Hmm. Unlikely, since the bellows are a perfect fit and the rest of the accordion is in such good shape that they wouldn't have had time to wear out. My guess is that it's something Weltmeister unwisely tried a few years ago as a cost cutting measure, and then wisely discarded. I wish Mr. Meltke had clarified this in his reply. If I could edit my original post I would change it to Beware Some New-ish Weltmeisters, but I'm not able edit it.
Please re-read my original post. I say it is second hand in the very first sentence. This is a recent model that is, from the outside anyway, indistinguishable from the one currently being sold by Jim Laabs, Liberty Bellows, and others. I'm glad you're happy with yours and I agree that it's nice to have gotten such a prompt response from the CEO. As for misrepresenting what he wrote, I posted the conversation verbatim so people could judge for themselves. Manifestly, Weltmeister made this accordion with the defective bellows at some point. Since I trust the CEO that they are not currently making them like that, it is reasonable to conclude that "they are no longer making bellows this way". I'm not interested in slandering Weltmeister or anyone else. My only interest in writing this post was to hopefully prevent others from being scammed as my client was.
By now I have worked on quite a few accordions from quite a few brands. Before I comment on something I find inside I do my best to "guess" whether it is an original feature or construction or something that was done later by some (shoddy) repairer. Accordions often go through multiple repairers' hands before ending up with someone who comments here. I cannot comment on the poor bellows shown by the OP. My experience has been with low end Weltmeister accordions and I can only comment on that I see inside them, like the soft plastic reed blocks that are not really suitable for a standard accordion construction with reedplates held on using wax. And I find the keyboard construction very poor as well. And these are with certainty factory original elements. But I know that for instance a Weltmeister Supita is a completely different class of instrument, with much more attention to quality and detail (and a very different price tag). Not al Weltmeisters are created equal. But the same holds true for Italian accordions: a low end accordion always suffers from design and manufacturing compromises in trying to keep the price down. Sometimes a manufacturer goes too far (the Pigini Peter Pan plastic case is a good example as the shoulder strap brackets may break off) and sometimes an "innovation" backfires, like decades ago when new pallets were introduced which resulted in the "Klebemorino" problem (affecting all Italian-made accordions, not just the Morino) of sticky pallets.
Probably worse than buying a car, at least a new one. You often cannot try the new accordion you think you want because it still has to be built... and every accordion (even of the same model) is slightly different because of the use of wood and tiny differences between reeds, voicing, leathers and tuning... Unless you are an accordion repairer there are so many details that may need minor adjustment... which is why for instance when buying a Pigini Nova the buyer spends a few days at the factory trying it out and getting small adjustments done. (You pay more than enough to get this service!)Old carpenter's saying: "Measure twice, cut once!"?
Seems as if buying an accordion is about as tricky as buying a car!
I think you may be referring to my post which you quoted in your previous post. I’m sorry if you read it that way, that was not my intention. There is a common observation that if you buy cheap you end up buying twice. By common consent value is not greatest at the cheapest end of the market. I ended up exchanging the Bravo, which I bought used but not very old, for an old Italian instrument of a well-known brand. The cost difference was trivial. The sound and ease of playing was massive. I have no problem with others enjoying the use of things which I find useless, so much the better, but I do try to help others avoid my mistakes. Sorry if you find this offensive. That is not my purpose.
that must have been at the absolute low-point of their business then
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@Big Squeezy Accordions I'm about to buy a new Weltmeister. Is this something I can see from the outside or do you need to open it up and look at the bellows from the inside?
You should be able to tell from the outside, though it'll be far more obvious from the inside. If it's brand new you should be okay, as I understand they tried this a few years ago and then went back to making them with leather.
