Scandalli Air V

[Rodney]

Happy New Year to anyone that reads this thread.

Having viewed lots of Lucy Riddett’s YouTube videos, it’s clear that she loves her Scandalli Air 1 LMMM accordion. I think it sounds beautiful, even through YouTube. However, she also felt the need for a piccolo register, so she added a Scandalli Air Junior LMMH accordion. I think paying the rough equivalent of 2 times £4,500-£5,000 is a substantial endorsement for the Scandalli Air brand!

Approaching 79, I can’t help wondering about embracing the cost of £10,000 -£12,000 to get a new Scandalli Air V, which offers LMMMH through 5 treble reed sets and 5 bass reed sets. It has a Cassotto, which I know nothing about and the reeds quality is said to be ‘H’ which hopefully means high! At only 12.5kg it weighs in at less than half of my 1 year old Roland FR-8x. N.B. At present my interest level is a little more than idle curiosity, but we probably all know what that might mean!

I’d be grateful for any enlightenment that members are willing to provide and respectfully ask that opinions offered are endorsed by the wonderful objective reasoning and information provision that I’ve observed so often in the forums. Thank you.

P.S. I haven’t found it in the Scandalli catalogue, but do they, or might they, make a CBA version of the Air V?,

 

[Walker]

Scandalli makes fantastic-sounding accordions, but I'm not convinced the AIR V is the best pick. Sure, they're versatile but 5-voice accordions are bulky, heavy, and out of style. I'd gently point out that Scandalli Air V isn't half the weight of a Roland FR8X. In fact, it's a bit heavier—unless your Roland has keys made of lead, it's definitely not twice the weight of the AIR V.

I think Scandalli is a great choice, but check the Scandalli Air III—it's lighter, more compact, and manageable with its 37 keys,120 buttons, and 4 treble voices.

H means handmade.

 

[Jibberin]

Bulk and weight are certainly a factor. If I recall correctly it only has 4 reeds available at any one time meaning it’s in LMMM or LMMH configuration. Therefore changing for instance from LMMH to MMM would require pushing the open/closed coupler at either end of the coupler bank and then selecting the MMM coupler making coupler changes between modes a bit tricky.

 

[Basil]

Happy New Year to anyone that reads this thread.

Having viewed lots of Lucy Riddett’s YouTube videos, it’s clear that she loves her Scandalli Air 1 LMMM accordion. I think it sounds beautiful, even through YouTube. However, she also felt the need for a piccolo register, so she added a Scandalli Air Junior LMMH accordion. I think paying the rough equivalent of 2 times £4,500-£5,000 is a substantial endorsement for the Scandalli Air brand!

Approaching 79, I can’t help wondering about embracing the cost of £10,000 -£12,000 to get a new Scandalli Air V, which offers LMMMH through 5 treble reed sets and 5 bass reed sets. It has a Cassotto, which I know nothing about and the reeds quality is said to be ‘H’ which hopefully means high! At only 12.5kg it weighs in at less than half of my 1 year old Roland FR-8x. N.B. At present my interest level is a little more than idle curiosity, but we probably all know what that might mean!

I’d be grateful for any enlightenment that members are willing to provide and respectfully ask that opinions offered are endorsed by the wonderful objective reasoning and information provision that I’ve observed so often in the forums. Thank you.

P.S. I haven’t found it in the Scandalli catalogue, but do they, or might they, make a CBA version of the Air V?,

I repair and deal in accordions and a common story is "it has got a bit too heavy for me now" so I'd advise going lighter. And on the weight you quote 12.5 kg is pretty heavy and it wouldn't be half of a Roland's weight. Cassotto is a way of mechanically filtering the sound to make a distinctive mellow sound, very nice, but does add a little extra weight. You can hear me play a cassotto accordion here

 

[Dingo40]

12.5 kg is pretty heavy

Sure is, and I have one of 12 kg to prove it.
Not too bad once it's sitting on your lap, but getting it there from the top of the wardrobe where it lives and back again (with the case and all) is quite a tussle!
Put 12 litres of water in a jerry can and tote it about for an hour to get the feel of it.
BTW, same accordion?

 

[Rodney]

Scandalli makes fantastic-sounding accordions, but I'm not convinced the AIR V is the best pick. Sure, they're versatile but 5-voice accordions are bulky, heavy, and out of style. I'd gently point out that Scandalli Air V isn't half the weight of a Roland FR8X. In fact, it's a bit heavier—unless your Roland has keys made of lead, it's definitely not twice the weight of the AIR V.

I think Scandalli is a great choice, but check the Scandalli Air III—it's lighter, more compact, and manageable with its 37 keys,120 buttons, and 4 treble voices.

H means handmade.

Thanks for your response Walker. You are quite right about the weight of the Fr-8x, I looked it up in the specs of the user manual to find it’s 12.1 kg, I was thinking in pounds rather than kilograms. Now that it’s clear, my idle curiosity seems to have run away!

 

[Basil]

Sure is, and I have one of 12 kg to prove it.
Not too bad once it's sitting on your lap, but getting it there from the top of the wardrobe where it lives and back again (with the case and all) is quite a tussle!
Put 12 litres of water in a jerry can and tote it about for an hour to get the feel of it.
BTW, same accordion?

Yes same accordion but with different sound selected

 

[Rodney]

Bulk and weight are certainly a factor. If I recall correctly it only has 4 reeds available at any one time meaning it’s in LMMM or LMMH configuration. Therefore changing for instance from LMMH to MMM would require pushing the open/closed coupler at either end of the coupler bank and then selecting the MMM coupler making coupler changes between modes a bit tricky.

Thanks for your response Jibberin. My reply to Walker shows that I was wrong about the weight because I was thinking in pounds rather than kilograms. Bulk is also a factor. From what I saw, there’s a register switch at each end to switch between LMMM and LMMH configurations. I’ll just to generate some idle curiosity in another direction now!

 

[Rodney]

Yes same accordion but with different sound selected

Thanks for your responses Dingo & Basil. My FR-8x sits on a K&M174 stand and I’ve no room for another one!