Anyone know anything about accordions????

Hey, Mike, is your girlfriend in on the gift...? If so, wouldn't it be a good idea to find out just exactly what kind of accordion her mother played, so you can narrow down your search and subsequent research...?

 

That's the perfect kind of gift.... my boss just bought his wife the very same piano she had growing up... she always talked about wanting one just like it, and so he asked some family members some questions, and tracked down the current owner, who was ready to sell it.

 

If I can get in touch with her tomorrow... I'll ask my mother your questions. She is an accordion player and a music teacher so she should be able to pass some knowledge onto you.

 

Google "Chris Gaffney"...he's Dave Alvin's squeezbox player...he'll know.

Or try to find Flaco Jimeniz down in Austin...maybe Jesse Dayton would have his number..


I'm gonna see a bunch of old school Polka guys this weekend.. I'll take notes!
Bill Mraz Dance Hall Benefit

 

I know Wille Nelson says that "perfect pitch" is when you throw a banjo in a trash can, and hit an accordian!

Better not use that one..........

 

Seems I recall a little news story about 5 years ago about the last accordion factory closing, but can't vouch for that. the story was mainly about the difficulty in getting parts in the future.

 

My brother plays upright bass with an accordion player who also collects (what else) accordions. I'll see if he has an email address and get it to you if he does.

 

Last one?

Holy smoke, I should have been cornering the market on accordians, not 308s!

Chris Gaffney's band is the Hacienda Brothers, when he's not with Dave Alvin and the Guilty Men.

First the Bill Mraz Dance Hall burns to the ground, now this news.......I'm going to lunch, too much stress....

bbl

 

Gabanelli still makes accordions, and they are the Ferrari/Rolls of accordions, and they are probably the best box you can buy. Top quality, top sound, top dollar! Er, as far as squeeze boxes are concerned. They are Italian hand made accordions, and the home base is in Texas, and can be custom made to suit your desires. It is a family ran company with other Gabanellis making them in Italy. On the site you will see the diff styles of accordions they have. From diatonics, to piano style, they have it.

Company site
http://www.gabbanelliaccordions.com/gabbanelliEnglish/introEng.htm

Hohner is also a good company as well
Solid accordion, and sounds good. I think they are the best selling accordions, I guess kind of like the Honda Accords of the box world.
http://www.hohnerusa.com/accordians.htm

Reyes accordions, I've heard good things, but I have never personally heard any.
http://www.reyesaccordions.com/site.htm

http://www.baffetti-accordions.com/


My sister plays the push button accordion, and is selling her Gabanelli(last time I checked). It is a diatonic, and is black, with black and white buttons. I can get pics and price from her if you like PM me. As far as accordions go, it is a hot looking box.

BigTex, where's that Polka festival going on at? Details? My sis and mummsy may like to go.

I found this
http://www.accordionlinks.com/manufacturer.cfm
I've only heard of a cpl of the mfgtrs on the list.

www.accordions.com

Accordions surprsingly enough sure do hold a good amount of value, at least the good ones. My sister payed I think 800 or maybe 1000 for a classic 40+yr old Hohner accordion. I shook my head.

Most important though, is how they feel and sound.

 

It's sometimes a strange world...... A couple weeks ago I was suprised to find out that a friend that I fly with plays the accordion. She just happens to be from MA so I asked about it this afternoon and she recomended a shop in Amherst called the Button Box. Here is their web site: The Button Box

 

PM sent....let me know, if ya'll come over!!!!!!

We'll be going...........

 

Doesn't Honda make Accords?

 

Sorry... forgot to get in touch today... it's in the pda and I'll be back tomorerow with more info.

 

Dude, done...! Extracting information in a round-about way is one of my specialties...! Can you fake a phone conversation with a friend...? Can you have a friend who can be "in on it" call you...? If so, have the friend call you while you're in earshot of your girlfriend... Talk about accordians... Laugh, ask questions, maybe poke a little fun... Repeat phrases back to your friend that s/he "supposedly" said, like, "ditonic" or whatever it was... Then, get off the phone and wait a minute... If your girlfriend heard enough of your "conversation", she'll ask about it... If not, after a minute, talk to her about it... "Ha, ha, that Jimmy, he's so funny... We were talking about music and he said his sister wants to learn to play the accordian... Hey, didn't your mother play the accordian...? Do you know what kind...?"

Done.

Or... come home from work one day and say, "Hey, your mom used to play accordian, right...? A guy at work says his son/daughter wants to learn how to play and he doesn't know anything about them... Apparently there's more than one kind... Do you know what kind your mother played...?"

Done.

Good luck, dude, keep us posted.

 

NNO's suggestions sounds like the best bet... but here's the information I got. Unfortunately my mom just dabbled in playing an accordion and she has an old Scandalli 3 octave accordian laying around. Her's is a chromatic accordion, that is where one side has buttons and the other side has a section of keyboard (like taking 3 octaves of keyboard keys). A chromatic accordion is the larger member of the accordion family with the ability to play multiple keys (as in the key of a piece of music) while a ditonic is smaller and in one key (she thinks ).

Personally I think a combination of NNO's suggestion and going to your local instrument seller would be the solution. Hopefully you can find some more background and telling the owner of your local shop your story should produce some results. He or she would know the proper channels for locating a unique piece from the 70s. If all else fails... start calling around to pawn shops... if they have an accordion they're probably trying to get rid of it or see what turns up on ebay.

Good luck... I think the effort you're putting into the gift should speak volumes even if the accordion isn't exactly what she had.

 

Have you checked Accordion-Chat?