what kind of accordion should i buy?

[mariagmerlino]

i'm a somewhat novice accordion player looking to get a new accordion.

i had a red weltmeister stella, 80 bass accordion before (had to sell it) and i liked it a lot. i think it may have needed some work done to it (i bought it used), though i never pursued that. i practiced on it for a little over a year. that's essentially what i was doing with it, just practicing by myself, having lots of fun

the size and weight were also good for me

my second time around id like to invest in an accordion that functions a little bit smoother, better for maybe one day playing with others. should i go for a new weltmeister or should i go with another brand? there are so many to choose from! help!

 

[lightninboy]

Finding one like the one you had sounds like a good idea.

 

[JeffJetton]

Well, I can only say that the modern Weltmeisters are quite good, and I have a couple myself.

Apparently many of the accordions Weltmeister made back in the DDR days--including the Stellas--were a bit chintzy (lots of plastic parts, etc.), giving the brand a bad reputation among some people. I've never played any of the old ones myself. They do seem to show up on eBay a lot, so you could always get another one.

For a new accordion at a modest price level, really the only competition to the Welties would be the Hohner Bravo line. I have not been impressed with Hohnica line, or with any of the cheap Chinese boxes you see on Amazon, etc.

You could of course buy a used accordion, which really opens up the options quite a lot.

 

[Stephen Hawkins]

Is that Boston in Lincolnshire, or Boston Mass?

I will not offer any advice on makes or models, but I think it would be a wise move to try out a few accordions prior to making a decision.

Not all Chinese instruments are bad, and not all European instruments are good. Much will depend on your budget and, perhaps more importantly, the type of music and venues you intend to play.

Everyone on here will have their own favourites as regards makes. They can't all be right, and they can't all be wrong. None of that actually matters, as whatever suits you is the right instrument.

Hope that helps in some way.

Kind Regards,

Stephen.

 

[george garside]

I agree totally with Stephen - try as many as you reasonably can before deciding. This will of course depend on where you live in relation to a reputable large dealer.

If this is not possible and you are buying a second hand (used) accordion haggle the price down as much as possible so you have at least a chance of getting most of your money back if it turns out less well than you anticipated!
george

 

[debra]

I agree totally with Stephen - try as many as you reasonably can before deciding. This will of course depend on where you live in relation to a reputable large dealer.
...

Let me chime in to support that idea: try as many as you can. What I did back in 1999 when I was looking for an improvement over the Hohner Atlantic IV N I was playing at the time is visit the Frankfurter Musikmesse (which is on this year from April 11 to 14, so thats this week!) and try the type of instrument I wanted at each and every accordion stand. My wife went along so we could both experience an instrument as player and as audience. At the time it became very clear that for my taste what I wanted was a Bugari (artist cassotto), but we tried many other nice instruments as well that I could have been happy with as an alternative, and there were some that we clearly did not like, because of sound or because of balance between LH and RH. Even when looking for a used instrument, visiting a venue like that helps to experience what you like and dont like.

 

[Jiri]

im a somewhat novice accordion player looking to get a new accordion.

Dear mariagmerlino,
it is really not easy to recommend you just one model of accordion, because 10 people may preffer 10 models and nobody knows, what you really need just now and what after e.g. 5 years (is it for you short or long term investment ?).
But, in case you are novice as you, wrote, I recommend you to ask some experienced accordeonists neer you to help you with selection (if it is possible).
Believe me, there is a lot of things, you just can not recognise, if you have experience e.g. just with one model. In case of PA, it can be size of keys, depth of key press, tone response (with regard to air needed), weight of the accordion, noise level of bass mechanics and many more, which can be problem for you in the time ... .
Probably this is more important, in case you are looking for used instrument, than new one (but ask anybody, who dont want to sell you his own instrument ).
I wish you good choice,
Jiri

 

[donn]

One of our pillars of the community here, JIM D, has a shop in Chicopee, near Springfield, MA. It would likely be very worth your while to drop by some time. The Fisarmonica Shop.

 

[JeffJetton]

You folks across the pond don't know how good you have it! Here in the States, opportunities to try a bunch of different accordions are pretty rare for most of us. (Yes, even here in "Music City, USA".)

Heck, I own four working accordions. I only played one of them before buying it... and had to drive an hour-and-a-half just to do that. The other three were bought as "pigs in a poke" and shipped to me.

At a certain price point, of course, it becomes worthwhile to start buying plane tickets to some of the very few cities that do have accordion stores with a broad selection of brands/models. I haven't gotten there yet though.

 

[Geronimo]

You folks across the pond dont know how good you have it! Here in the States, opportunities to try a bunch of different accordions are pretty rare for most of us. (Yes, even here in Music City, USA.)

Heck, I own four working accordions. I only played one of them before buying it... and had to drive an hour-and-a-half just to do that. The other three were bought as pigs in a poke and shipped to me.

My main instrument I ordered from a different country. The photographs of the registers were weird but how bad can it be?™ and it was a bargain for an instrument of the Morino Artiste class.

It took over a month to arrive: after the first delivery attempt was unsuccessful, the packet ended up by mistake immediately in a van back to Switzerland. After something like 10 days, it was back at the doorstep of the sender who told his mailman to deliver it. Only that things dont work that way: the Swiss mail makes exactly one attempt at crossing the border. So it ended up as lost mail marked for eventual destruction. It took a lot of phoning around to figure that out. Then after 3 weeks, the packet was back in the hands of the sender who had to pay for the double journey and then post it anew. I think he said trying to get the money back would not have been worth his time. In his shoes, Id likely have raised hell. Come to think of it, I did raise hell even without having standing (the recipient does not have a contract with either mail service).

Turns out that accordions are like horses: for the keepers, the sales price will be a negligible cost over their life time anyway. The bass mechanism was sticky, the controls did not make a lot of sense, and with most settings the instrument was unusable because bass notes were keeping sounding even after letting go of the button. There was a reason I got it for a sixth of the price on a forgotten price tag: it had been sitting for a decade in the store.

So I did not even play the instrument after buying it before several months had passed and it had passed through the hands of four different accordion service men (one will no longer do business with me, one will no longer do servicing on accordions with déclassement, one wanted to sell me a different instrument instead, and the fourth did such a good job that it is a pity he died in the meantime).

Of course, unique experiences are nothing to go by. If you can try out some dozen instruments (quite a few repair men will have a collection that dwarves the lineup a typical shop has for new instruments), it will tell you quite a bit about your leanings.