Any opinion on "not practising" on your favorite accordion to "save" it

[nico79]

I was selling a very small Paolo Soprani accordion this week.

And I had this old man on the phone telling me he was in search of an instrument in order to save his favorite Piermaria accordion which was "wonderful".

I had never thought about "saving" an instrument from being played to practise !

Since then I feel guilty when I practise my arpegios on my beloved Bugari Armando Artist Cassotto.

I am kidding of course, but I would like to know what you folks, think about that?

 

[Dingo40]

but I would like to know what you folks, think about that?

Carpe diem!
Use it or lose it!

 

[Rosie C]

It's an interesting question. I've just bought a 1930s Settimio Soprani, and of course I won't be "gigging" it, but it won't be locked away in a cupboard either. As the years go by the number of "made in Germany" Hohners will drop I suppose, but thousands were made, so I'm not too worried.

 

[debra]

The best way to "save" your favorite accordion is to play it a bit softer than you would in the fortissimo parts at a performance. Also place a soft fabric over your legs to "save" the bellows tape there, and if you don't already have it, install a bellows protector.
To get the most out of your playing it is best to practice on the instrument you perform with. Every accordion is different, for instance in the position of registers, in air consumption, in which register sounds best for which parts of the music, etc.
I have never felt guilty practicing on my Bugari Armando Artist Cassotto (back when that was my main instrument). Practicing is also the most enjoyable when you do it on your favorite instrument.

 

[nico79]

Paul, that is what I am thinking too.
Behind, there is the question, "is my favorite instrument eternal ?".... as long as we are not, maybe it is not a problem.
But I wonder if it the accordion get more old buy being often played, sometimes played, or never played in a dry case ?

 

[debra]

It's an interesting question. I've just bought a 1930s Settimio Soprani, and of course I won't be "gigging" it, but it won't be locked away in a cupboard either. As the years go by the number of "made in Germany" Hohners will drop I suppose, but thousands were made, so I'm not too worried.

Indeed, even discounting all the "made in Germany" Hohners that were not really made in Germany many truly German Hohner accordions remain, and most were built to last a very very long time. Sadly almost all of these were lower-end models up to and including Atlantic and Imperator. While not very nice accordions they are all great for busking/gigging.

 

[debra]

Paul, that is what I am thinking too.
Behind, there is the question, "is my favorite instrument eternal ?".... as long as we are not, maybe it is not a problem.
But I wonder if it the accordion get more old buy being often played, sometimes played, or never played in a dry case ?

The more an accordion is played, especially played loudly, the faster it goes out of tune and the faster the reeds will risk failure due to metal fatigue. (After all the reeds have to vibrate constantly and while steel is flexible it will not be able to vibrate forever without eventually breaking.
When an accordion is "sometimes" played it can last a very long time. When an accordion is never played and stored (in a dry case) the leathers will dry out and so the accordion may not fare as well as when it is "sometimes" played to keep everything "loosened up".
Amateurs who play their accordion a few times a week, and not for many hours on end, will have an instrument that can go for 5 years before they need maintenance and tuning, and most amateurs will only notice their accordion needs maintenance and tuning after 20 to 30 years. (I have some idea how come people are so tone-deaf they don't hear that their accordion goes out of tune: it goes so slowly that people adjust to what they hear as being "normal".)
Really, there is nothing you can do in terms of playing or not playing that will make an accordion last forever... but playing "sometimes" is the best (for the accordion, not for your playing skills).

 

[JerryPH]

Considering an obvious fact that most accordions have been pretty severely used and put away wet and STILL play well after 50 years of use, my thought is… why?

Besides the fact that an accordion rots away faster if in a damp attic somewhere instead of being used each day, I just find the concept of “saving” it at the least silly. If not for yourself, who are you saving it for, the next owner? The dumpster?

My cousin had this “mental glitch” of buying a new Cadillac every year, then driving it *maybe* 200 miles before getting another one. Drove me nuts. When I went to finally find my Corvette, I looked for one of these people, found a 2004 car that was 16 years old and had less mileage than a 1 year old car, and now it gets all the attention it deserves and gets driven 3 seasons of the year and enjoyed. Who benefitted from this? Not the previous owner, but now I do every time I turn the key on that car… and I drive it a lot, in fact every chance I get.

Every one of my “playing” accordions works and plays well, and even my tiny Titano at now near 60 years old looks and works like new. They last a long time (often outlasting their owners!), as long as you don’t drop them from the 2nd story balcony… why save them by not playing them? Perhaps the better question is WHO are you saving them for?

 

[Tom]

I can understand this feeling of not wanting to harm a valuable or sentimental instrument. Indeed I have a one of a kind hat that I don’t wear because I like it in pristine condition. But I don’t feel this way about any of my accordions.

I’m curious about why a leather would dry out in an unplayed accordion. Even in a case it seems the humidity would be roughly the same as the ambient room air over time. I can see the curling. Same as wax, seems it’s a factor of time rather than whether it’s played.

 

[Rosie C]

Sadly almost all of these [Hohners] were lower-end models up to and including Atlantic and Imperator. While not very nice accordions they are all great for busking/gigging.

Not very nice accordions?! No, I understand what you mean. I should probably never play a better accordion then I will remain blissfully content with my Hohners.

 

[dak]

Every one of my “playing” accordions works and plays well, and even my tiny Titano at now near 60 years old looks and works like new. They last a long time (often outlasting their owners!), as long as you don’t drop them from the 2nd story balcony… why save them by not playing them? Perhaps the better question is WHO are you saving them for?

The moths. I've been told it's actually carpet beatles (possibly depends on geographic location and other aggravating factors), but disassembling my good one a few days ago I found a dead moth in the keyboard tray. I hope I killed off all prospective offspring with vibration.

Mechanics do wear, but it takes a lot more time to wear down an accordion than a clarinet. Professionals with a constant battering of several hours of virtuoso play per day all on one instrument will be visiting a technician in not much more than a yearly pattern, also for touching up tuning. An amateur will have a hard time wearing a good instrument down.

 

[Ventura]

my overall experience is rooted in what my Italian Great Uncles and other
old timers in Pittsburgh taught me by example and hard knocks on the
backside occasionally

that we leave everything a little better than we found it

everything

the women too

that is not always possible, but we STRIVE to do this, and so
we maintain, fix up, even keep our tools clean and sharp always

but that doesn't mean preserve for the next person by putting it on a shelf

we use 'em up

the women too

because by using everything as best we can we are contributing the best way we can
to life to society

have many accordions.. always take the best one suited for the job.. that might
mean a $10,000 box in a nursing home on a gratis gig or a $300 Bell i got for cheap
and fixed up on a 4th of July float

preserve any accordion by not playing it ? preserve it for what, for whom ?
preserve it by playing the heck out of it and taking great care of it

 

[dak]

Indeed, even discounting all the "made in Germany" Hohners that were not really made in Germany many truly German Hohner accordions remain, and most were built to last a very very long time. Sadly almost all of these were lower-end models up to and including Atlantic and Imperator. While not very nice accordions they are all great for busking/gigging.

Don't knock the Imperator. I seem to remember that they were actually produced at a loss since Hohner had no place for yet another higher-priced sales line. And something like an Imperator VS (5 reeds, no tremolo) with 32'/16'/8'/4'/2⅔' reed sets in the treble (and, somewhat obsessive-compulsive, all 31 possible sounding combination registers) is a pretty unique piece of gear.

 

[debra]

Don't knock the Imperator. I seem to remember that they were actually produced at a loss since Hohner had no place for yet another higher-priced sales line. And something like an Imperator VS (5 reeds, no tremolo) with 32'/16'/8'/4'/2⅔' reed sets in the treble (and, somewhat obsessive-compulsive, all 27 possible sounding combination registers) is a pretty unique piece of gear.

I am not knocking the Imperator. It is the highest model that Hohner still made itself (not counting that they allegedly still make the Gola in Germany, although how much of the Gola they really make in Germany is a closely guarded secret).
Edit: i now see I wrote that "while not very nice accordions" about the whole lot they continued making in Germany (until that production moved to China). They are "not very nice" in the sense that they do not have really good/suitable materials. The lower models still have a good wooden case, but mechanics and reeds are mediocre. The Atlantic and its cassotto sibling Imperator share the metal housing with some lower models and that metal housing is a really really bad idea if you want nice sound. The Imperator is not too bad thanks to the cassotto, but still suffers from using that very cheap to produce metal housing...

 

[saundersbp]

I was selling a very small Paolo Soprani accordion this week.

And I had this old man on the phone telling me he was in search of an instrument in order to save his favorite Piermaria accordion which was "wonderful".

I had never thought about "saving" an instrument from being played to practise !

Since then I feel guilty when I practise my arpegios on my beloved Bugari Armando Artist Cassotto.

I am kidding of course, but I would like to know what you folks, think about that?

I think it's nuts.

 

[Vladimir M.]

Hi,

I had this old man on the phone telling me he was in search of an instrument in order to save his favorite Piermaria accordion which was "wonderful".

If such an opinion is supported by rational reasoning, explanation and justification, then it belongs to the forum of accordionists. If not, then it probably belongs to the competence of a psychotherapist.

My two cents:
If the amount of humidity in the environment is too high (room, halls, gazebos), I "save" my big concert freebass accordion. By higher humidity I mean more than 65% at a given temperature, while the condition is that I do not have the opportunity to air out the instrument as soon as possible after returning home. Or high humidity right at home. This is a frequent case of hot and humid summer days here in Central Europe. On the contrary, it is heated in the winter and the air inside the living spaces naturally becomes drier. So in this (in Europe) winter season, I play the big instrument a lot. Of course, even when playing a new accordion in a humid environment, corrosion can develop on the reeds very, very slowly over several years. My problem is that I don't have a new but used freebass-accordion (40 years old). So this my box is a “great old lady” who has been through a lot and must be treated with respect. I don't want to have economic damage and lose the great balanced sound of the reeds of good quality. Since I have more boxes, I will take a "stunt double" (i.e. smaller cheaper box) in the mentioned cases. I'm not actually saving my instrument, but my resources.

Best regards, Vladimir

 

[losthobos]

If I only owned one box then it wouldn't be a problem.... however..
My most revered machine with the sweetest tone is a Cassotto LMM Piermaria with purely white buttons...
And my daily choice for learning is a lightweight LM Ballone Burinni with black and white buttons...I tend to grab this box more often out of physical laziness and ease of deciphering new tunes rather than from a need to save to heavy queen for another day ...
As to which one comes out to gig really depends on the virtue of the venue
One day I'll sell both and buy a Sonola black and white key lightweight LM SS4 and be done with the complications and luxuries of choice...

 

[OuijaBoard]

Not very nice accordions?! No, I understand what you mean. I should probably never play a better accordion then I will remain blissfully content with my Hohners.

Just because the "West German Workhorses" were not premium grade is nothing to feel apologetic about. The WGWs are not only "very nice" for busking or practicing. As the folk/roots/traditional music world knows, plenty of stone-cold-virtuoso-level gigging professionals seek out and cherish examples in good condition for the vibrant and strong sound and inimitable tone personality of those quote-unquote "mediocre" reeds.


On another point: I would like to read no more sex-and-gender-based double-entendre-ing in accordion talk. The remarks tend to focus on a gender that is greatly in the minority here, and quite understandably, I must say. This thread is not the first instance. I would like to see the moderators put a stop to it.

 

[JerryPH]

The Imperator is not too bad thanks to the cassotto, but still suffers from using that very cheap to produce metal housing...

You knew I was going to post.

I own an imperator V, and though its not a Gola, and not even a Morino, it *is* a VERY interesting accordion with excellent sound and hand made reeds. It is super loud meaning one doesn't need to push or pull very loud to get average volume levels out of (thanks to the metal construction), it and the registration system. The fact it is made using the "metalbau" internals does as much good for the sound as it did saving Hohner some production money at the time. Also, the registration system is indeed evolutionary, there is NO accordion out there that has this level of versatility except the VS, but I never liked the 5th sounds from it much. The keyboard is excellent, near as fast as my Morino VI N and for a 5/5 accordion with Sordino and Cassotto, it is quite light.

My only critique is based on the fact that the previous owner was a lover of WD40 and used that to lubricate the register sliders. For me to get perfection out of it, takes removing a few rivets and being brave, or a little stupid and taking it all apart. I've settled on cleaning the system myself manually as much as possible without taking it apart, but at least its now to the 90% level for now. Later I'll have someone address that now minor issue.

Rock solid, amazing versatility, reliable and above average sound quality... I'd easily class it as a professional level instrument that is good in a concert hall or busking on a corner.

 

[Dingo40]

I own an imperator V, and though its not a Gola, and not even a Morino, it *is* a VERY interesting accordion with excellent sound and hand made reeds.

And....here it is!

Lovely!