New here. Akita-Japan, middle of nowhere

[PeterFromAkita]

Hi. I wanted to introduce myself. I have been secretly reading this forum for a while and thought it would be good to come out in the open
Im Dutch from the south of The Netherlands, but living in the north of Japan for a few years now. My wife and I run a European style bakery and bistro in the middle of nowhere while trying to raise our two boys (2 and 4). You are all more then welcome to visit

I am originally a bass player. Mostly contrabass in classical orchestras and in some bands. But when we moved to Japan I had a hard time keep playing bass.
My wife is a professional violin and opera singer and I always wanted to play more together with her. I felt that a free reed instrument would be the easiest and fasted way to get me started. Boy, was I wrong. But in the mean time I fell in love with the sound and timbre of the instruments and now I am hooked.
I started about a year ago with bandoneon (144 einheits) as I believe this is a perfect replacement for cello, viola or bassoon. I like tango, but dont really play it. For me, the bandoneon is a very strong instrument in the classical repertoire. I am now a proud member of the local string quartet and we even had our first concert.
But for lieder, opera and folk I miss the depth, the umpf so to say. So I now try to pick up accordion and I love it. But it also got me very confused. There is just so much variation (piano/button; C vs B. Free vs Stradella. 1 2 3, 4 reeds. Dry musette etc etc) and too much to choose. I found myself a small 60 bass cba of Piermaria.

I am very grateful to this forum; there is no accordion specialist for about 600 km here in North Japan. So this forum is a valuable resource for me to learn how to tune and take care of my instruments myself and connect to fellow accordion players.
Back in The Netherlands I used to run a small recording studio mainly geared towards classical, country and folk. Humbly, I am quite knowledgeable in recording techniques so if I could help out in any way, please dont hesitate to shout out. Or, off topic, anybody is planning to visit Japan and need some hints and tips off the beaten track
Kanpai! Peter.

 

[Tom]

Welcome Peter! Interesting story, thanks. I think accordion and violin is a great combination and wish you well in all your endeavors.

 

[JerryPH]

Welcome!

 

[Dingo40]

Hi. I wanted to introduce myself

Hi Peter, and welcome!

 

[Dingo40]

There is just so much variation (piano/button; C vs B. Free vs Stradella. 1 2 3, 4 reeds. Dry musette etc etc) and too much to choose.

Sure is!
See here:

Types of Accordion and Their Distinctive Features

From diatonic to chromatic and everything in between, our guide covers all the types of accordions and their unique features.

accordionchords.com

And that's without considering manufacturer, analogue/electronic/midi, new or used, low, middle or high end, era, country of origin, condition...

 

[dunlustin]

Welcome!
Yet another strand to the where, why, what and how of accordions and accordion playing

 

[niels]

Welcome PeterFromAkita. That is an adventurous path you and your family are on. Wishing you all the best

Couple of weeks ago I saw on YouTube that accordion is suddenly on the rise in Japan due to some social media miracle. A pop star had an accordion in one of her video clips and then committed herself to selling 500 or so accordeons in two weeks. That was a wild story. Not sure how relevant it really was.

 

[PeterFromAkita]

Welcome PeterFromAkita. That is an adventurous path you and your family are on. Wishing you all the best

Couple of weeks ago I saw on YouTube that accordion is suddenly on the rise in Japan due to some social media miracle. A pop star had an accordion in one of her video clips and then committed herself to selling 500 or so accordeons in two weeks. That was a wild story. Not sure how relevant it really was.

That completely passed me by! I will check it out, thanks.
Compared to Europe, I feel the accordion is not very popular here. And especially the CBA. Would be great if I can be part of the accordion revival here in Japan.

 

[PeterFromAkita]

Sure is!
See here:

Types of Accordion and Their Distinctive Features

From diatonic to chromatic and everything in between, our guide covers all the types of accordions and their unique features.

accordionchords.com

And that's without considering manufacturer, analogue/electronic/midi, new or used, low, middle or high end, era, country of origin, condition...

And here I was only looking at the chrimatic ones. Look at that variety in the diatonic section. I need to sit down for a bit.....

 

[tcabot]

Welcome!
Sounds like you might want to get a freebass converter accordion. But which system?

For diatonics, avoid the linked page - it's misleading and wildly inaccurate and appears to have been compiled by AI from a bunch of sources, including the old Alfred Mirek's books, which have a very questionable squeezebox classification to begin with. Just as a wild example off the top of my head, in one of his publications he considered a "Soprani" piano accordion and a "Scandalli" piano accordion to be different evolution branches. Not sure why - they are both PAs, just different brands.

 

[PeterFromAkita]

Welcome!
Sounds like you might want to get a freebass converter accordion. But which system?

For diatonics, avoid the linked page - it's misleading and wildly inaccurate and appears to have been compiled by AI from a bunch of sources, including the old Alfred Mirek's books, which have a very questionable squeezebox classification to begin with. Just as a wild example off the top of my head, in one of his publications he considered a "Soprani" piano accordion and a "Scandalli" piano accordion to be different evolution branches. Not sure why - they are both PAs, just different brands.

Yeah, free bass.... But for now I am in love with stradella. It is quite ingenious. I was very surprised about that. I did however check out some free bass only systems, but most seem te be made for children. Perhaps in future somebody will make a cba with a 144 einheits bandoneon left hand side. Now then we're talking.

 

[niels]

That completely passed me by! I will check it out, thanks.

I found that info on this very forum
https://www.accordionists.info/threads/koharu.13488/

 

[PeterFromAkita]

Welcome PeterFromAkita. That is an adventurous path you and your family are on. Wishing you all the best

Couple of weeks ago I saw on YouTube that accordion is suddenly on the rise in Japan due to some social media miracle. A pop star had an accordion in one of her video clips and then committed herself to selling 500 or so accordeons in two weeks. That was a wild story. Not sure how relevant it really was.

My wife and I watched with great amusement the video re-posted by Niels. Koharu is quite the personality. After some searching in Japanese it turns out it was a one-off action and she is not selling them anymore. But what is more surprising to me is that they are all CBA's. In Japan the CBA is rare. Even Tombo, as far as I know the only commercial accordion maker in Japan, sells only piano accordions.

 

[petch]

Welcome Peter

A few (err, 5 now... how time flies!) years ago I went to Japan for a few weeks and visited many towns and cities between Tokyo and Hiroshima. I'd like to go back one day, and maybe travel north instead. If I do, I'll definitely try stop by your bakery!

 

[Ventura]

Tombo, as far as I know the only

hi Peter

i have only ever seen re-badged Farfisa and Scandalli models
with the TOMBO name on them which occasionally worked
their way back to the West.. have no idea what they might
have done locally in Japan on their own of if they were just
importers like the accordion schools of old here in the USA

if you ever get to their retail outlet, maybe take a few pics for us..

ciao

 

[Ventura]

Tombo, as far as I know the only

hi Peter

i have only ever seen re-badged Farfisa and Scandalli models
with the TOMBO name on them which occasionally worked
their way back to the West.. have no idea what they might
have done locally in Japan on their own of if they were just
importers like the accordion schools of old here in the USA

if you ever get to their retail outlet, maybe take a few pics for us..

ciao

 

[Dingo40]

Even Tombo, as far as I know the only commercial accordion maker in Japan, sells only piano accordions.

There is or was Yamaha.
See here:

Thread 'Yamaha Accordion'

Aug 24, 2024

Never knew Yamaha made accordions! I came across this on eBay but thought someone had stuck a Yamaha sticker on some old Chinese accordion. However I searched for the model number and turned up a few pictures of the same accordion on other websites.
Japanese market only maybe...

• knobby
• Replies: 11
• Forum: Accordion Makes & Models

• 

 

[losthobos]

Hi Peter.....no need to fret ..... Piermaria made lovely boxes so you're 60 bass may well be all you'll need....enjoy.... don't waste time worrying what your missing and spend that valuable time playing instead ...
I've sold a couple of C system accordions to a guy in Japan who seems to deal in them.....
If you've Facebook add me (TerryLosthobos) and I'll hook you up with him from there...
And if I'm ever passing I'd gladly pop by and buy a bun or two.....
Best wishes Terry

 

[PeterFromAkita]

Hi Peter.....no need to fret ..... Piermaria made lovely boxes so you're 60 bass may well be all you'll need....enjoy.... don't waste time worrying what your missing and spend that valuable time playing instead ...
I've sold a couple of C system accordions to a guy in Japan who seems to deal in them.....
If you've Facebook add me (TerryLosthobos) and I'll hook you up with him from there...
And if I'm ever passing I'd gladly pop by and buy a bun or two.....
Best wishes Terry

Will do. Thanks!