Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Earl Bryce]

After pouring over Lester's Hohner Hot Rodding videos and any other repair sources I can find, I'm about to begin to fix up my pokerwork. But before I get started, I was hoping to get some input on whether or not what I am about to undertake is an acceptable and appropriate thing to do.
To my knowledge, I believe it's a 1940's-50's era pokerwork, it has the wooden keyboard with scoops on the edges, made in Germany, and the reeds have an "h" on them. It seems to be all original parts and is in surprisingly good condition.
At a minimum, I want to tune it up, replace the valves, resurface the pallets, limit the button travel, and replace all the straps which have rotted off.
All of that seems to be standard maintenance. However, I'm also considering stripping the black and gold paint and refinishing with a stain or clear coat, as well as drying out the tuning to a light swing, instead of the standard wet hohner sound, and this is where I am hesitant, for two reasons:
1. Is it a shame to modify a vintage pokerwork from its original state? Is this melodeon a piece of history that aught to be kept in its pure state to preserve it? Where I live, all accordions are rare, and this is the first time I've seen in person a diatonic, let alone one thats near 80 years old. Perhaps some of you who have seen your share of these in all shapes and forms can advise me, should I treat this as a restoration like a rare collectors item, or is this just a functioning instrument that happens to be very old?
2. The second part relates to the tuning. Is there a reason I have never heard a dry(ish) tuned pokerwork? Somewhere on here Theo once said he never tunes a hohner completely dry. I wonder if there is a technical reason related to the build and construction that makes pokerworks particularly suited to wet tuning, and if a drier tuning would not sound good. Or is it simply a matter of preference? Has anyone heard a pokerwork swing or dry tuned?
Thank you all for your wisdom and advice!

[John MacKenzie (Cugiok)]

Tune it whatever way you want. I have one box tuned so dry it has absolutely no tremolo. It's a matter of taste. That box is an old Erika, so age is no bar.

Sir John

[Theo]

Somewhere on here Theo once said he never tunes a hohner completely dry.

I don't think I said that just in relation to Hohners.  There is a lot of inaccurate use of the word "dry".   The correct usage is that two reeds are tuned exactly in unison so there is no beat at all.  It is often used incorrectly to describes tuning with a slow beat which should be described as "swing".  It is a pity the term has become degraded my misuse because it makes my job more difficult when I try to understand what my customers want.  So if someone asks me for dry tuning I have to have a conversation to discover if they really mean dry, or if they mean some degree of swing.  I'll tune dry if I can discover that the that is what the customer really wants.

We are talking about mass produced boxes here, not rare antiques so go with your own wishes.  My personal preference is swing tuning, and I also like to see the signs of use on an old instrument, it shows that it has some history, and has been played and loved.  I have many wrinkles, and not much hair, but I don't think I will ever resort to cosmetic surgery, or a wig.  Some do, it's your own choice.

[Tufty]

Back in 1977 when Jean Blanchard recorded his "Accordeon Diaton1que" LP he played a Hohner Erica GC. On the sleeve notes he says he had the vibrato reduced. I have never heard anyone complain about the results . Like Theo says go with what pleases you, instruments are for playing.

[Tiposx]

I had exactly the same issues with my old Pokerwork and I asked for advice on this forum. In the end I replaced all the chrome and leather bits, but didn't touch the finish. My box has lost most of the gold paint is almost totally black. I think it looks really cool -in an old warhorse way.
 Mine is tuned dry for itm, although I like swing tuning also. I have done all the modifications to the playing side of things.
 I play it much more than my Castagnari...

[Tone Dumb Greg]

Mind you, when I conjectured about altering the tuning of a 1040, to make it minor key friendly, the reaction seemed pretty shock horror 

[Earl Bryce]

Thanks for all the opinions everyone!
Theo, thank you for bringing the use of the term dry to my attention, just from reading my own post I can see what you mean. Sorry if I have misquoted you, I must have misunderstood. That’s also a great point about being mass produced, I hadn’t considered that aspect.

Apparently I haven’t been around long enough, it seems like there are quite a lot of swing/dry tuned hohners here! I do like the look of old “well loved” instruments too, it adds a lot of character.

[Anahata]

Yes, good point about them being mass produced.
To paraphrase Martin Carthy's oft-quoted statement about songs, the worst thing you can do with an old Hohner* is not play it.
So any restoration into good playing order is a good thing.
I have a (pre-war, probably) Club II that had all the pink pearloid stripped off and it's now bare stained wood. No lettering on it, but it's still obviously a Hohner and it looks and sounds lovely. (Reedwork fettled by Theo when it belonged to previous owner.)

*other brands are available...

[Steve C.]

Many Hohners, mine included, have benefit from being "dried out", i.e. having the tremolo reduced a bit from factory. Plus, they go a little out out tune after 10 or 15 years of savage beating .  But certainly never close to two reeds in unison!  I mean, why have two reeds? 

[Theo]

Many Hohners, mine included, have benefit from being "dried out", i.e. having the tremolo reduced a bit from factory. Plus, they go a little out out tune after 10 or 15 years of savage beating

They are never in tune from the factory in my experience

  But certainly never close to two reeds in unison!  I mean, why have two reeds? 

Because two reeds in unison sound different from a single reed. For example here is Josephine Marsh playing a dry tuned 2 voice Hohner:

https://youtu.be/Ba4x5Ac61LE?t=53

[playandteach]

That's a lovely sound.

[arty]

That's a lovely sound.

Isn’t it just!

[Rog]

On the other hand you could buck the trend and keep it wet tuned...

[Peadar]

Good luck and just remember two things
1. If it doesn't turn out right first time you can always take it to bits again and have a second go.
2. When you discover something that you don't expect and couldn't have foreseen help is only a melnet posting away.....and someone on here has almost certainly seen it before.

[Theo]

A third thing
Hohner parts are very consistent in manufacture so there is a wide range of interchangeable parts.

[Alan Pittwood]

Back in 1977 when Jean Blanchard recorded his "Accordeon Diaton1que" LP he played a Hohner Erica GC. On the sleeve notes he says he had the vibrato reduced.

- Accordeon Diaton1que    Diatonique

What Jean wrote:

L'accordéon que j'utilise est un Honher (sic) modèle ERICA sur lequel j'ai, sur les conseils de SERGE DESAUNAY, supprimé le vibrato intempesif.

on which I have, on the advice of SERGE DESAUNAY, removed the unwanted vibrato

For Serge Desaunay see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cINoQxzhHf8 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb_tOGkOacg


I bought Jean Blanchard's LP in Kemper, Breizh in 1978 and had my Erica D/G tuned 'dry' the following year; it still is.

[Andy Next Tune]

Earl, there are a lots of people on this forum who have old Hohners which have been worked upon in many various, sometimes devious ways to produce instruments which sound great and are lovely to play.
And plenty of people who can provide you with advice and guidance on your journey. You just need to decide where you want to get to with your Pokerwork.
Enjoy :)

[Clive Williams]

Another fan of a dry tuned pokerwork here; had mine dry tuned many years ago and loved it. You can find a lovingly curated list of demos of it in action here...

http://www.melodeonvideo.co.uk/melodeons/

... about half way down the page under Hohner Pokerwork

[melodeon]

HOHNER is well known for its own proprietary tuning , which I believe is patented/copyrighted/trademarked as " ALMOST" tuning.
Wet dry, swing.. if HOHNER tuned it.. it is "ALMOST"

I am a long time fan of  HOHNER melodeons.

They are the MGB of accordeons. Light, fast, fun, cheap, and abundant of parts available, and considering there were approximately 525,000 Bs produced , including my 1964, it is my opinion that making one a 100% original, Concours unit, is time and money wasted. Hohners and MGBs were meant to be modified and driven. RESTOMOD is the word of the day. Go for it.
Wet boxes rust.. dry it out or swing it and put the pedal to the metal.

[Québécois]

I have a Morgane and it's tuned "swing".