please help with accordion makes.

[Bluey]

When I was a child I started on a hohner 120 bass then managed to get a lovely Paolo soprani 96 bass which I loved very very much (this was in the 80's)
Unfortunately I had to sell it to pay bills. I took up the accordion again in the last few years and got myself a cute 48 bass hohner student it is a lovely little accordion with a nice tone but I would really like one like my old paolo soprani.
I don't have a huge budget, I am down in West Cornwall so can't just pop into an accordion shop to try different ones as there aren't any down here.

What makes would be similar to my old paolo soprani so I know what to look for please?
There seem to be so many different makes out there now.
Thanks in advance
Kate

 

[Scuromondo]

Without knowing your budget, it’s not possible to say. But this older Paolo just recently showed up at Liberty Bellows in the US:

 

[Ffingers]

Accordions South West has an YouTube channel where he ( Basil ) demonstrates old accordions that he has refurbished.

 

[Bluey]

Accordions South West has an YouTube channel where he ( Basil ) demonstrates old accordions that he has refurbished.

Thankyou I will take a look.

 

[Gonk]

There are more restorers in your area than you might think! Not quite a "pop in" but within reason for buying an instrument (1.5-3 hour drives).

I would visit:

Roger Thomas near Andover

Accordion repair and sales » Jolly Roger Accordions

Accordion and melodeon repair, tuning and sales. Andover, Hampshire, near to Berkshire, Wiltshire, Oxford, Bucks, Surrey, London, West Sussex and Dorset.

www.jollyrogeraccordions.co.uk

or

Leslie Thompson in Totnes.

Accordion Repairs | Accordions South West | England

Accordions South West repair and restore piano accordions. Valve replacement and tuning, accordions bought and sold in Totnes Devon

www.squeezydoesit.com

 

[dunlustin]

Re: Accordions South West
Definitely worth exploring

 

[Ben-jammin]

while there certainly is a kind of hierarchy between accordion brands (of which not everyone will agree) the truth is that most of the Italian builders can make fantastic high end instruments as well as more modest but still competent mid range instruments. Without knowing the specs of your previous Paolo it wouldn’t be prudent to just say look for a specific brand. Fortunately or unfortunately you have to sort of look at each used accordion as a unique item and review it based on condition, feature set, and tuning.

Never take condition for granted. Many people selling accordions are not knowledgeable or pretend to be and think that if it makes noise it “works”. I almost bought an instrument from a reputable dealer that described it as good condition, thankfully I waited to watch the video and although it sounded really good he needed to move the bellows way too much and knew I wouldn’t be happy. When I am checking out an accordion I like to see how little air I can use to get a reliable sound out of the instruments. Poor quality and poor condition instruments need more air and don’t allow much dynamic control.

Start identifying what feature set you want. What reed configuration and type fits your budget and needs. What keyboard size and how many basses. Maybe you have pictures of your old Paolo and can determine what reed configuration it had.

Tuning is something I think gets overlooked a lot and sometimes is hard to get the seller to provide. It is very expensive to change tuning and may be more than the value of a used instrument. The following video shows the range of musette tunings.

 

[Ventura]

dear Bluey

actually, your childhood Paolo was probably very special

consider that those little red Paolo's were
SO good and SO reliable and SO well made
that the company built a fabulous unequalled reputation
which persists to this day
and which has been abused for 5 decades now by unscrupulous
accordion sellers who would rent the rights to their name
(they went completely out of business LONG ago)
and glue nameplates creating new so called "paolo soprani" accordions
that were primarily built to be just good enough to snooker people
out of way too much money because of the fabulous reputation

to this day, many people have no clue Paolo Soprani did not
even exist for a good while, yet think the "Factory" still magically exists
and accordions are made there that have the Fairy Dust built in !

(the physical factory does exist.. after being a derelict and abandoned
building for several decades, it is now an Old Folks home/Pensioner housing
at the top of the main street in Castlefi, just in front of the Old City "Castle")

absolutely the only way for you to find another "real" one is to keep your
eyes open, and set up searches you can re-use on ebay and Craigslist etc.
within driving distance of you and anytime you spot one go squeeze it

and by contrast. do not ever buy a Paolo sight unseen unless you, at minimum,
KNOW BY SIGHT
the model and it's features, because there are so many pretend Paolo's
out there that honestly are mostly nothing special though some may
actually be nice accordions kind of sort of it depends

but that is not what you want

you want a REAL paolo like the one you remember

so don't be discouraged, but be patient and diligent
and you may find one again someday

good luck !

 

[Dingo40]

But this older Paolo just recently showed up at Liberty Bellows in the US:

However, it is tuned to A442, and that could be a problem (depending upon whom you play with )