And they are made by the same folks who make all the rest of the bellows. All of the bellows are made to order, and take a few months to get. This is no big deal. Now if he was making his own bellows as does MELODIE and Bergflodt, just to name a couple, I'd be impressed.
I also use an odd sized bellows with a slightly different configuration.
Send the specs, send the money , wait for them to arrive.
LOL! Not yet, you frothing-at-the-mouth Martin-aholic! To tell you the truth, since I've been back from Balfa, I haven't tried - too busy. A couple people there wanted to buy it, but they were waiting to sell fiddles or somesuch. It's okay, I'm not in any fired-up hurry; I'll hold it for them for a little bit.
But one of these days, I'll probably get worked up enough to sell it and/or my Shine Mouton, even though I love that Shine! But you'll be glad to know I won't ever sell my D Martin; it was more or less a gift, so I wouldn't feel right to ever part with it. Same with my C Acadian. Too much luck, sentimental attachment, and blessing wrapped up in each one . . .
I tuned that old Shine, and I don't remember if it had metal slides, but thinking it did. What I do remember is that it sounds and plays really good. Love the sound of Hohner reeds.
I,too,am very fond of the Hohner reed sound when properly tuned. I think most of the criticism of Hohners relates to what I call Hohner's "almost" tuning. Properly tuned Hohner boxes have great charm.
In addition to my favorite Italian made Castagnaris, I also own Hohners, the older and funkier, the better. I jhave an HA 112 and an HA 113 both in A.
There is a Shine Mouton box here locally with Hohner slide parts and undefined reeds; it is one helluva box.
I think that there is entirely too much focus on the "high end" bits and pieces that go into boxes and not enough into the character and soul of them which cannot be learned.. you got it or you don't. Shine had it, Richard Richard had it, the old Saxon, Bohemian boxes had it ie Monarch and Sterling .
Tue best accordeon I ever played was a 2 row Italian box from the thirties. Plywood beech for the box, cheap spruce and rough maple for the reed blocks.. nothing fancy and what an incredible machine. Other than properly mitred joints, it was rather ordinary in its construction. Crude handmade reeds that sang.