Beware of New Weltmeisters

[Big Squeezy Accordions]

Today a client brought in a second hand, but hardly used 60 bass Weltmeister Rubin that retails for $1569:

Weltmeister Rubin 60 Bass Piano Accordion Blue

Weltmeister Rubin 60 Bass Piano Accordion Blue

www.jimlaabsmusicstore.com

Weltmeisters are not common in the US, and I've heretofore only worked on the old East German ones which, though not great, are still better quality than the new student Hohners being made in China. I was under the impression that newer Weltmeisters were better than the old commie-era ones. How wrong I was. I actually didn't realize it was possible to make bellows as awful as these. Instead of leather, the corners are made from a gauzy fabric coated with some sort of plastic paint, apparently designed to hold air just long enough for the accordion to be sold, and then to flake off after a little playing, leaving every single bellows corner sealed with what is essentially cheesecloth. If you move the bellows very fast, you can just about get one note to sound. Once again, this worthless piece of garbage is sold to unsuspecting victims for $1569. How they continue to get away with this is beyond me. Even the miserable Hohner Bravos and unreservedly terrible Hohnicas have leather bellows corners.

 

[debra]

I too have been appalled by what I saw in Weltmeisters.
This one (which has register switches that look more like Czech made than German) is particularly bad. It has plastic reed blocks on a foam seal that got sticky over the years. Removing the reed blocks required just enough force for the wax to let go of the reed plates and block. So that wax job had to be redone, and I noticed that the bond between wax and plastic is not nearly as strong as between wax and wood.
This accordion is of absolutely rubbish quality. I don't know when it was made, but I think is from after the iron curtain fell.

 

[hais1273]

That's such a shame to read these comments. My second instrument was a 26/48 Perle and I was really pleased with it. But, I was a novice at the time so I was just pleased to get the right notes at the right time and at the right speed. It was "cheap" and cheerful and I regretted selling it.
A friend of mine has played a Perle for many years and she likes it very much.
Several years later I bought a 30/60 Kristall, that was I less pleased with, it was OK, but lacked character and oomph. OK for a novice but not really up to vigorous playing. By this time I had a decent Italian instrument so the Weltmeister seemed a bit inadequate. As ever, I guess you get what you pay for.

 

[Dingo40]

BSA,
I know many of us have seen this clip before, but it's particularly relevant to this thread, as it demonstrates very clearly the behind the scenes factors likely to lead to trouble with this make:

 

[debra]

BSA,
I know many of us have seen this clip before, but it's particularly relevant to this thread, as it demonstrates very clearly the behind the scenes factors likely to lead to trouble with this make:

That's a nice video. As it happens I just had to do the same thing on the same type of mechanism only a week ago. The orange plastic wedges require you to pull very hard indeed. I was afraid they were going to break but they didn't. Then the orange "guides" in between the keys are indeed a pain to get positioned correctly...
The end result is that it all works, but this type of keyboard is a bit "stiff" (it requires much more force while playing than a better quality Italian accordion). Everything in such accordions is made as cheaply as possible...

 

[Ventura]

once upon a time the Accordion industry strove mightily to always find a way to improve the instrument in all parameters

refinements to existing practices, improved mechanism design, more precision, material perfection

old timers like me will have their own moments in time to point to and say this was when things changed for the worse... like when E. Soprani first snuck asian accordions into italy and re-branded them with made in Italy stickers

or when Pigini bought out Cemex/Excelsior, moved what they wanted (and could fit) to the main Pigini factory, then closed then sold the original factory down the hill in Castlefidardo (that Excelsior New York originally set up after WW2)
resulting in the last of the great factories that could make 100% of their professional accordions on pemises from raw materials and kilned wood passed into the pages of History and out of existence forever

so the Asian accordion industry put so much downward pressure on the euro industry that Weltmeister chose to follow their direction toward accordion shaped objects as a best practice path to survival ?

sad indeed

Ciao

Ventura

 

[Big Squeezy Accordions]

That's such a shame to read these comments. My second instrument was a 26/48 Perle and I was really pleased with it. But, I was a novice at the time so I was just pleased to get the right notes at the right time and at the right speed. It was "cheap" and cheerful and I regretted selling it.
A friend of mine has played a Perle for many years and she likes it very much.
Several years later I bought a 30/60 Kristall, that was I less pleased with, it was OK, but lacked character and oomph. OK for a novice but not really up to vigorous playing. By this time I had a decent Italian instrument so the Weltmeister seemed a bit inadequate. As ever, I guess you get what you pay for.

Except when, as in the case of this Weltmeister, you get a lot less than what you pay for.

 

[JeffJetton]

Well that's a shame. I've got a couple of post-reunification Welties myself, and they're just fine as far as I can tell. I like them better than my Hohner Bravo, in fact.

But the company did get sold and restructured a few years ago. There are now three manufacturing eras that an accordion with that brand name could fall under. I wonder if these el-cheapo bellows are something the "newer new" Weltmeister is doing?

 

[Mr Mark]

I recently have seen a fairly new Weltmeister 'Cassotto' model that does not actually contain a cassotto. Kind of got my hackles up.

 

[Valski]

Well that's a shame. I've got a couple of post-reunification Welties myself, and they're just fine as far as I can tell. I like them better than my Hohner Bravo, in fact.

But the company did get sold and restructured a few years ago. There are now three manufacturing eras that an accordion with that brand name could fall under. I wonder if these el-cheapo bellows are something the "newer new" Weltmeister is doing?

Yes very true, in 2015 I was traveling in Europe and realized that I would be passing by their factory in Klingenthal Germany. Their website showed a thriving company and I was interested in visiting them since an address and phone number was listed. When I arrived the factory building had long been abandoned and they were no where to be found.
In comical fashion we ended up getting police assistance in our quest which led us to learn that the company had ceased production. What put me off the brand entirely was their continued web presence and offers to purchase their products as a going concern. Yes, "quality German manufacturing " strikes again.

 

[JIM D.]

I feel I must explain my lack of comments in this post. As most know my business is of a Dealer & Repair shop of
musical instruments (mainly accordion). In the case of Weltmeister accordion models (including World master & Royal
standard) I will respond to all ??'s on the repair of these models. However I must refrain from any derogatory remarks
on this Brand in this Forum. My reasoning is in my business I practice what is sometimes called "Professional Courtesy".
You see we have a member here 'Kimric Smythe' who is the owner - operator of "Smythe's Accordion Center" in
Pinole, CA . Kimric is a Weltmeister Dealer. Now again I will answer any post on the repair of all Weltmeister models
but I feel I must refrain from derogatory comments here on this Brand.

Smythe's Accordion Center - Petaluma, CA

Specialties: We sell and service accordions and concertinas ,we also stock melodicas. We also stock accessories like shoulder straps and cases. We have the largest collection of accordion sheet music on the west coast. Established in 1997. We started out of the wreakage of Meni-Ketti Music...

www.yelp.com

 

[Valski]

I don’t believe that anything derogatory was said about Weltmeister however many manufacturers of products make business decisions where they try to reduce costs by purchasing lower priced components or actually outsourcing the production entirely. When a company tries to hide these decisions they risk losing the confidence of the purchasing public. A lot of manufacturers in electronics and automotive have made similar decisions to their detriment and have lost the loyalty of former customers.

They are not the only ones guilty of these maneuvers and I know because I once purchased what supposed to be an Excelsior which turned out to have been an instrument made entirely in China. My accordion was purchased from a reputable dealer who was unaware or perhaps hid this information. So this situation is not unique.

 

[Chrisrayner]

I like them better than my Hohner Bravo, in fact.

I had a Hohner Bravo once. Not any more. Life’s too short to play inferior instruments.

 

[Big Squeezy Accordions]

I feel I must explain my lack of comments in this post. As most know my business is of a Dealer & Repair shop of
musical instruments (mainly accordion). In the case of Weltmeister accordion models (including World master & Royal
standard) I will respond to all ??'s on the repair of these models. However I must refrain from any derogatory remarks
on this Brand in this Forum. My reasoning is in my business I practice what is sometimes called "Professional Courtesy".
You see we have a member here 'Kimric Smythe' who is the owner - operator of "Smythe's Accordion Center" in
Pinole, CA . Kimric is a Weltmeister Dealer. Now again I will answer any post on the repair of all Weltmeister models
but I feel I must refrain from derogatory comments here on this Brand.

Smythe's Accordion Center - Petaluma, CA

Specialties: We sell and service accordions and concertinas ,we also stock melodicas. We also stock accessories like shoulder straps and cases. We have the largest collection of accordion sheet music on the west coast. Established in 1997. We started out of the wreakage of Meni-Ketti Music...

www.yelp.com

I am also an accordion technician, however, I see no discourtesy to Kimric or anyone else in warning people against a brand that is using the German reputation for quality to sell an unplayable instrument for a considerable price. If this were some $300 Chinese obvious piece of garbage I would chalk it up to getting what you paid for and wouldn't bother to comment. Hopefully, they have fixed this design flaw by now, though one has to wonder about a company that would try to get away with such shoddiness.

 

[Ventura]

Mr. Smyth is a credit to the accordion community and has been for decades

he has been a dealer for many brands over the ages including Saltarelle
and Zupan if i remember correctly, as well as being an expert regarding
Wheatstone and the like

because of the slow nature of product movement in this century,
many dealers have "New, old stock" items that may indeed be older
than your accordion student ( but not older than me or Dingo )

however, i personally guarantee that mr. Smyth would not sell
you anything that doesn't pass the "mercantability" test

quality is also in the eye (and fingers) of the beholder... quite
frankly many accordions since the turn of the century seem
to be a joke to me, though many people find them not only acceptable,
but often wax poetic after 3 days of ownership

though silence often follows as the months pass, and then you
see that amazing "object" suddenly appear on E-Bay

and don't EVEN get me started on the seemingly fanatic desire
to have the reeds in some obscure student accordion declared
"hand made" by the community

or the boasting over "double tone chambers"

which is like stating your wife is "double breasted"

ciao

Ventura

 

[Big Squeezy Accordions]

I like them better than my Hohner Bravo, in fact.

I had a Hohner Bravo once. Not any more. Life’s too short to play inferior instruments.

As it happens, a client brought me a brand new Hohner Bravo the other day that was unplayable do to a sticking bass mechanism. There was nothing particularly wrong with it, it was just made so poorly that it stuck. I lubricated the hell out of it with Teflon, and that seemed to help. It's sad that these companies are torching the reputations of these brands and of the German accordion industry generally in pursuit of a quick buck.

 

[debra]

I repair and tune accordions for friends. I have no commercial ties with any company in the accordion industry. I have also no interest in promoting or bad-mouthing any company. So I am free to speak out. The accordion industry in general has been in trouble for a few decades now, because the enormous amount of work that goes into building an accordion, even a small student one, makes it impossible to keep accordions affordable. Several companies have taken steps to deliver affordable student or starter accordions and the trade-off is quality. Hohner sells great high-end accordions (which they mostly have built for them in Italy) and moved the production of low-end models to China. They haven't really changed the design from decades ago, but the Chinese materials are simply inferior and the workforce lacks expertise, skills and dedication, resulting in inferior instruments. From what I have seen in Weltmeister the workmanship is fine, but the cheap materials they use make for an inferior result. A Weltmeister Supita is still a fine accordion, but for the low amount of money the entry-level models must be sold for you simply cannot expect quality. The E.Soprani Circus line is another example of how the Italian reputation gets damaged by importing Chinese-made accordions and trying to fix the most obvious flaws before selling them on. There are still quite a few Italian companies that produce good quality student accordions, but alas they are quite expensive, so sales are down from what they were before the "Chinese invasion".
Because of all of this I always recommend to people looking for an inexpensive but still good accordion to look for older (20+ years) accordions from reputable brands. The German-made Hohner Verdi II for instance is a very good 3 voice (LMM) 96 bass accordion. The Verdi III is a good 120 bass alternative. The original Atlantic IV is also still a fine accordion, after replacing the disintegrating foam pallets. The "de luxe" model with better reeds is an even better choice. I just finished tuning one of these and it plays just like new. I know Hohner also cut corners, using a metal body (cheaper to manufacture than all that wood) and cheap wood half-size reed blocks... but the sound is fine and the accordions are virtually indestructible. I realize that we cannot only keep using old lower-end accordions because then the production of new ones will disappear... but this is the problem the accordion industry faces: only the very serious accordion players are still willing to pay the many thousands (dollar, pound, euro) that the production of a good quality accordion really costs. When a smaller student accordion costs around 2000 to build and people want an accordion for 500 or less... something has to give...

 

[Big Squeezy Accordions]

I repair and tune accordions for friends. I have no commercial ties with any company in the accordion industry. I have also no interest in promoting or bad-mouthing any company. So I am free to speak out. The accordion industry in general has been in trouble for a few decades now, because the enormous amount of work that goes into building an accordion, even a small student one, makes it impossible to keep accordions affordable. Several companies have taken steps to deliver affordable student or starter accordions and the trade-off is quality. Hohner sells great high-end accordions (which they mostly have built for them in Italy) and moved the production of low-end models to China. They haven't really changed the design from decades ago, but the Chinese materials are simply inferior and the workforce lacks expertise, skills and dedication, resulting in inferior instruments. From what I have seen in Weltmeister the workmanship is fine, but the cheap materials they use make for an inferior result. A Weltmeister Supita is still a fine accordion, but for the low amount of money the entry-level models must be sold for you simply cannot expect quality. The E.Soprani Circus line is another example of how the Italian reputation gets damaged by importing Chinese-made accordions and trying to fix the most obvious flaws before selling them on. There are still quite a few Italian companies that produce good quality student accordions, but alas they are quite expensive, so sales are down from what they were before the "Chinese invasion".
Because of all of this I always recommend to people looking for an inexpensive but still good accordion to look for older (20+ years) accordions from reputable brands. The German-made Hohner Verdi II for instance is a very good 3 voice (LMM) 96 bass accordion. The Verdi III is a good 120 bass alternative. The original Atlantic IV is also still a fine accordion, after replacing the disintegrating foam pallets. The "de luxe" model with better reeds is an even better choice. I just finished tuning one of these and it plays just like new. I know Hohner also cut corners, using a metal body (cheaper to manufacture than all that wood) and cheap wood half-size reed blocks... but the sound is fine and the accordions are virtually indestructible. I realize that we cannot only keep using old lower-end accordions because then the production of new ones will disappear... but this is the problem the accordion industry faces: only the very serious accordion players are still willing to pay the many thousands (dollar, pound, euro) that the production of a good quality accordion really costs. When a smaller student accordion costs around 2000 to build and people want an accordion for 500 or less... something has to give...

Agreed, but the accordion I am referring to in this post costs nearly $1600 for a tiny 2 reed 30 key 60 bass. For that price one should expect an instrument which will at the very least be playable for a few years.

 

[JeffJetton]

I like them better than my Hohner Bravo, in fact.

I had a Hohner Bravo once. Not any more. Life’s too short to play inferior instruments.

Well heck, with the exception of the lucky soul who owns the world's greatest accordion, every accordion is inferior to some other accordion.

 

[JeffJetton]

I love that this forum is a rich resource for insight and advice on the quality of various makes and models, and on which things are worth the money and which things aren't.

But I'll be honest that some of what I'm reading here kinda come off to me like flat-out snobbery. In my younger, snobbier days I probably would've merrily brand-bashed along. But I don't know... I've gotten to the point in my life where I just don't have any use for it anymore.

After all, there's probably some kid out there who could only afford (or could only find for purchase, or just didn't know better, etc...) some accordion that we might consider to it be a "worthless piece of garbage", of "absolutely rubbish quality", or a time-wasting "inferior instrument" (all quotes from this thread).

And you know what? Maybe they're pretty proud of owning that accordion and are having fun learning to play it. The last thing they need is for us to crap all over it and make them feel like a stupid loser for buying it.