Scandalli Air Jr C

[NickC]

Does anyone have any experience with this model? It checks off a lot of boxes for me....4 reeds, 37/96, but still relatively compact. I have played a few new Scandalli accordions and have always been pleased with the feel and tone. There is an Air Jr C that  is local to me and I would like to check it out  in the new future. I know that playing it is going to tell me a lot, but I had a few questions. From what Ive read and experienced, Scandalli has a solid reputation. I would imagine that this is still the case? Also, I was thinking about TAM reeds. Im sure they will build anything I ask, but they dont list that as an option. I dont know if this was an intentional design choice or are they just trying to meet a better price point? And finally, is there any other accordion that I should consider that is about the same size with the same specs?


Here is a link:
https://scandalli.com/scandalli-air-junior-c/

 

[Geoff de Limousin]

I've never tried one but am also interested so it would be nice if you'd give us a report after trying your local Air Junior C.. please.

 

[debra]

A button accordion with 96 bass buttons seldom has only 37 treble notes. This is quite limiting. It negates the advantage of CBA over PA. Typically a 96 bass CBA has either 41 or 46 treble notes.

 

[NickC]

Geoff, normally, I would have already auditioned it. The store is only a 30 minute drive. I hope to try it out before it sells, but I haven't been out of the house much the past 2 months.

DeBra, that is something that I will consider. My current CBA is a 2 reed 37 treble, 60 bass instrument that is extremely lightweight. I am really pleased with it. The only thing that I miss on it is a bassoon reed. Every once in a while, I wish it had a MMM tone, but that isn't a deal breaker. I have been looking at a lot of instruments lately, and I am not set on the Scandalli yet. But, I figured that since it was local, I could try it out. I guess it wouldn't be that much of a jump in size to expand my search to 41 note instruments.

 

[Geoff de Limousin]

Whilst I agree with Paul that 37 notes is somewhat limiting, the thought of having LMMH in a small package is appealing. My small CBA is a Fisitalia compact 49 and whilst most of the time I imagine I do not use all of its 49 note range the little Scandalli would be quite a compromise just to gain a Piccolo voice.

NickC , having been confined since very early in March, the thought of driving 30 minutes just to try an accordion, even now that we are 'allowed', is somewhat shocking... better to stay safe.

 

[NickC]

I agree Geoff. Better to stay inside except for the necessities. The upside is that the more I play my little 2 reed, the more I am thinking that I don't need another instrument.

 

[OuijaBoard]

Just catching up with this. I have played a new Scandalli Air Junior PA 37/96 bass, and was pleasantly surprised at how responsive and easy to play it was. It weighed about 18 1/2 pounds but felt lighter as the weight was distributed well. These are very good-quality Italian-made accordions with high-quality durall reeds for a fair price, I thought. And it sounded great.

RE 37 treble notes on a CBA: I'm going to be the counter-narrative here and say if you play mostly world instrumental folk genres rather than serious classical or jazz, 37 treble notes is more than you'll ever need. It's fabulous to get that many notes in a CBA when a PA of the same size would give you several fewer. Quite frankly I can fly to the moon and back on 30 treble--Irish, klezmer, baltic, tango, quebecois, paris musette, the list goes on. I like 60 bass the best, as I don't need the diminished chord, but 72 is also fine and dandy. The bliss of a compact accordion with that many notes cannot be overstated. You get to feel like you are moving and interacting with a musical instrument, rather than grappling with a refrigerator.

 

[debra]

...
RE 37 treble notes on a CBA: I'm going to be the counter-narrative here and say if you play mostly world instrumental folk genres rather than serious classical or jazz, 37 treble notes is more than you'll ever need. ...

Quite correct. It very much depends on what music you play whether 37 keys is enough or not. I play a lot in ensembles of accordions. Most arrangers assume that everyone has an LMMH accordion with the standard range of 41 keys (F to A) and having just 37 is limiting in that case.
Most will write specific instructions on what to do when these 41 keys are not enough (like extra register change, or moving a note to a different voice, just like they will have instructions on how to solve the "no time to change a register" issue that may occur.
Jazz players often play using just the L register and have an accordion going up to high C, which isn't all that high then. So often anything you have above that C, which in M is not nearly the top on a 37 key keyboard is already enough.
Just on a personal note: when I play a "normal" accordion (I mostly play bass accordion) I use a bayan with 64 notes, and I use each and every one of them.

 

[NickC]

I still haven't had a chance to try it out, but I have been thinking about it. I think that 37 notes will be sufficient for the music that I play. I typically favor smaller instruments. There are a few other instruments at the store that I would love to try side by side, but I'm not sure that will happen for a while.

 

[NickC]

I ended up having the opportunity to trade one of my piano accordions for a Bugari Juniorfisa CBA. It has 3 handfinished reeds in the treble and 4 in the bass, with 41/96 buttons. I am very happy with the instrument. The buttons are full sized, versus the smaller buttons on my 2 reed, and it makes a huge difference in the playability. I think I am satisfied with my gear at the moment and don't have further plans to try out the Scandalli.