Hohner Panther G/C/F 3-Row Diatonic Accordion - Black

I am shocked and amazed. Surprisingly DELIGHTED with mine! I ordered and just received my Panther after I read the reviews. Thanks, everybody! Wow! What a great deal! I LOVE it! The sound is AWESOME! Playability is great. The buttons don't sink beneath their holes, either! (A frequent complaint about Hohners). The action is very soft and fast. A giant plus! The sound is VERY "WET" (a very pronounced tremolo). I haven't found a way to shunt the second reeds to make it play "dry" (without tremolo) when I want to. (I wish that it had a stop for this.) It also looks great (i.e., not "hootchie" -- it's sort of elegant) and is quite lightweight. It's nice to handle and isn't too big or too small. It's Goldilocks perfect in size. It feels just right.The optional Hohner gigbag/backpack is perfect. Well made and it looks quite sharp. Well recommended. (Austin Bazaar has a great deal on the Panther + gigbag package, though I haven't yet seen that at Amazon. I paid $20 more to get my gigbag separately at Amazon). I like this backpack so much better than a hard case. It makes you want to go to a friend's house, a gig, or to the park with your little Panther.The leather left hand strap is too ample (like the other reviews mention). I'd like to tighten it. Another reviewer here generously pointed out that all one has to do is remove the tiny screws holding it to the body of the accordion and punch new holes at the right length, screw them back in, and trim off any excess leather strap. (If you are too squeamish to do this yourself, an instrument repair shop can do it cheaply or you can insert a cloth between the top of your hand and the strap to make it fit tighter.)Oh, I figured out how to attach the shoulder straps (which has been a riddle to many). On each strap, there is a snap & velcro loop. That goes at the top. The bottom of the strap has an adjustable closed loop. That attaches to the bottom of the accordion. At the bottom bracket on the accordion, slide that bottom loop up through the bracket. Then feed the top of the strap through it and pull tight. Now the strap is secure at the bottom and cannot slip. Smart. Undo the snap and velcro at the top of the strap and feed it through the bracket on the top of the accordion. Secure the velcro and snap. Then adjust the length of the strap to suit you using its adjustment buckle. Repeat for the other strap. The third short strap is the "back" strap to hold the straps together across your back. (Sort of like lederhosen suspenders but in back.) Ta-da!The only other thing that would be nice is for Hohner (or the seller) to offer an upgrade trade-in option for when one wants to get fancy.Also, it doesn't come with any introductory or care instructions. It should!IMPORTANT: For newbies like me, before you do anything else, please find, and remember always to use the air button when opening or closing the accordion without playing a note. (It's on the left, at the top.) Otherwise you will almost certainly damage the bellows &/or reeds, in which case the repair needed will likely cost several hundreds of dollars. (This is true of any accordion.) This is very important to remember. There ought to be at least this warning included -- prominently displayed. Also, never set the bellows on you knee or lap (the friction and pressure of which wears out the bellows faster than anything). Set the right side on your knee or keep the instrument strapped close to your chest, leaving the bellows free from outside pressure and friction).I know that this accordion looks like it can't be much good at this price (especially made in China), but you will likely be as astounded and amazed as I am. I recommend it very highly! This is an astonishingly good instrument at an equally astounding price. (Many veteran players say that it plays as well as their Hohner Coronet IIs which cost 3-5 times the price!) I just love it! (Its seemingly perpetual wetness notwithstanding!) I still cannot believe my good luck!

The media could not be loaded. All in all, this is a great accordion for a starter. Sounds pretty good, some of the cheaper ones sound a lot worse both in terms of volume and sound compared to this. That being said, it's not perfect. You can see the video to see some of it's problems. The buttons and the fuelle (bellows?, Air) makes a lot of noise compared to some others. It's not loud enough to be a problem for me, but if you're comparing against a nicer accordion you'll probably notice the difference.The biggest thing I know now is that it is very important to do your research as to what you want to play and pick the right key (gcf vs fbeb etc) for your needs. For norteño music like I'm trying to learn, gcf was good for me since los alegres del Terán played a lot of their songs on one as well. I've noticed that Ramón Ayala has more in other accordions, so some will not sound exactly alike or will be extra difficult to learn in my gcf accordion. You'll notice that a lot of pros have 2 or 3 accordions when they perform and it's because of this. If you know what songs you want just search the artist, song, and the words :acordeón tutorial and you'll see many videos and sometimes they mention the original version.Finally, it is a very difficult instrument. If you're starting from zero like me, it will take a lot of practice just to learn some basic intros to songs (not even full songs or on the right time and beat pattern). I'm about 9 months in and have made some progress, but only because I've been consistently putting in 3-5 hours a week, and more when my schedule allows.If you want to splurge, there are much nicer accordions from hohner as well as many others, but they'll easily be almost twice as expensive, so I'd give this one a go first. They seem to resell for at least 75% of their value, so it wouldn't be the worst thing if you ever decide to upgrade.

The accordion has always been a fascinating instrument to me so I decided to get one myself. I did much research and I found that the style of music I play works best with the button style accordion. It's a wonderful instrument! The sound is beautiful and loud. The keys are responsive and it is fun to play! This is a hard instrument to learn, but to me I have been learning fast due to my previous music experience and of course YouTube. The price tag may seem expensive, but for what you are getting, the quality and enjoyment is well worth it. You can play many modern songs because it has a GCF tuning which means that you can play alongside standard guitars. Chords are easy to play because of how the keys are arranged. My only concern is that the strap for the left land is too big for me but I can still manage to play.

Excellent product...very good...recommended

If you want an affordable diatonic button accordion for playing norteño and tejano music, this is the one to get. It's only marginally more expensive than the other cheaper button accordions from little-known brands, but the quality is so much higher with the Hohner Panther that it's just worth getting this one. It's good as both an entry-level and professional instrument that real norteño bands would actually use. This accordion is also suitable for cajun music and various styles of European music.Note that a gig bag or case is not included, so you'll need to buy that separately.This accordion comes in a Hohner cardboard box put inside a larger shipping box that is well padded, so you don't need to worry about damage to the instrument. There are straps and a cleaning cloth included, plus a few multilingual booklets in English, Spanish, German, and French. You'll get a serial number and Hohner customer support contact information too. It's very clear that Hohner takes a lot of pride in making high-quality products that are meant to last. You won't regret this purchase!

I returned the accordion because it was way too loud for my small apartment. I am sorry to return it but my neighbors will be forever grateful'

Sonido

El mejor acordeón para aficionados , lo compre por qué tiene muy buenas reseñas y hay muchos videos para aprender, además el mejor precio que pude encontrar , es importado pero el precio incluye gastos de importación y envío , hay más bonitos y vistosos a precio más bajo pero no tienen la calidad y prestigio de honner y no se deprecia si se quiere vender en un futuro, viene en tres cajas, una de Amazon otra de honner y la clásica caja negra donde viene el acordeón y sus correas , no trae mochila pero está bien para mí por el precio ( 12980 MX incluidos los impuestos de importación ) ya viene afinado y los botones son cómodos de tocar y suaves de presionar, estoy contento con la compra ya que es un sueño para mí tener un acordeón profesional en mis manos, suena muy bien y fuerte

I love it. I am a beginner accordion player. Very satisfied.

There is a wide discrepancy in prices for the same item. The buyer is advised to check before committing to the purchase.Great after-sales service by Michie!

Es un buen acordeon con buen sonido y está en perfecto estado, llegó sin contratiempos.

Musique de folklore