The 'Cordeen and Me: New Episode Now Available

[SteveH]

Happy New Year to all my fellow Accordionists out there!

Im happy to announce that the newest episode of The Cordeen and Me -- The New Cordeen is now available on http:/www.accordionweb.com

Thanks for all your comments and encouragement in 2018. On to the end of the decade!

-- Steve

 

[Alan Sharkis]

Good for you, and best of luck with the new Beltuna! I, too, like to play YIddish and Klezmer material. Like you, I’m also an intermediate player, but I’m 78 and I have a live teacher an hour from where I live. I used to play with four other guys, but now two have passed on, a third is away for the winter and the fourth has Parkinson’s, so I’m on my own. I recently bought a Roland FR-4x to cut down on carrying weight.

Take care.

Alan Sharkis

 

[Dingo40]

Good stuff<EMOJI seq="1f44d">?</EMOJI><EMOJI seq="1f642">?</EMOJI>!

 

[AccordionUprising]

I still played as poorly as I ever did. But I played poorly so beautifully.

Ill be sharing this post on my twitter feed. Great piece of writing!

 

[Tom]

Hey Steve,

I went back and read all the episodes. Great sense of humor. Congrats and good luck with the Scandalli, but I doubt it's the end of the line!

 

[SteveH]

Thanks, Tom! There will definitely be more to come. Thanks for reading them all!

Please share the site with your accordion friends

A Happy New Year to you!

 

[Tom]

Ok, I will, although most of my accordion friends speak Italian or Portuguese, old Myron having done in the cordeen around here, as you so aptly point out. I have, however seen Dick Contino perform Lady of Spain in his last annual show at Festa Italiana in Milwaukee. Unfortunately Philly is so far away as I would love to check out Liberty Bellows some day. Oh, yeah, and I have one of those Cameranos too, waiting for renovation when (if) I ever get around to it.....

 

[SteveH]

I never could figure out who manufacutured the Camerano. — I think it was Scandalli’s “consumer” line...

 

[SteveH]

I never could figure out who manufacutured the Camerano. — I think it was Scandalli’s “consumer” line...

 

[SteveH]

I never could figure out who manufacutured the Camerano. — I think it was Scandalli’s “consumer” line...

 

[Eddy Yates]

There have been a few books written about people’s search for the piano of their life. Some really good. Some really bad. But I think your writing is equal to any of them and I hope you continue the blog and maybe make it into a book someday. Cheers! (And I envy you being so close to Liberty Bellows. I hope they are half as helpful and friendly as the long-gone Boaz Accordions in Berkeley.)

 

[Tom]

I never could figure out who manufacutured the Camerano. — I think it was Scandalli’s “consumer” line...

Hi Steve, maybe this picture from my Camerano will shed some light on the subject:

 

[SteveH]

Thanks, Tom -- That does clear up the mystery. I had actually written Scandalli some years ago inquiring whether the Camerano was of their manufacture, but all I received back was a form letter with no information -- and even that was almost 6 months later!

I appreciate your taking the time to send the information!

 

[SteveH]

There have been a few books written about people’s search for the piano of their life. Some really good. Some really bad. But I think your writing is equal to any of them and I hope you continue the blog and maybe make it into a book someday. Cheers! (And I envy you being so close to Liberty Bellows. I hope they are half as helpful and friendly as the long-gone Boaz Accordions in Berkeley.)

Thanks so much for writing Eddy. As Im also a pianist, Ive read a number of those books -- I was even in contact with a woman (a former talent competition winner from the Miss America pageant, no less...) whose livelihood was matching people and pianos!

I really appreciate your comments about my blog -- indeed, my long-term plan is to put the various posts together into a book: Im just not sure when to do it, as new topics keep springing up (by the way, if you have any suggestions, please send them!).

Yes, Liberty Bellows is a great store with a very helpful and knowledgeable staff. Ive bought all my cordeens there; they have a policy of giving you full credit from prior purchases towards your new ones, so it wouldnt make sense for me to buy elsewhere.

My best wishes for a very Happy New Year!

-- Steve

 

[Tom]

No prob Steve! Mine actually looks like a pretty decent student model. It is model # 7419, 48 bass (4 x 12). I suspect that the F.lli is an abbreviation for familli, dialect for family of or sons of (figli). So, it could have been a branch of the Scandalli dynasty based in Camerano, 15 minutes from Castelfidardo in Ancona province, or just a creative use of the Camerano name. Just my humble opinion, one of the experts here may know more. In any case, mine needs repair on the bass switch, and probably other interior work. It definitely looks like a Scandalli, and in fact I bought it together with a similar looking Scandalli which may mean absolutely nothing!

 

[SteveH]

My old Scandalli had a plate on the bottom indicating it was "Custom Made for the Midwest Accordion School" -- I suspect that the line was made expressly for the hundreds of accordion school students who bought from their teachers at the time.

 

[Tom]

.....and since I live in the Midwest, later abandoned by the students and sitting around the house for 50 years until finally bought from an antique store and restored by me as a labor of love with no redeeming economic sense! I've restored this Scandalli to decent playable state and it sounds pretty good. I suspect the same of the Camerano.

 

[SteveH]

.....and since I live in the Midwest, later abandoned by the students and sitting around the house for 50 years until finally bought from an antique store and restored by me as a labor of love with no redeeming economic sense! Ive restored this Scandalli to decent playable state and it sounds pretty good. I suspect the same of the Camerano.

Actually, I meant to say my old “Camerano”. Good for you, though, that you were able to restore your Scandalli. I wouldn’t ever attempt it — I did take apart an old Sears Silvertone, just to poke around inside (see the episode titled “In the Belly of the Beast”), but putting it back together was another story entirely....

 

[Tom]

Yes, I remember you sent Igor on that mission. I like to "tinker" and there are so many cheap, restorable cordeens that come my way, and my resistance is weak, I can't stop myself. Actually, as Paul De Bra says, even my brand new Italian accordion required me to bend one of the treble key rods because it was raised off the keyboard, and now I notice one of the high reeds not sounding so I will have to go after that too.

 

[JerryPH]

Congrats on the new Scandalli… but as the internet rules state... it never happened unless you provide pictures! :lol: {}