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[dmcginnis]

Greetings all - I am total newcomer to the button box as I bought a used one (vintage?  antique?) last weekend.  This is a Hohner that was the great-grandfather's box of the adult person I bought it from...my estimate is that should make it from the 1930s perhaps, but I am not sure.  It is a C/F box and everthing except one reed works very well.  Any thoughts on what model this is or where I could find more information on it?

BTW, I want to learn Irish traditional music on it (I already play mandolin, guitar and bouzouki), and suspect that the C/F tuning is not the best.

Thanks for any comments - I appreciate it!

Dave

[John MacKenzie (Cugiok)]

Looks a bit like a Pressed Wood, of which there seem to be many variants.

See here  http://forum.melodeon.net/index.php?topic=15959.0

John

[brazilian.BOX]

Yeah, this is beautiful. It seems a variation of the pressed wood. And this little metals holding the below, it looks like the Hohner Koch edition. It seems rare, and some parts were changed maybe (these red buttons for example). Maybe refurbished totally so the person that made used different pieces, but the most important is that it seems in very good conditions to play and study. So, enjoy it! 

[dmcginnis]

In the link posted earlier, there are a number of pressed wood versions that look very similar - especially the model 215.  Let me try to post a couple more pictures.

[dmcginnis]

A couple more...

[Theo]

Yes it is early 1930s Hohner.  The model came from Koch who they took over a few years previousl.   The red bass buttons look like the originals just painted red.  Somebodies idea of an enhancement!
It's unusual for the white lettering "Hohner the worlds best" to survive so well.
And you are correct, not ideal for Irish music.

[Andrew Wigglesworth]

Heh, you've got early onset MAD (Melodeon Aquisition Disorder).     As you surmised, a C/F box isn't the best to start learning Irish music on.

You could play the tunes of course, but you'd be unlikely to be playing with anyone else (certainly not in a session). However, depending upon the system you wanted to move onto, you could start gaining some playing skills.

One of the popular tunings to play Irish music on is a C#/D instrument. The D row is in the same place and uses the same fingering pattern as the F row on your C/F instrument. If you wished just to try stuff out for a while to see what it's like (without having to shell out on another instrument). You could try picking out tunes you know on the F row (others can give better advice on that than me).

However, the other much more common tuning for Irish boxes is B/C which has a rather different fingering for the common keys in Irish music, and has much more learning material dedicated to it.

[dmcginnis]

As a newbie, I don't know if this question is allowed or not...what would be the value of this box?  It is in pristine shape except for the one reed that does not work.

The story I heard from the family I got it from was simple - this was the fellow's great grandfathers box.  His grandfather had kept it all these years stored away (being in Montana, we are very dry).  Once the grandfather and father passed away, this fellow inherited the box with this box in a plastic bag in it...the papers around it were from 2000.  It really sounds wonderful.

Thanks,
Dave

[triskel]

This is a Hohner that was the great-grandfather's box of the adult person I bought it from...my estimate is that should make it from the 1930s perhaps, but I am not sure.  ...  Any thoughts on what model this is or where I could find more information on it?

Just about all you will find about it is in Hohner's Catalogue No. 700 of around 1930, and with the anenomy pattern of poker work (that yours has) they were the Series 7200:

They featured Hohner's patent (applied for) interior locking device to hold the ends onto the bellows frames, but it seems to have been a very short-lived feature:

BTW, I want to learn Irish traditional music on it ... and suspect that the C/F tuning is not the best.

You'd be correct in supposing that.

As a newbie, I don't know if this question is allowed or not...what would be the value of this box? 

Schhh, it isn't... 

But here's a link to a similar model, with different decoration, (already serviced and converted to Irish C#/D tuning) that was sold in New York, and Scott was asking $550 for that one: http://bellingersbuttonboxes.com/product/hohner-cd-conversion/

[dmcginnis]

Thanks Triskel - I googled the model 7200 and found a picture that is exactly the same thing with the exception of my red bass buttons.  I will look at those more carefully and see if they are painted or not. 

Thanks to everyone who helped me identify the box - I really appreciate it.