The Best & The Worst. (in your opinion)

[Stephen Hawkins]

I have to eat, sleep and practice, that is a given. When not engaged in these necessary activities, I like to study accordion makes and models. This often leads to a bit of daydreaming; thinking about which accordions I might buy if money was no object.

I cordially invite anyone who has ever idly dreamt about winning the lottery to come up with the make and model of accordion they would be most likely to throw a chunk of cash at.

But that would be too easy .... how about telling us which accordion you would be least likely to buy.

Just to kick things off:

Most Likely: Weltmeister Supita II

Least Likely: Anything branded "Golden Cup."

There, I've got that off my chest. How about you?

Kind Regards,

Stephen.

 

[JerryPH]

Most likely? Custom optioned Hohner Gola. Least likely? No knock on it, but anything Asian made.

 

[wirralaccordion]

To me it's all about how the accordion is tuned. I've heard some accordions that look like they would not be worth very much in terms of age, appearance, etc but they produce the specific sound that I love.

 

[Stephen Hawkins]

Hi Jerry,

Thank you for your input. The Gola is a magnificent piece of kit, which I'm sure you would make the best of. Because of my meagre talent, however, such a machine would be wasted on me.

Hi Phil,

I agree that the sound is extremely important, but which "off the shelf" accordion would you purchase if lots of money was swilling around in your bank account?

Kind Regards,

Stephen.

 

[wirralaccordion]

I have mentioned this accordion on another thread. I believe it is a Bugari Armando and so this would be the one. I think your friend Jon has one.

 

[Pipemajor]

How about extending this to those who dont do the lottery so are not likely to have excess cash swilling around. If you were strolling round a car boot sale/garage sale/vide grenier, and saw an accordion in pretty good condition on sale for £50/$50, etc, what make and model would you wish it to be? :ch

 

[Geoff de Limousin]

How about extending this to those who dont do the lottery so are not likely to have excess cash swilling around. If you were strolling round a car boot sale/garage sale/vide grenier, and saw an accordion in pretty good condition on sale for £50/$50, etc, what make and model would you wish it to be? :ch

Now thats a thought Pipemajor !!

I have bought a couple of accordions at vide greniers /brocante markets and seen one or two others but that is over a period of a dozen years of assiduous seraching in France which, in comparsion to some other countries, is awash with second hand accordions. But there is a musical vide grenier coming up next sunday ( 1st July) in Tulle which could render a plethora of squeeze boxes as it is during their Nuits de Nacre festival. I am thinking of registering as a seller and taking a whole load of my old accordions... perhaps I can encourage my neighbour ( who also has too many boxes) to join me, with the hope we come back with less instruments than we took and hopefully a bit of cash to go towards that special what if I won the Lotto ?, model?

It is more likely, I think, that dream instrument will come by saving up the cash than winning the lotto, so I tend to think second hand out of habit but perhaps a CBA from Bugari, , Fisart, Pigini, Victoria or Beltuna in LMMH would be a nice find. Oh, I saw and heard my first Bayan on thursday evening, now that had a very beguiling sound .

Avoiding? Ill go with others here and try not to buy chinese.

 

[Alan Sharkis]

At the present time i don't feel that my playing level is up to spending a ton of money on a new accordion. If I ever get to feel that I'm worthy of one, it would come from Victoria, Zero Sette, Petosa, or Bugari.

As for bottom position, anything that comes out of China would do.

Alan

 

[Anyanka]

I'm not sure that there is an accordion I'd prefer over my Pidge.... more sound would also mean more weight. Maybe the Pigini Professional C226 - it has more voices and more notes at only another 2 kg, and if it's called Professional it'll make me play brilliantly, right? If I saw a Pigini in a car boot sale for £50 I'd have to assume it was completely illegal!

Least likely: anything with that really wet tuning. Or a piano accordion.

 

[maugein96]

If money was no object, I don't think I'd worry too much what I bought, as I'm not the best player around.

So, any brand new LMMH CBA built to French spec by Piermaria, with hand made reeds by Antonelli pinned on leather, and with the bassoon and piccolo reeds in separate tone chambers would probably do. The two flute reeds would be tuned somewhere between swing and americain, and I wouldn't care if the model name "Super Regent" was on the case or not.

For 50 of anybody's currency I would be happy with a second hand Super Regent, and if I managed to get one at that price I would think I had won the lottery! Reckon I would ask the seller if he maybe had another one at that price and force myself to buy two!

What I wouldn't buy would be any Asian made accordion with an Italian sounding name, even if was two for £50. If the casing had a brand name written in any Asiatic characters that would be OK, but I'd maybe want three for £50.

 

[JerryPH]

...saw an accordion in pretty good condition on sale for £50/$50, etc, what make and model would you wish it to be? :ch

A Gola ... hahahaha!

 

[Tom]

I agree with wirral, its not the brand so much its the reeds and tuning. If money were no object, I would get another Piatanesi, but get super custom, super tuned hand made reeds and custom colors. <EMOJI seq=1f60a>?</EMOJI>

 

[donn]

I suppose if the cost were immaterial and the purchase were to be made simply by name, like "OK, get me one of them Bell-Tunas", I'd likely do as maugein and go for the Piermaria. Or a Beltuna, heck, I don't know. But if I were in the store, and they were all there ... this is probably going to be weird for those of you who may know this as apparently a relatively common choice for Scottish music, and to be sure I know nothing about that, it's just evident on youtube, but among the brands I'd be sure to check out would be Fratelli Alessandrini.

 

[maugein96]

this is probably going to be weird for those of you who may know this as apparently a relatively common choice for Scottish music, and to be sure I know nothing about that, its just evident on youtube, but among the brands Id be sure to check out would be Fratelli Alessandrini.

Hi donn,

Alessandrini had an outlet in the UK at one time, and they were a well respected make, but there was already a sufficient distributor network in the UK to cater for the few new order CBAs that end up here, and I dont think they lasted long. Great instruments but nobody had really heard of the make.

Beltunas are fairly popular in Scotland, although I believe their very steep price tag puts them out of range of most people, other than pros. The majority of full sized CBAs imported into the UK are for the Scottish market, or for players who have a preference for the Scottish repertoire (they are popular in parts of England where Scottish communities exist). They are almost exclusively LMMM with strong Scottish musette tuning. In fact it is difficult to find a CBA in the UK which doesnt have very strong musette tuning.

Having said all that, the vast majority of Beltuna accordions have probably never flown over the sea at all, and are supplied to countries in mainland Europe. Quite a few (rich) Portuguese players have them, and they are exceptionally fine sounding instruments indeed.

Heres a Portuguese demo for Beltuna, and not a Scottish tuned reed to be heard. Ive got the playing nailed. Just need to work on his facial expressions and body movements!

 

[donn]

It may be that my taste doesn't really lean in the same direction as the accordion playing elite. Which would be a lucky thing for me! In view of that, my pick would perhaps be the best of those that aren't of the best, or something like that. If presented with the best, anyway, I just might trade it even, for something in that best of the rest category.

 

[Tom]

My guess is that the boutique Italian builders don't vary that much as far as quality goes. They all seem to have a variety of styles and price points available, and (except possibly Paul and a few others) most of us would not know what brand we were playing. That said, the thing would be to try a number of brands in your price point and get the one that you fall for.

 

[maugein96]

The way it worked here in Scotland was your accordion store sold you the biggest most expensive LMMM accordion they thought you could afford. The sales pitch was that if you bought a cheap one and realised it wasn't for you then you'd have trouble selling it. You were told you "needed" Scottish tuned musette, which suited all musette styles (apparently). Truth was that was all they had in stock. You were advised to come back in three years to have the box checked over (which by pure coincidence would also have been when you had cleared the finance on it.)

At that stage you would be "sold" another new instrument that you were bound to need now that you were a better player, and so it went on.

I've always been a bit shy of demanding the best of anything, and I'd probably never actually go for the Piermaria box I mentioned above. I would be conscious that my playing standard didn't really merit me having one.

There are thousands of battered old accordions in South America that sound great, and the only thing that would stop me making a pilgrimage there is that they are nearly all PAs. Mind you I might be able to find a Piermaria like Raul Barboza's in Buenos Aires. I suppose that would just have to do, and it would only take me about 20 years to convert from C to B system.

Been to Paris a few times and never heard an accordion. Been to the Canary Islands and never saw a canary. I suppose if I was a millionaire I could always check out the Virgin Islands.

 

[Stephen Hawkins]

Hi Phil,

The Bugari would be a very good choice. As you said, Jon has one, and he's no mug.

I think the point I am trying to make is that many of the top accordions are probably too good for me. The Weltmeister I mentioned is a fine instrument, but comes with a relatively modest ticket price.

Though I am happy to spend money, I hate wasting it. Assuming that I don't win the lottery, I would be more likely to just have my Hohner Arietta M IV 120/41 fully serviced.

Other contributors to this thread appear to favour the second hand market, which seems like a very good idea. All three of my boxes were second hand when I acquired them, and I love them all.

When my pensions allow it, I may well look for another 120/41 as a stable mate for the Arietta, and I don't really care much what it is.

Kind Regards,

Stephen.

 

[donn]

There are thousands of battered old accordions in South America that sound great, and the only thing that would stop me making a pilgrimage there is that they are nearly all PAs.

I may have missed something - cant imagine why youd be looking for accordions in South America, when there are boatloads of French style CBAs in Portugal. Their online 2nd hand is olx.pt, and youll find some sellers there who have a number of them, so it might work out that you could check out a number of them without spending weeks charging around the country. One out in Penedono, way out in the country east of Porto, claims to have 800 pieces in stock, which could be a lot of junk but he clearly has dozens of accordions. I dont really know anything about a Super Bernard, if I vaguely recall it might be a Vercelli brand like Coope Armoniche, with cassotto, fungo bass buttons, thats one Id like to hear.

 

[george garside]

the worst I have come across for sale as a usable box was an alvari piano box. When I used to do repairs I was sometimes asked to 'do up' a box found in a relatives shed after they have died. Some were full of cobwebs inside and most were not worth repairing in the accepted sense. I therefore offered to do a cosmetic restoration to use as an ornament in memory of the deceased. I did quite well out of such 'restorations'

george
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