Bayan question from absolute novice.

[Doorbum]

Hello all. Grateful to be here amongst you asking for some insight. I’m a musician who writes and records my own music completely on my own, at home. I don’t know much about accordions, but I know a good tone when I hear it and am interested in getting a Bayan for the bass tones that it makes for use in my songs. I’ve been looking on the Ukrainian Harmony site at some Bayans and I was wondering if anyone could offer some insight as to what the pros and cons of having the bass reeds on more or less plates might make. I don’t have a lot of money to throw around but see a few options there I could afford and the main difference in the ones I’m interested in has been the number of reed plates the bass reeds are given, but I’m out of my depth on whether more or less are a better option. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Wishing you all a pleasant day and thank you.

 

[Ffingers]

Come in Debra...

 

[Dingo40]

DB,
Welcome !
My guess would be, if you're living in the USA, don't know much about accordions (let alone bayans), don't intend to take a course in bayan maintenance, and don't have much money to throw around, go for a low tuned harmonica instead like:

And here:

hökan ehn playing low f harmonica youtube - Google Search

 

[debra]

The best bass sound definitely comes from the larger bayans that have the whole lowest octave (plus one note) on a single reed plate, one on each side of the reed block. Having the reeds on a large plate helps but what contributes most to the sound of the bayan bass reeds is the material (steel) used for the reeds, and their size. The largest reeds (the whole lowest octave) are larger than any reeds made by Italian reed makers.
A really good bayan player in the USA is Sergey Teleshev. Have a look at his YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@stelesh
He not only has a very good bayan (an older Jupiter) but also knows how to make the bass sound even stronger and deeper when recording the sound.

 

[Ventura]

look here (a lot closer to Carolina than Ukraine)

button accordion- bayan - musical instruments - by owner - sale

Button Accordion Tula 202-bayan made in Russia 650$ 18 ave Coney Island Ave Brooklyn tel: Stanley accordion lessons уроки игры на баяне

newyork.craigslist.org

i have mentioned this fella before, his ad is mostly to attract anyone
interested in Bayan, which is his specialty.. he has a bunch that he has
gone over for sale and is friendly and gives lessons

he used to come down to a club meeting once a year or so, but
no-one here plays bayan and we havn't seen him since b4 Covid

so you might give him a call or even do a vacation trip to New York
this summer searching for Bayans.. Still a few accordion shops in Philadelphia too

i have a venerable old Mechta i could spare, but it only has normal Bass reeds,
where the more elaborate models out of TULA had those extended overhung
reedblocks that hold larger reedplates and reeds.. i think they have the sound you want..
(past threads and discussions here explain and describe them if you search)

anyhow i am even closer if you take a road trip.. Wash DC area

 

[Ikesaccordions]

Personally having seen accordions from eBay Ukraine, I would strongly caution you. I even tried to fix a bayan somebody got from shopgoodwill.com that I suspect came from Ukraine because the bass buttons did not match the mechanism. I have even rebuilt a bayan convertor bass, so itwasn't just me. A PA from Ukraine had a broken bass strap adjustment wheel, and a fake leather bass strap. It had been tuned but the rust on the reeds not cleaned off.

 

[kimric]

I get these from a contact I have in Ukraine, but he just goes through them and gives me a idea of the condition. They always need work, and the issue with a lot of them is that there did not seem to be a large number of skilled accordion specialists outside of the bigger cities, so they often need a lot of reed gapping and tuning and all the wax and most valves replaced.
I think that this might be that most of the repair places I found on a factory flyer that was in the case of one instrument seemed to be general purpose home appliance service centers.
The ones I sell are overhauled and come with a warranty. I usually only have one or two in stock.