickn-play
https://www.thomann.de/be/hohner_xs_children_accordion.htm

 

[Deleted member 48]

Thank you very much for posting this information about the new Hohner XS accordion for children.
2,9 kg is super !

This keyboard design for the right hand reminds me of the earlier experiments.
Different makers have created similar ergonomic designs in the past. Im a bit surprised Hohner is trying to revive this design from the past. I would be interested to read about the advantages of this ergonomic design, if anyone knows where to find inside photos of the construction or an article/review about the ergonomy of this instrument, Id like to read it.

See pictures of the Piermaria Nazzareno models:
https://accordeoncollection46.skyrock.com/tags/4ORWxunc4hY-MODELES-SPECIAUX.html

(Anyone knowing more about an accordion created in France in 2018, called the hormonéon-biscordéon (harmonéon-biscordéon on steroids ?
[font=Tahoma, tahoma-w01-regular, tahoma-w02-regular, tahoma-w10-regular, tahoma-w15--regular, tahoma-w99-regular, sans-serif]En 2019:![/font]
https://laccordeonerie.wixsite.com/l-accordeonerie/protox )

 

[JeffJetton]

Checking up, I see prices for the Hohner XS from €465-550.

Oof. A little steep. A beginning adult player who didn't know any better might be tempted to get one of those terrible cheap-o (but 48-bass or bigger) accordions off of Amazon for about the same price.

One of the keys to getting any sort of growth in the number of accordion players is lowering the cost of entry by developing a good, reasonably-priced "starter" instrument. I'm talking about a new one, that someone can buy in a music store right off the shelf. (Not a 60-year-old used accordion that a beginner would have no way of knowing whether it was even in good shape or not.) This is something that the guitar/piano/violin/drum community already enjoys.

If Hohner could get the price down to under €300, this thing would take off like wildfire. Heck, it looks/sounds like it's basically a melodica with bellows and a small bass section glommed onto it. Seems like they could do that cheaper.

At least if the target demo winds up going for it, we'll have an extensive used market as all those 4-7 year-old children grow up.

 

[AccordionUprising]

Checking up, I see prices for the Hohner XS from €465-550.

Oof. A little steep....

If Hohner could get the price down to under €300, this thing would take off like wildfire. Heck, it looks/sounds like it's basically a melodica with bellows and a small bass section glommed onto it. ...

At least if the target demo winds up going for it, we'll have an extensive used market as all those 4-7 year-old children grow up.

I hadn't thought of used ones becoming available. Something to look forward to. 

I presume the price may reflect the design work that went into the thing, and hopefully the quality. Seems like they built it to withstand pre-schoolers, so their target market has different needs than most of players.

I'd like to think some of the design ideas like the straps and maybe the keyboard angle? will work their way out to other models. We'll see.

 

[OuijaBoard]

The affordable-yet-playable-starter issue is a sad one for free-reed instruments. You can get an entire electric piano keyboard these days for way less than the new XS, and a playable children's keyboard for less still, I believe.


To put it in perspective with accordions, the single-voice Hohner Bravo I 49F PA and Hohner Nova I 49F CBA are very nice playable-starters or sweet lightweight options for non-starters, at half the price of the Pigini Samba and less than half of the Pigini Peter Pan or the wonderful Scandalli 111C CBA.

But both single-voice Hohners cost 2 or 2.5 X the price of this new XS.

 

[JeffJetton]

The affordable-yet-playable-starter issue is a sad one for free-reed instruments.   You can get an entire electric piano keyboard these days for way less than the new XS, and a playable childrens keyboard for less still, I believe.


To put it in perspective with accordions, the single-voice Hohner Bravo I 49F PA and Hohner Nova I 49F CBA are very nice playable-starters or sweet lightweight options for non-starters, at half the price of the Pigini Samba and less than half of the Pigini Peter Pan or the wonderful Scandalli 111C CBA.    

But both single-voice Hohners cost 2 or 2.5 X the price of this new XS.

You know, I had an idea a while back for a way for people to get into playing accordion with a new instrument very cheaply.

Imagine an electronic keyboard thats basically accordion-shaped in design and worn just like an accordion. Lightweight plastic. Keyboard on the right side with 25-34 keys. Anywhere from 48 to 72 buttons on the left side.

No bellows though! Its a rigid instrument. In the middle would be the electronics, speaker (angled slightly upwards toward the player), batteries, etc.

This could be made very cheaply, Id imagine. It wouldnt be any more complicated than a department store keyboard (like this one), and they go for under $100. Similarly, this instrument would have different fun sounds, a built-in drum machine and metronome, etc. It would not attempt to sound exactly like a real accordion, with physical modeling and all that expensive stuff.

The lack of bellows leaves out a key component of the accordion, of course. But it would be enough for people to get used to the Stradella bass, coordinating the hands, and so on. Heck it actually might be useful to learn accordion that way--keys and buttons first, bellows later.

It would be basically be the accordion equivalent to the practice canter, which is essentially a realtively-inexpensive bagless bagpipe that neophyte pipers start out learning on.

Maybe I should launch a KickStarter.