Is it proper to ask questions about Accordion Dealers on the Accordionists Forum?

[Tom N]

Yeah, I'm getting very interested in purchasing a new piano accordion. The thing is, I don't want to drive 4 hours one way to do it. I tried emailing one dealer with a question over a week ago. No response. I tried another dealer and got a reply within an hour.

My point is, can I ask if other forum members have done done business with dealer - - - on this forum? You know, mention the dealer name. I don't want to create bad press for a company if I get a lot of thumbs down. On the other hand, it would help me in making a decision. They would ship it to me with a 7 day trial period.

Thanks!

 

[Ventura]

plan a nice little vacation in the vicinity of where the dealer is that you prefer.

unless you are just buying some generic beginner accordion,
i say go get it in person, because any really decent accordion is
unique, and if a vintage model, irreplaceable, and ABSOLUTELY
shipping accordions is a big risk, to me an unacceptable risk.

if you are buying a brand new box, and it ships with full insurance,
then at least it CAN be replaced since it is still being made (hopefully)

i don't care how you brace it or pack it, some are gonna die..

once an accordion is dropped from a great height or slid down
a long roller and slammed into a wall, if it is cracked it is dead..
if just the reeds fall off it will cost you a ton to get them back into place,
if the action is just collapsed you might get lucky, you might not..

just be patient and plan ahead.. make your trip to the dealer
part of another adventure so you can justify the travel..

 

[Tom N]

Point taken. Only, how do dealers get European accordions into their dealership in the US?

 

[Ventura]

new ones can be replaced, insurance can pay, but it still can be
a huge pain. There were several containers of PanCordion and Crucianelli
boxes on the Andrea Doria.. they are now at the bottom of the sea

 

[Tom]

How about “I’m thinking of purchasing an accordion from xyz. Please pm (private message) me with your thoughts if you have had experience with them. Thank you!”

PS. I have had 3 accordions shipped from Italy and have checked one accordion twice on a plane ride with no ill effects. Just lucky I guess. Don’t try this at home!

 

[Tom N]

Ah, thanks. I see what you mean. So I'll reveal the establishment.

Drum roll please: Liberty Bellows located in Philadelphia, PA.

Please PM me with your thoughts about this company. Thank you!

 

[96Bass]

I had an unpleasant experience with LB. The "new' accordion I received was damaged. My best guess is it was dropped as the keyboard case was cracked. LB claimed it to be shipping damage. The owner offered me a small amount of cash and wanted me to find someone locally to repair it. I returned the accordion for a full refund. The same accordion was a few weeks later for sale on their website listed as "new" with no mention the accordion had been damaged.

 

[OuijaBoard]

I have repeatedly purchased new from LB and used from Petosa with no problem, shipped in all instances. Well, an issue with one of the new ones but it had zero to do with the dealer or the shipping.

I should qualify that the instruments were small LMM and MM examples. I'd want to shop and transport in person for a large deluxe cassotto instrument like the blue-chip "wearable organs" favored by many of the folks here.

 

[Dingo40]

This could easily be your accordion!

baggage handlers throwing bags - Google Search

 

[Ffingers]

I must admit that I have been very fortunate with instruments which have been shipped to me with no damage, internally in Australia and from Ukraine and from Germany.
One from Ukraine which had obviosly been bounced about judging by the state of the external packaging was entirely intact due to way in which it had been packaged by the vendor.
Granted, it was a smaller, lighter weight squeezebox, so that may have had a bearing on its survival.

 

[LibraryJoe]

I've also had accordions shipped from Liberty Bellows, Music Magic, and Petosa without any issues.There are now just a few experienced retailers in the States, and these seem to have the shipping down to a science. There are always going to be shipping accidents, though all of these legitimate sellers will ship insured. There's a small music instrument dealer focusing on folk and world instruments about 30 miles from my house. Their web site strongly, and correctly, suggests an one person visit.

 

[debra]

Your problem is the "I don't want to drive 4 hours one way to do it."
When you buy an accordion you probably want to enjoy it for many years to come.
Driving 4 hours each way to choose and buy an accordion is a small investment of your time. Many people in the world do not even live within 4 hours drive of an accordion dealer. Count yourself lucky!
I have driven about 4 hours each way to buy an accordion, and if I wanted another one now I would drive close to 1000 miles to Castelfidardo to order one and months later again 1000 miles to collect it. It's a small effort compared to how much I would later use the accordion.
JerryPH here flew from Canada to Germany and back to buy his Gola. For the right accordion it is worth it.

 

[dak]

JerryPH here flew from Canada to Germany and back to buy his Gola. For the right accordion it is worth it.

If I followed the stories correctly, he did (with his parents, no less!) but got a Morino instead. His finally successful attempt was to the Netherlands. At least with an accordion, you can still fulfill your youth dreams. If I were to now buy the computer I dreamt of in my youth, it would be a rather lacklustre performer.

 

[debra]

If I followed the stories correctly, he did (with his parents, no less!) but got a Morino instead. His finally successful attempt was to the Netherlands. At least with an accordion, you can still fulfill your youth dreams. If I were to now buy the computer I dreamt of in my youth, it would be a rather lacklustre performer.

The trip with his parents was long ago and resulted in a Morino.
But last year he went to Germany (with a stopover in Amsterdam if I'm not mistaken, so maybe that's where the confusion came from?).
As for computers, they have improved enormously over the past decades. Accordions, sadly, not so much. The production process has been "streamlined" to a great extent (i.e. automated where useful and possible) but the resulting quality of the accordions has not really improved by much. Sometimes even the opposite; A Scandalli Super VI you can buy now is only a faint shadow of the accordion with the same name from the sixties. And the Gola from 1960 is still better than a modern Gola too. (The new ones do have the advantage of convertor and chin switches, but they just do not play like the old ones.)

 

[dak]

The trip with his parents was long ago and resulted in a Morino.
But last year he went to Germany (with a stopover in Amsterdam if I'm not mistaken, so maybe that's where the confusion came from?).

I stand corrected. Yes, it's Amsterdam I had in my head. Possibly because of pricing reasons: I remember that when my family was living in Aachen, flights to the U.S. were usually taken from Brussels, but Sabena has quit business a long time ago.

 

[Tom N]

I must admit that I have been very fortunate with instruments which have been shipped to me with no damage, internally in Australia and from Ukraine and from Germany.
One from Ukraine which had obviosly been bounced about judging by the state of the external packaging was entirely intact due to way in which it had been packaged by the vendor.
Granted, it was a smaller, lighter weight squeezebox, so that may have had a bearing on its survival.

Yes. It's a smaller 16 LB box, so I imagine with packing materials and all, the package would be 20lbs max. For reasons I don't want to bring into the discussion, having a go at a shipped accordion still seems worth a try.

 

[Caps]

The only accordion I ever had shipped was shattered. It was packed box inside a box, in a plastic bag, in form fitting styrofoam, bass keys were taped down and cloth wrapped around keyboard. Despite this the box looked like it had been kicked all the way here and the accordion was broken. Fortunately I opened the box in front of the FEDEX guy and was able to refuse shipment. Called the dealer and got a replacement very quickly and it arrived in perfect condition.

 

[Alan Polivka]

How about “I’m thinking of purchasing an accordion from xyz. Please pm (private message) me with your thoughts if you have had experience with them. Thank you!”

PS. I have had 3 accordions shipped from Italy and have checked one accordion twice on a plane ride with no ill effects. Just lucky I guess. Don’t try this at home!

Yes, you have indeed been lucky. I received MANY accordions that were damaged in shipping. Few people and "professional" packing companies know how to pack an accordion to survive shipping.

 

[Perogie]

I had a good experience ordering a 48 bass PA from Liberty Bellows recently.

Obligatory: fwiw ymmv

 

[dak]

My accordions all got through fine. The clincher had been my main accordion getting shipped from Switzerland to Germany. I wasn't at home when the postman rang, so I got a notifucation card for fetching it at the post office next day earliest. It wasn't there. Over the next weeks a lot of phone calls, Emails, letters were sent. Apparently a truckload full of packages was misdirected right back into Switzerland. There was no way of stopping its progress while it made it to the border, passed custom in reverse and went on back to the sender where it arrived maybe 10 days later. The sender (probably on my suggestion) told his delivery person that both he and I still wanted the parcel delivered. Big mistake.

The Swiss post service had delivered the package to the German one and received its return. As far as they were concerned, they had done their job. The package ended in the "unwanted packages" queue in Chiasso, waiting for its destruction. A bunch of calls and Emails later, the package was back on the way to its sender again (the only option available) who, after paying a hefty fine on top of the posting fee and custom fees (minus the actual tolls which were added back when the package crossed back over the border), was able to receive it about 3 weeks after sending it.

Better luck next try, fortunately. I think the sender was sick enough of the instrument and process that he didn't even try reclaiming the lost money (all-in-all probably about CHF 70 plus all the effort). It probably would have been a fingerpointing and responsibility shifting and "we have no process for this" feast of the several involved post services anyway, so probably that choice was smarter than it seemed at the time to me.