Cheap Chinese accordion reeds

[debra]

Could it be that maestro Yang's Parrott is made in Italy and simply rebranded ?

I doubt that. Sadly the video has lousy sound so it's hard to tell what it really sounds like. The Chinese may be able to produce some really good accordions, but they seem to lack the ability to make good sound recordings... and that takes away a lot of the enjoyment of watching them.

 

[debra]

OMG, he literally scares me. I have NEVER EVER EVER EVER seen anyone as technically amazing on the left hand as this man. He's amazing... lol

"Flight of the bumble bees at double speed? SURE no prob! what hand do you want me to play it on, left or right?" LOL

For me the very best piano-accordion player at this time is still Alexander Pouluev. He makes even the simplest song into a virtuoso masterpiece that is enjoyable. Take Ochi Chiornie (Dark Eyes) for instance... He makes distances on the piano accordion seem just as easy as on a button accordion. His performance also illustrates you do not need the most expensive accordion to perform. He uses AKKO and Bugari accordions (but not the most expensive Bugari accordions) to do it. Not sure whether a Chinese accordion would work for him though, and certainly not Chinese reeds.

 

[JerryPH]

For me the very best piano-accordion player at this time is still Alexander Pouluev. ....He uses AKKO and Bugari accordions (but not the most expensive Bugari accordions) to do it.

At this level (obviously watching the top of the heap here!), we can split hairs and say that in my opinion Pouluev's right hand technique is better than Ariondo's but Ariondo's left hand is better than Pouloev's left.

I wonder what would happen if we could find someone with the best attributes of each? That would have to be the #1 world's best piano accordionist, period, and no room for discussion... LOL

I did find it odd that he removed the Bugari badge off his accordion, though. Just me being overly curious but it would be cool to know if that was just some loose glue or a political statement?

 

[Walker]

For me the very best piano-accordion player at this time is still Alexander Pouluev.

Great choice!!! He is wonderful.

But is he really better than Mr. Ratoi...



Still, I'd be happy, all the same, listening to someone playing Dark Lochnagar with full musette engaged...

 

[debra]

Great choice!!! He is wonderful.

But is he really better than Mr. Ratoi...

...

It's hard to really compare players. It's not just a matter of virtuosity, but also a matter of musical style and interpretation, expression, and also the sound of the instruments they play...

 

[debra]

...

I did find it odd that he removed the Bugari badge off his accordion, though. Just me being overly curious but it would be cool to know if that was just some loose glue or a political statement?

If you look closely you see that some black tape was put over the badge. I have seen this in quite a few videos. There are venues that do not allow the badges to be visible, or broadcast channels that do not allow it (because it could be considered as advertising). Now, of course, everyone who knows anything about accordions almost always recognizes the brand without the need to see the logo.

 

[Walker]

It's hard to really compare players. It's not just a matter of virtuosity, but also a matter of musical style and interpretation, expression, and also the sound of the instruments they play...

Indeed. There comes a point when it's no longer simply a matter of technique, because both accordionists are incredible. I guess at that point it's more a matter of personal preference in terms of style and interpretation by the performer.

However, there is a point in the video of Radu Ratoi, between 7.05sec to 7.22 sec where Radu plays a 2 octave stretch sequence (A4 to A6) with connecting notes in between, before trilling for a further 10 seconds (whilst playing a melody with his thumb). The brilliant 'feathered' touch on the keyboard is scary, perhaps redefining the traditional parameters of piano accordion technique. Poeluev uses the same technique in his Dark Eyes performance though I don't think he quite spans the full double octave in his piece.

It makes me wonder why Radu doesn't just make life easier on himself and play this stuff on a CBA. But I guess he's simply a PA man to the core. Plus, I kind of think that the Spanish Fantasy would be pretty horrendous to play on a CBA too.

Would it be a nightmare on CBA with Chinese reeds? Lol.

 

[boxplayer4000]

Back in the 1980s I spent some time with a professional Chinese accordionist who was visiting Australia. His Chinese made accordion was of a high quality and he assured me good players in China had access to quality Chinese made instruments and that the inferior mass produced accordions were for the Chinese masses or for export.

That concept is confirmed by an Australian friend of mine who is a buyer of small tools for a big wholesale/retail company. He assures me that the Chinese are more than capable of producing quality product and that the manufacture of poor quality is very much driven by wholesalers/retailers in the west who want to maximise profits.

"You get what you pay for" rings very true.

McSqueeze: Your entry makes a lot of sense to me.

 

[jollyrogeraccordions]

Coming back to the OP's original post. Replacing the reeds is a lot of work. You may have done it before, in which case you'll be thinking whether it is worth all the effort. If not, you'll get a little way into the job and start wondering what you have started. If the instrument you have from Thomann is new, personally I’d not be changing the reeds. Contemporary Chinese made accordions aren’t all that bad. On the other hand I had an old Scarlatti 26 key and it was truly terrible. I did lots of work to try and voice it as best I could, but the reeds were just too awful. It was great as a band backup instrument because I really didn’t care a fig what happened to it (it was bullet proof and was impervious to being dropped etc). It had a strong warbling tremolo and an approximate tuning. I thought long and hard about putting in some Hohner reeds from a Student, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that to the reeds, iyswim, because the chassis was always going to be an awful, heavy Chinese made thing. Plus I’d have to mod the blocks etc. which you may have to do with your Scandalli reeds. I'm not saying ‘Don’t do it'….but if it was me I’d find somewhere else to use the Scandalli reeds and keep the Chinese accordion in original condition.

 

[JerryPH]

Changing reeds is indeed daunting. Add the 80-100 hours to get that all perfectly tuned... even if you charge yourself $10/hour (who even works for those amounts in most of North America or Europe?), it falls well above the value of most Chinese accordions, so it damned well better be a passion project and done for love of it, because it is surely not worth the money invested!

 

[Pipemajor]

Tom,
You would have to like Nick Ariondo here for sure,

I think a wasp may have crawled down the neck of his shirt just before he started playing

 

[zqd9853572002]

I doubt that. Sadly the video has lousy sound so it's hard to tell what it really sounds like. The Chinese may be able to produce some really good accordions, but they seem to lack the ability to make good sound recordings... and that takes away a lot of the enjoyment of watching them.

because this Yi's video was recorded at least 30 years ago, if not 40 years ago....