One-of-a-kind Instrument Coming Up for Sale

[Jim2010]

A custom CBA (C griff) accordion commissioned by Julien Labro is going to be sold by him. The instrument was made by Bonifassi, a small luthier in the Nice region in France. From what I have been told, the goal was to produce a lighter weight, versatile instrument whose sound could be like a cross between a Russian Bayan and a Bandoneon. Price is going to be in the $6-7K range.
RH
2 voices (1 flute, 1 bassoon) 3 chin registers
Range: 5 rows 92 buttons/57 tones (C3-G7)
Reeds are from Harmonika and they are mounted on single plate reeds made out of brass.
LH
2 voices
Range: 2 regular bass rows + 4 free bass rows 120 buttons / 53 tones (E1-G#5)

That is all the information I have. To get more information, contact Julien at JulienLabro dot com.

Attached are a few photographs.

 

[debra]

Looks like it's going to be a rather limited instrument: no registers, fixed LM setup... If this setup (with a special sound) is what you want then it may be worth the money. It's not a very versatile accordion, but may be very good at the one thing it does.

 

[Jim2010]

no registers, fixed LM setup

Three chin registers. L, M, and LM.

 

[debra]

Three chin registers. L, M, and LM.

Right, I missed that. It's a bit odd to see no separate holes for L and M in the soundboard. That makes it a bit more challenging to implement a register mechanism that seals the non-playing notes off perfectly. But I guess it will work.

 

[petch]

Seems reasonably priced as far as accordions go, something I'd have been very interested in when I was looking for a free bass accordion