Swiss-made Verdi IIN

[olivigus]

I've read good things about the Hohner Verdi IIN here on the forum and elsewhere, so I jumped at the chance to acquire one. It's marked "Made in Switzerland" on the back, and while the register switches are like the other Verdi IIN pictures I've seen, the grill is very different. I'm hoping someone here can give me the approximate vintage and am curious what people think about Swiss-made Hohners in general. I hadn't known that Hohner manufactured some PAs in Switzerland. I polished off some schmutz from the keys and body, but was quite shocked at how clean it is inside (since the last vintage accordion I opened up had copious gunk and some insect larva carcasses nestled inside the bass mechanism). Overall it sounds great and plays really smoothly. There's a little growly-ness with the deepest bass notes, but I'm not sure if that is something needing repairs or typical for this model. Any info from the wise folk of the forum greatly appreciated.

 

[JerryPH]

Horner Verdi in general hold a good reputation of sounding good and being strong gigging instruments.
Looking at the reeds on the bass shows the source of the growling, curling valves. Those need to be replaced eventually.
Nice find!

 

[bluesette]

Hi olivigus

It's marked "Made in Switzerland" on the back

Your "Hohner Verdi IIN" was most probably manufactured during the 50'-60' by the Swiss factory "Accordina AG", in Alstätten (Sankt-Gallen).
(The location is on the Rhine river close to the Austrian border and almost opposite to the city of Dornbirn (Vorarlberg, Austria).

The "Accordina AG" company was created in 1943 as a jont venture with Hohner Trossingen (Germany). The idea was to facilitate the accordion distribution in some sensitive countries during WW2.

The "Accordina AG" company (not to be mistaken with the "Accordina" CBA harmonica mouth organ) acted as a factory (mainly using accordion parts from Hoihner Trossingen) and as a distributor with the 2 brand Hohner and Accordina. They mainly produced CBA (few PA) for the european market. The "Accordina AG" company did officialy close in 1968, but to my knowledge a revival workshop continued until the 80'.

You will find some more information about your "Hohner Verdi IIN" on page 8 of this pdf :

http://forum.melodeon.net/files/site/Hohnermodels.pdf

The "Accordina AG" company produced many CBA models under the Hohner brand like "PIccolo", "Riviera" and other models under the Accordina brand like this "Accordina VII" :
The RH "golden" register switches were typical for the 60'.
RH : 5 rows flat kb., 4 voices (LMMM), 7 switches [:]III[:] LH : 120 std. bass, 5 voices, 3 register switches :

Accordina VII, Hohner (Nr. 101) – AKKORDEON MUSEUM – "Sammlung historische Handharmonika 1830 – 1945"

akkordeon-museum.ch

THis "Accordina VII" was also availlable as "Accordina VII S" (red colour) :
The RH "black & white" round register switches were typical for the 50'.
RH : 5 rows flat kb., 4 voices (LMMH), 11 switches [:]III[:] LH : 120 std. bass, 5 voices, 6 register switches.

Another "Accordina" "wood" country model manufactured during the 80' :
RH : CBA (5 rows flat kb, C-sys), 38 notes (no silent button), 2 voices (LM) with cassoto [:]III[:] LH : 60 std. bass 5 rows (2x bass + maj. minor, 7th chords). (NO tonic note in the 7th chords => able to play diminished chords : eg. Gdim = G Bass + C 7th chord (E, G, Bb).

 

[debra]

...

The "Accordina AG" company was created in 1943 as a jont venture with Hohner Trossingen (Germany). The idea was to facilitate the accordion distribution in some sensitive countries during WW2.

...

Very interesting to know. It explains a lot. Hohner tended to put "made in Germany" on their accordions even when they were made in Italy (for instance the Morino N and S series and also later higher-end models). But the "sensitive countries during WW2" explains why they would make an exception to this general rule (of not always being entirely honest).

 

[olivigus]

Wow. Thanks for the info everyone. I agree, very interesting to know. I think this one will be well worth getting refurbished with new valves down the road. I'm quite enamored of it, even if it growls at me a bit. I think it's definitely a cut above my other accordions quality-wise. (But if they ask, I did NOT just say that...)

 

[Glug]

You can get the manufacturing or delivery date from Hohner for 30 euro if you give them the serial number.
Not everybody cares, but I found out my Hohner Lucia IV P was delivered 12th Feb 1959.
They send you a certificate with the info on it.

Here's the link: https://www.hohner.de/en/service/accordion/vintage-accordions

 

[olivigus]

@bluesette The catalog page you shared not only has a picture of a "Cornelia III" that looks just like the Verdi, (curious why the different name), but also one of my other Hohner, a 48-bass Concerto I. So fun to see them in a catalog. The Concerto is stamped Made in Germany on the back, but based on what @debra said above, that may or may not be true. Perhaps it originally came from Switzerland too.

 

[olivigus]

@Glug Oh, that might be fun. Like a birth certificate for your accordion. Is the serial number what's stamped on all the reed blocks and other parts inside? I don't see any kind of number on the back.

 

[Glug]

On my Lucia it's got "Made in Germany" stamped on the back of the keyboard at the highest note.
On the bass cover directly below "Made in Germany" is a 6 digit serial number, quite tricky to read.
So that's the back of the accordion (against the player) opposite corner from the air button.

Yours might be a bit different as the Lucia is metal construction.

Here's an example of the certificate: https://www.accordionists.info/threads/the-hohner-mignon.6786/

 

[bluesette]

In Switzerland, Accordina and Hohner/Accordina accordions have a strong "working horse" reputation.
For instance, I still own my first CBA : a 1960 (swiss made) Hohner/Accordina "Piccolo" 2 voices (MM), and this small "black box" is stil in full playing condition,

but,

compared with other historical swiss made accordions (hype) brands like "Eichhorn", "Morino", "Nussbaumer", "Record", "Salvisberg" and some others, the Accordina and Hohner/Accordina accordions are no real "collector items" : e.g. the red Accordina VII S accordion pictured above was sold on ricardo.ch (kind of swiss e-bay) in mai 2020 for 150.- (a bargain price for a quality 4 voices full size CBA).

As far as I know, the Accordina AG company never designed any accordion able to technically and acoustically compete with high end models made in Italy, France or Germany.

 

[olivigus]

Good to know. I think I will not rise above and will be quite satisfied with the working horse category for the rest of this lifetime. That catalog page was really interesting. I had, of course, been looking for information on the Verdi IIN online but had found only one example of an accordion that looked like mine. But, armed with my new knowledge, when I did a search for the Cornelia III a whole bunch of matching accordions came up--mostly on sales sites from Europe. It sure seems like the same accordion, so I wonder why some were labeled as a Verdi and all these others as Cornelia--maybe different names for different markets? The rabbit hole of accordion history is quite the trip!

 

[Ffingers]

"The rabbit hole of accordion history is quite the trip!"

Not so much a rabbit hole but a veritable warren!

 

[bluesette]

It sure seems like the same accordion, so I wonder why some were labeled as a Verdi and all these others as Cornelia--maybe different names for different markets?

Hohner was always very creative in model branding.
I have seen Hohner labeled accordions sold in France (mostly 4 rows CBA C-sys) that I have never seen somewhere else.
This is probably due to the fact that a given model name may recall a good (or bad) reputation in a specific market place (country or region),

but,

This is not exclusively related to Hohner or the accordion market.
Do you remember the "Ford Pinto" ? (should in fact have been labeled "Ford Lemon").
You may think about a wild horse in your country but Pinto means something totally different eg. in South America.
or
The actual "Audi" electric / hybrid cars are labeled "E-tron".
You may google or DeepL translate for the french meaning of "étron" and you will be surprised (or not if you drive a Tesla)