I probably bought a bad accordion.. is it worth fixing?

[davyc158]

Hi all!

So I impulse bought an accordion on eBay because it was so cheap, only $200. Of course, I did not expect to get the best accordion in the world, but still something usable and playable. I dont need an accordion worth 4 figures, I cant play any instrument right now and I just want to play a simple melody every now and then. Im not looking to get really serious.

While Im waiting for the accordion to arrive (it could be anytime next week) I decided to do some research on it. This is the accordion.

Now I found out that I actually bought a DDR-made 1970 Stella, and according to this site, if it plays it will quickly develop problems and if it doesnt play, it will obviously need reparation first. It kinda broke my heart reading that and now Im a bit sad about that impulse purchase.

So my question is: I am willing to spend a maximum of $500 to repair it (theres a guy here who tunes the accordion for $175, applies new wax for $125 and changes the valves for $160), but I would like to know if its worth spending my money on those repairs. Will this accordion play very nice when all of these repairs are done? Or will it still perform badly? Anyone have any experience with similar accordions like this one?

Thanks for the help!

 

[debra]

Don't panic just yet! Wait for the accordion to arrive. It is not because it is an older DDR-made accordion that it is bad. It may actually still work reasonably well and require only minor work. It is impossible to tell from the outside of the accordion whether the internals are mostly fine or are totally shot. Fingers crossed!

 

[davyc158]

Thanks very much for the reply. Yeah I really hope I got lucky! On the bright side though, the seller has 850 ratings on eBay and only 5 of those were bad, the rest were good. Thats why I bought the accordion in an instant. But then after reading those bad things about these accordions on the site I linked previously, I started to panic.

Oh yes, I totally forgot about that. There are some pictures from the inside as well that the seller had made and included. I dont have any idea of what Im seeing in there, but perhaps the knowledgeable people on here may be able to tell me more about the current state of the accordion that I bought.

Here is a link to the full album.

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[Tiposx]

The photos look promising. Its the inside - the reeds that need to be good though. You will have to cross fingers!

 

[Stephen Hawkins]

Hi Davy,

This accordion may give you years of good service ...... and I hope it does.

You mention the fact that the accordion will be subjected to only light use, which should extend its life significantly. Weltmeister's are pretty decent accordions, but these things are really a matter of personal opinion.

Please keep us informed about your progress, and give us your own appraisal of the instrument when you have put it through its paces.

Kind Regards,

Stephen.

 

[davyc158]

Thanks very much for the replies! I feel a bit more at ease now.

The accordion has travelled 1075 miles now and has to travel another 275 miles so I hope it'll be here soon, I am so stoked!

I'll post an update when I've tested the accordion.

Thanks again!

Kind regards,
Davy

 

[colinm]

Don,t worry, your fears are not unusual, once you join the world of accordions getting ripped off and having pleasant surprises is all part of the search for the best accordion
Cm


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[debra]

The album of pictures is promising. The inside shows that the leather valves on the outside of the reed blocks are warped and may need replacement. There is a possibility that the valves on the inside of the reed blocks are still ok. That happens often. So you may not be looking at a large repair bill but something needs to be done before you can really play the accordion as with the warped valves it will sound very much out of tune (but may not need tuning once the valves are fixed).

 

[Tiposx]

I just noticed the last photo in the album. As stated above it will need new valves and possibly some re_ waxing. It's the sort of thing I have bought to restore. I am sure it will be a good one after the fettling. It will probably feel like a dog at first though.
I usually find that complete re_tuning is not necessary for my needs, just the odd tweak after the revalve/wax.
Don't be disheartened!

 

[davyc158]

Hi all.

Thanks very much for the replies. So it is now obvious to me that the accordion will be unusable without some repairs at first. The accordion hasn't arrived yet but that's what I'm understanding from the replies. Repairing it would be no problem since I was prepared to spend up to $500 to repair it, but after reading some more at various websites, I also found out that older accordions are also more prone to break so even after I repair it, other problems could still arise later.

I decided to accept my loss (the seller had a no return policy) and realized to have a good instrument one needs to be willing to spend good money as well. So I bit the bullet and bought a new Hohner Bravo II 48. Even though I didn't want to spend 4 figures at first, I realize 3 figure accordions will either be old used ones or new but cheap unknown brands. I also get 3 years of warranty so that's cool too! I hope to get the Hohner sometime next week!

I won't be getting rid of the Stella. Even if it requires (some?) repairs, I love instruments too much to just trash it (I once saw a video of a guy destroying a cheap $50 guitar that he thought sounded horrible and the horrible imagery will haunt me till the day I die) I will one day still get it restored to its former glory, but for now I'll be enjoying the new Hohner as soon as it arrives.

Thanks for all the help!

 

[debra]

It looks like our comments and your reading of websites has given you an overly pessimistic view on the state of older accordions. An old accordion like the Weltmeister Stella can be brought back to life so such an extent that you are unlikely to have problems later. Given the price of new instruments it's no wonder that the used accordion market is pretty active.
But... an older accordion, purchase + repairs, will also run towards a 4 figure total cost. You can find a good old used one that (with repair) will not run into 4 figures but it will be close (at least around $800 or $900).
I hope the Hohner Bravo II 48 will give you a lot of pleasure over the coming years!

 

[davyc158]

Hi!

The accordion arrived today. I had bad expectations, but holy cow, this accordion looks nowhere near 48 years old. The bellows don't make a hissing noise when I try to close them without pressing any keys so there are no leaks.

The sound is great and the tuning is still perfect. In the clarinet register, there is 1 treble key that doesn't make a sound when I expand the bellows, but it does when closing the bellows. And one of the counter bass buttons sometimes sticks, and sometimes it's fine and doesn't stick. All other bass buttons spring right back when I lift my finger, so that is great as well.

The flaws that I found appear to me as very minor issues. Of course, I don't know anything about accordion repair so for all I know, it could still be hard to repair these things? But my gut feeling says these things can't be that hard and expensive to get them fixed, right?

I had an entirely different expectation, and I have been positively surprised. Seeing as the accordion is already very usable right now, I am going to cancel the new Hohner. That one sticky bass button can be temporarily avoided by transposing the songs that I play so that I don't need it, and I don't use the clarinet register so that one treble key that doesn't work is no problem either. These minor problems aren't worth spending $1400 for to buy a new Hohner. I'm sure if I get it fixed it will be much cheaper than that.

I am very happy!

 

[StargazerTony]

Glad you are happy with your purchase. I do suggest that you get that non playing key and sticking button looked at. The button could be just a simple misalignment of the button. Not sure about the key.

One point though. The registers are not mutually exclusive. That clarinet reed block will play anytime you choose a register that contains it, and that is 4 out of the 5 registers you have. Notice the dots on the register switches. They show which reed blocks are selected. The only register that doesn't have the clarinet reed is the top one, bassoon

 

[Stephen Hawkins]

Hi Davy,

I am very pleased for you. It sounds as though you have landed on your feet with this instrument.

Perhaps a bit of tickling up is all that is required, after which the Weltmeister should give you good service.

Please keep us informed of progress.

Kind Regards,

Stephen.

 

[donn]

This story is full of life lessons about the Internet. You can disassemble the accordion, if you're interested - there are usually pins around the edges of the two side boxes that fix them to the bellows, and you can draw those out with a pair of pliers. I think I see 4 on the front, on each side. Then you can look at the reeds, and I suppose you may see something different about the "valve" strip that corresponds to the note that's missing (note that half the notes are reversed and have their valves on the inside, so you have to remove the reed block to see everything.)

Access to the bass mechanism may vary more, from one accordion to another, I don't know, but it should be possible without extraordinary skills or tools.

It's great to read about an accordion that was shipped without major damage. How was it packed?

 

[colinm]

Yes, its a dead easy fix for a repairman, probably an hours charge, a week of fiddling if you do it yourself and have no idea.


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