Parrot 120 LMM

[nathen]

Well, after switching over to the diatonic, it looks like the Piano Accordion Gods are not going to let me get away from the PA that easily. I got a call from my daughter telling me that her landlord was giving her a 120 bass Chinese PA to give to me because of the work I had done on her apartment. Which he was saved from doing and was grateful. (See pic below of identical Parrot sold by Allodi in London. The keys on mine are pure white, not the darker shade in the pic).

Her landlord was given it by a Chinese lady whose house he looked after when she was out of town. The lady, who was a piano teacher, was moving and didn't want to take it with her. When I went to pick it up I was really curious to see what it would turn out to be and in what condition it was in. Imagine my surprise to find a red 120 Parrot 3/4 voice in perfect condition, which had obviously been stored in ideal conditions. There wasn't a mark on the case, which was no lightweight at 11 lbs. When I opened it up only one valve leather needed straightening. I took the padded leather straps off and replaced them with a spare set of Neotech straps.
It was an LMM, 19 inch keyboard, 24 lbs with an MM Tremolo. It has a lovely sound and is a joy to play, and as a bonus there isn't one note out of tune. Plus, It allows me to play tunes not appropriate on my diatonic.

Surfing the internet I saw that Emilio at Allodi Accordions had sold an identical model for £380, so I emailed him to see if he knew the date it was produced. He replied that Parrot had produced the same model for a few years but he thought this one was made in the 80's. I had the same model, a black LMMH in the mid 70's, so that sounded about right.

This must be my month for miracles, my son-in-law had just given me his 1year old laptop (he changes them every year). Amazing how small they are now.

Yep, life is good.

Nathen

 

[dunlustin]

How nice to see a positive story about a Chineses accordion (apart from being an enjoyable tale in itself).
I do wonder, given the popularity of accordions in China and their promotion by The Party in the days of Mao, why they would have been happy with instruments that are universally dismissed as pretty ropey?
Surely they couldn't have been importing instruments in the days of the Cultural Revolution?

 

[JIM D.]

The accordion in this pic is the Chinese attempt to clone the Scandalli BaBa line of accordions. Very few were exported in the 60s to 70s and these BaBa clones were of much better fit and finish than the China imports we find today. GOOD FIND!!! I have worked on two of these in the past and on both found Italian made reeds factory installed. See here -- http://weshop.ph/itm/scandalli--baba--brevetto--accordion-181487054868.html

 

[nathen]

Thanks for the comments guys, especially the Scandalli picture Jim, I really appreciate your extensive encyclopedic knowledge of accordions. A couple of things I should mention here regarding these Parrot models. The one I got in the mid 70's was from a friend who had a music store, and he specialised in Chinese musical instruments. He went to China and imported a whole shipment of instruments. I got my Parrot from him, plus two cellos for me and my daughter, which by the way were great sounding instruments.

The one I have now was bought by the lady on one of her frequent trips to China. So these accordions finding themselves in Canada were the exception. The new 120 four voice I had in the seventies was a powerful instrument. This three voice box does indeed have a lovely Italian sound to it. The bellows are tight and it can be played quietly with minimum pressure, and the action is quite quick. I feel very lucky to have it to play. Definitely a gift from the gods!

Nathen

 

[barkis]

Wooh, you're lucky!

What's the deal with those 6 silvery things on the grill that opens? Why not a normal grill?

 

[JIM D.]

Those "silvery things" or some times called "Portholes" are really an early design to mute or amplify the accordion treble reeds. Closed the reeds made a more mellow sound and when opened the mellow would decrease but the volume of sound increased. It's an old design and in the 40's was replaced by under the grill internal slide type mutes on most Pro model accordions such as Excelsior and Sano. The proper name for this feature is called a "Sordina" These Sordina effects on the sound of acoustic accordions was and is very popular and included on even the new digital accordion's electronically.

 

[QuaverRest]

How lovely to see a fellow happy parrot player!
I recently purchased this fellow, and although I am a complete novice, I am more than happy with the sound
Im have no info on the exact model, or when it was made, but it looks quite old and seems to have robustly stood the test of time, and it is very much in tune

left>

 

[arthurson]

you are lucky man, you have got a great quality parrot accordion, which commonly believed made before 1985. you can check the production date from the back red metal stick if it shows mus 1308 nos 692428 , it means model is 1308, and production date is 1969.

like others said before, it is a copycat from scandalli. these models stopped producing when parrot faced scandalli patent law case.

there is a small story from china, local people on 60/70/80 usually cant not buy these high quality accordion , people said it use germany reeds inside, one 120 parrot equal to 4 years salary from local worker, and they need to have a special ticket to buy it. most of these accordions are sent to government department or professional players only.

if the parrot accordion has chinese words on the front panel (天津), it commonly believed they are the most high quality accordion from the factory, as most of them are export to other countries, only few of chinese players can own them , and it now become a high collectable item from china.

 

[kimric]

I have on of those in the back waiting for me to get around to rebuilding it. The reed leathers seem to be the main problem with mine.

 

[nathen]

Thanks Arthurson for your info on my Parrot 120. The production plate on the back says

Mus.1311B No.83 2
Made in Tientsin

From your comments It would look like it was made in 83. Also, additional clues to materials used; Reed blocks have 1432 stamped on them, and the middle reed block has the reed plates stamped with the letter T. Any ideas on this? Thanks for your interest in this accordion everyone. For some reason I like playing this Parrot more than any of the other 120's I have owned.

In the mid seventies I also had a Parrot 48 bass, as well as a Parrot 120, which I loved.

Just for fun I'm including a recent pic (untouched). I've seen many members in their videos, so maybe this will put a face to my posts!

Nathen

 

[nathen]

Hey QuaverRest, have a look at arthurson, and Jim.D's comments on older Parrot accordions.

Nathen