Edgar Acosta
Member
Good afternoon. I want to ask people who has more experience with Hohner accordeons, where are the Hohner Fun line accordeons assembled? China or Europe? I prefer accordeons made in Europe.
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Where are the Hohner Fun (models) assembled, China or Germany or Italy?
- Thread starter Edgar Acosta
- Start date
The chances are pretty high that they are made in Asia.
I had never heard of them until this post and had trouble finding any non Hohner marketing (dealership listings) for them. Looks like 3 years ago Liberty Bellows had a model from the series with reasonably high specifications and a serious price that was said to be made in Italy. Not all specs on Liberty Bellows listings are accurate. And being three years ago even if they could be taken as Gospel they may not apply to current production. I find it kind of weird to market what appears to be higher spec instrument (certainly when compared to the bravo series) as the “fun”. Based on that name I expected it to be a line of toy grade instruments. They look to be instruments with decent published specs and flamboyant aesthetics. I don’t know what market Hohner is going for but I don’t think it’s the US with that line (which might explain why I don’t see it marketed much)
www.libertybellows.com
3677 - Electric Blue Hohner Fun Flash Piano Accordion LLMM 37 96
Type: Piano Accordion Reeds: 4/5 LLMM Treble: 37 Keys 17 (43cm) Key to Key, 8 Registers Bass: 96 Bass Buttons, 4 Registers Weight: 25lbs / 11kg Features: Made in Italy, Double Tone Chamber
I believe these are made in Italy. These are serious (but fun) instruments used by professionals on stage. They need to be of better quality than the Chinese rubbish in order to do this.
I have the suspicion that if Kimmo Pohjonen orders a Hohner Bravo, it passes through different hands than when I would do so.
Javthedog
Active member
Lots of 'grunts' about "chinese rubbish"........... factories make to a price so if you want rubbish you can get it....... if you want good or excellent, you can get it...... who uses an iPhone and where is it made?
Ah yes, but the "you" in this sentence is Hohner, not Hohner's customer who buys the accordion.
I'm sure Hohner could make better accordions in China, at higher cost, but then they would be doing their customers a favor instead of their share holders. Every large company only looks after the interest of their shareholders, not their customers.
I don't think there is a longterm difference. KHS bought Hohner for the brand. Retaining the brand value has longterm benefits.
I think the thing is that there are two adjectives in that “grunt” Chinese and Rubbish. They are not necessarily exclusive to one another, however I don’t see much evidence when it comes to any of the currently available Chinese accordions that they both aren’t accurate in describing them. If there are real exceptions commercially available I would be interested in hearing about them. I think until at least a reasonable minority of those instruments cease to be of inferior quality, it is likely those adjectives may find themselves in close proximity to one another when accordions are discussed,
P
Perogie
Guest
For what it's worth @Edgar Acosta I have a 48 bass piano accordion that was made in China but "inspected in Italy" and it plays beautifully. I've also opened it up to inspect it internally and it appears to be really well built. Time will tell but it's been a great little box thus far.
Edgar Acosta
Member
Is not to diminish the China made accordeon, but for tradition also. These looks very beautiful
Bloviator
Member
I have an accordion from that line and it is made in Italy with pinned cagnoni reeds
Edgar Acosta
Member
How much are those accordeons?
Dingo40
Been here for ages!
LLMM, is that the art van Damme reed configuration ?
3677 - Electric Blue Hohner Fun Flash Piano Accordion LLMM 37 96
Type: Piano Accordion Reeds: 4/5 LLMM Treble: 37 Keys 17 (43cm) Key to Key, 8 Registers Bass: 96 Bass Buttons, 4 Registers Weight: 25lbs / 11kg Features: Made in Italy, Double Tone Chamber
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Perogie
Guest
Ope! Doesn't matter how good it sounds I couldn't do an accordion with an obnoxious color scheme. Well, maybe if it was free...LLMM, is that the art van Damme reed configuration ?
Sold for $6k: serious fun!3677 - Electric Blue Hohner Fun Flash Piano Accordion LLMM 37 96
Type: Piano Accordion Reeds: 4/5 LLMM Treble: 37 Keys 17 (43cm) Key to Key, 8 Registers Bass: 96 Bass Buttons, 4 Registers Weight: 25lbs / 11kg Features: Made in Italy, Double Tone Chamber
OuijaBoard
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Well, spending that kind of money one would want definitive confirmation, but the "Fun" line has got to be made in Italy at those prices. I tried a CBA in Paris in an accordion shop the year before the pandemic, and it played like a dream. Which it should have for its six or seven thousand euro price tag.
The one exception is the smallest, least expensive accordion in the Fun line. The "Hohner Fun Nova Light." An MM 80-bass CBA. Those are made in Asia but better and more substantially built than the standard Hohner Nova CBAs. You can see the delightful Mario Tacca going to town on one here--the clip is mis-titled "Hohner Fun Flash," but it's not a Fun Flash, it's a Fun Nova LIght--you can see "Light" in the model name on the front base of the accordion. I know because I own that very self-same instrument, lucked into it at a super-low price five or so years ago when a dealer in Texas put three of them up online on closeout. I stumbled on them on Amazon, all three were gone in like four days. The dealer was the lady whose YT channel this is--she ran an accordion school and shop for many years, where many kids learned PA and Tex-Mex button accordion. She passed away of COVID during the pandemic and the concern is now closed--mind you, I'm not Texas based and was never at the shop. This clip was apparently from merriment at a big accordion convention held in Texas where lots of accordions were on display.
The one exception is the smallest, least expensive accordion in the Fun line. The "Hohner Fun Nova Light." An MM 80-bass CBA. Those are made in Asia but better and more substantially built than the standard Hohner Nova CBAs. You can see the delightful Mario Tacca going to town on one here--the clip is mis-titled "Hohner Fun Flash," but it's not a Fun Flash, it's a Fun Nova LIght--you can see "Light" in the model name on the front base of the accordion. I know because I own that very self-same instrument, lucked into it at a super-low price five or so years ago when a dealer in Texas put three of them up online on closeout. I stumbled on them on Amazon, all three were gone in like four days. The dealer was the lady whose YT channel this is--she ran an accordion school and shop for many years, where many kids learned PA and Tex-Mex button accordion. She passed away of COVID during the pandemic and the concern is now closed--mind you, I'm not Texas based and was never at the shop. This clip was apparently from merriment at a big accordion convention held in Texas where lots of accordions were on display.
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Shelia Lee.
Her collection of free sheet music is still online so someone is maintaining it (I hope). I donated and she transcribed a tune for me back in the day. I never met her in person but what a great advocate and resource for accordions.
Accordion Blog Song Directory
Directory of Songs on the Accordion Blog You have asked for it – A Directory Link to ALL THE SONGS – ALSO the links might be tied to a lesson or an exercise or a collection! AND –…
shelialee.wordpress.com
Hi Edgar, I think there are a lot of misconceptions about global manufacturing.
I believe Hohner has a purpose built factory in China with German staff monitoring and their own tooling
Numerous famous Guitar companies that may be sold as made in “X” but components may be manufactured in Mexico, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, and China etc
I have a friend that imports hi tec parts CNC machining from China and they have a scale of costs and quality very much depending on what the customer orders and obviously the biggest saving is in labour costs
It's a lovely idea that some wrinkled elderly craftsman is painstakingly carving your instrument in a dimly lit workshop but I think Henry Ford changed all that.
There are obviously a few artisans left making wonderful handmade quality instruments but modern technology and cnc,s are pretty much standard and most people working on the guitar tour I took were machine operators.
I don't think where its made is really important unless “tradition”is your criteria
In my youth I owned a Triumph Bonneville that leaked like a sieve. The Lucas electrics were awful and it required constant maintenance.
My Yamaha xs650 was bulletproof no oil puddle everything worked perfectly and I never had to push it !
It cured me of my prejudice of imports
I believe Hohner has a purpose built factory in China with German staff monitoring and their own tooling
Numerous famous Guitar companies that may be sold as made in “X” but components may be manufactured in Mexico, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, and China etc
I have a friend that imports hi tec parts CNC machining from China and they have a scale of costs and quality very much depending on what the customer orders and obviously the biggest saving is in labour costs
It's a lovely idea that some wrinkled elderly craftsman is painstakingly carving your instrument in a dimly lit workshop but I think Henry Ford changed all that.
There are obviously a few artisans left making wonderful handmade quality instruments but modern technology and cnc,s are pretty much standard and most people working on the guitar tour I took were machine operators.
I don't think where its made is really important unless “tradition”is your criteria
In my youth I owned a Triumph Bonneville that leaked like a sieve. The Lucas electrics were awful and it required constant maintenance.
My Yamaha xs650 was bulletproof no oil puddle everything worked perfectly and I never had to push it !
It cured me of my prejudice of imports
Bloviator
Member
The cost is comparable to other 4 voice double tone chamber instruments.
Dingo40
Been here for ages!
One was sold by Liberty Bellows about 3 years ago for an asking price of $6K, second hand.
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