A Dallape Organtone with Scandalli reeds?

[Shaun_of_the_red]

I am confused by a listing I found recently: it says it’s a Dallape with scandalli reeds. It’s a 120 bass, 5-row, b-griff, LMMH instrument with a stepped keyboard and is cosmetically gorgeous, with gold trim on both the treble and bass buttons, which are mushroom-head style instead of the more common whack-a-mole style (I have no idea what the actual term for this is, but I hope you know what I mean). The Dallape brand name is on the grill itself, instead of on the chassis, and I haven’t been able to find any other Dallape accordions that use this same grill. It does have five register switches on the bass side with the “Organtone” label going across them… all the Dallape Organtones I’ve seen are 140 bass, 6-row flat Balkan dugmetara-style accordions. It feels fake in so many ways, but holy whack-a-mole-y does it look pretty… I’ve asked for a video of someone playing it and they’ve said they’ll upload a video soon, but haven’t yet.

Has anyone seen anything like this out there before?

 

[debra]

I am confused by a listing I found recently: it says it’s a Dallape with scandalli reeds. It’s a 120 bass, 5-row, b-griff, LMMH instrument with a stepped keyboard and is cosmetically gorgeous, with gold trim on both the treble and bass buttons, which are mushroom-head style instead of the more common whack-a-mole style (I have no idea what the actual term for this is, but I hope you know what I mean). The Dallape brand name is on the grill itself, instead of on the chassis, and I haven’t been able to find any other Dallape accordions that use this same grill. It does have five register switches on the bass side with the “Organtone” label going across them… all the Dallape Organtones I’ve seen are 140 bass, 6-row flat Balkan dugmetara-style accordions. It feels fake in so many ways, but holy whack-a-mole-y does it look pretty… I’ve asked for a video of someone playing it and they’ve said they’ll upload a video soon, but haven’t yet.

Has anyone seen anything like this out there before?

Advertising can always be misleading. I have yet to see any accordion with Scandalli reeds, from any brand including Scandalli.
It has been a very long time since Italian accordion manufacturers made were also reed makers. (With Germans it was different, with Hohner and Weltmeister making their own reeds long ago.)

 

[Ben-jammin]

I have yet to see any accordion with Scandalli reeds, from any brand including Scandalli.

I have 2 1950s Scandalli reduced size LMM accordions where a few (I think it was one per reed bank) of the reeds have a scandalli name pressed on the aluminum frame of the reed. They are factory grade reeds and while ok, I would expect them to be inferior to what Dallape would have used. Not saying that only the student grade scandalli instruments had logos pressed into the reeds but those were the two I’ve personally seen. Paul likely has a larger sample size of Scandalli instruments he’s seen pulled apart.

 

[Ventura]

this workshop in the Ukraine may or may not be trustworthy,
may or may not do quality repair and re-furbishing,
may or may not re-label some instruments to make them
appear more valuable, may or may not exaggerate claims,
and may or may not give you your money back after you
pay for return shipping to Ukraine

i personally at a minimum require any company who does biziness
through their website to give complete information as to where they are
located, their address, their contact information etc.

are you seriously shopping for accordions halfway around the world ?
or even across the country ? i mean there are plenty of places to shop
on the West Coast and Pacific Northwest in particular within driving distance

Buy Dallape Organtone 5 Row Button Accordion, made in Italy, New Straps and Soft Case, 2379, Original Italian Acordian Bayan Instrument, Amazing Rich sound!

accordion-bayan.com

(their Reverb listing has the suspect "scandalli reeds" claim

 

[debra]

I have 2 1950s Scandalli reduced size LMM accordions where a few (I think it was one per reed bank) of the reeds have a scandalli name pressed on the aluminum frame of the reed. They are factory grade reeds and while ok, I would expect them to be inferior to what Dallape would have used. Not saying that only the student grade scandalli instruments had logos pressed into the reeds but those were the two I’ve personally seen. Paul likely has a larger sample size of Scandalli instruments he’s seen pulled apart.

Good to know that reeds with Scandalli stamped into them do exist.
I have seen a few Scandalli accordions on the inside, but they are all much more recent and higher-end instruments. I rarely work on old junkers...

 

[Ben-jammin]

For what it’s worth, the sellers account on Reverb does appear to have a decent feedback score. That however would be unlikely to make me comfortable with the risk of purchasing a high end instrument sight unseen at that cost, particularly with published specs that are a bit questionable.

 

[Shaun_of_the_red]

are you seriously shopping for accordions halfway around the world ?
or even across the country ? i mean there are plenty of places to shop
on the West Coast and Pacific Northwest in particular within driving distance

Not seriously, but casually, yes. I live in Seattle, WA and have been to both Petosa and Tempo Trend multiple times, but haven’t found any 4-reed cbas under $4000. There are some private sellers out of Tacoma and Portland, but I have felt the need to expand my search to find what I’m looking for. Do you have recommendations of other vendors of used accordions along the west coast?

 

[Shaun_of_the_red]

For what it’s worth, the sellers account on Reverb does appear to have a decent feedback score. That however would be unlikely to make me comfortable with the risk of purchasing a high end instrument sight unseen at that cost, particularly with published specs that are a bit questionable.

I’m hard pressed to believe no one on this forum has encountered Harmony Workshop before—they list everywhere.

 

[Shaun_of_the_red]

Thanks for your input, everyone. I am however slightly disappointed no one has chimed in with what that type of button is actually called… I am forced to continue calling them “whack-a-mole” buttons until corrected (the most common type of bass buttons, by far).

 

[Ben-jammin]

I’m hard pressed to believe no one on this forum has encountered Harmony Workshop before—they list everywhere.

I think most members here are generally wary about accordions purchased from Eastern Europe, especially with well known prestigious brands.

 

[Shaun_of_the_red]

I think most members here are generally wary about accordions purchased from Eastern Europe, especially with well known prestigious brands.

Yeah, I understand that. I have yet to find any posts on here though of people getting burned by Harmony. In fact I’ve read a couple posts on this forum of happy customers…

 

[Ben-jammin]

Yeah, I understand that. I have yet to find any posts on here though of people getting burned by Harmony. In fact I’ve read a couple posts on this forum of happy customers…

It’s worth asking if those satisfied customers are buying high end >3K instruments or cheaper beginner grade instruments? What I saw on Reverb feedback were mostly lower tier instruments. It does sound like they pack well.

Ultimately every sight unseen purchase has risk involved. Dallape is a brand well known to have counterfeit examples floating around that part of the world. It’s up to you how much risk you’re willing to take and what realistic recourse you have if there is an issue.

 

[JerryPH]

I’m hard pressed to believe no one on this forum has encountered Harmony Workshop before—they list everywhere.

I may be wrong, have been in the past and likely will again, but do believe we have heard of them a long time ago, and I believe it was not a positive shopping experience. It could have been a few years back. You may try to do a search here, but at one one point, I know we lost a lot of posts due to a hack.

The workshop and location of accordion-bayan.com, also known as Musical Workshop Harmony, is in Dnipro, Ukraine. I'd stay way if for no other reason for the war/sanctions/political unrest.

No matter, if you are shopping online, one hopes that you will take all necessary precautions to protect yourself.

 

[Ffingers]

I may be wrong, have been in the past and likely will again, but do believe we have heard of them a long time ago, and I believe it was not a positive shopping experience. It could have been a few years back. You may try to do a search here, but at one one point, I know we lost a lot of posts due to a hack.

The workshop and location of accordion-bayan.com, also known as Musical Workshop Harmony, is in Dnipro, Ukraine. I'd stay way if for no other reason for the war/sanctions/political unrest.

No matter, if you are shopping online, one hopes that you will take all necessary precautions to protect yourself.

Actually, Jerry, I bought a lovely Hohner 96 bass CBA from Harmony Music in Ukraine which was exactly as described.
It is a 1955 model which was well prepared, packed and sent via DHL.
12 months later it remains in good tune, air tight and mechanically perfect.



Living in a remote district as I do I had to take a bit of a risk and pay a high carriage fee, but it all worked out well.

 

[JerryPH]

Actually, Jerry, I bought a lovely Hohner 96 bass CBA from Harmony Music in Ukraine which was exactly as described.
It is a 1955 model which was well prepared, packed and sent via DHL.
12 months later it remains in good tune, air tight and mechanically perfect.

Living in a remote district as I do I had to take a bit of a risk and pay a high carriage fee, but it all worked out well.

Great news, and encouraging, but no, we've kinda known each other a good time now, it was definitely not you... its not a member thats posts regularly... maybe they will see this and add what that experience was like.

I tried the search... of course no luck.
Forget I posted... lol

 

[JerryPH]

Dallape is a brand well known to have counterfeit examples floating around that part of the world. It’s up to you how much risk you’re willing to take and what realistic recourse you have if there is an issue.

... and even their high-end models are well known for sounding incredible but have registers that are unreliable and break surprisingly easily and often.