Subject: Accordion Shopping Adventures
From:
CarolC
Date: 26 Aug 02 - 03:21 PM
The Mastercraft Midget that I picked up at the House of Musical Traditions turned out to be a bad purchase. That was the first time I ever shopped for an accordion, and I did it badly. I fell in love with the sound, but I didn't play all of the notes and check everything out carefully. Instead, I asked the sales person if the instrument was in good working order, and she assured me that it was.
When I had some time to really focus on the instrument with no distractions, I began to notice problems with specific notes in two of the voices (clarinet and violin). I'm pretty sure the problems were related to malfunctioning reed stops. Plus, some of the notes sounded like they weren't properly in tune.
The Mastercraft Midget from HMT was about 40 years old. We were told by another accordion dealer that a 40 year old accordion with problems is basically worthless because it would cost more to fix it than to replace it. So that accordion went back to HMT. After some back and forth stuff with the sales person and some discussion with the store owner, we were able to return it for a full refund. We paid about $740 US for it which, it turns out, was about $500 more than it was worth.
Somewhere in northern New Jersey, we hooked up with an accordion dealer named Alex (the first of two), at Music Magic USA. We learned a lot from this Alex, with Jack the Sailor being the one who learned the most. We didn't find one that either suited or fitted me, but Alex had a fine showroom, and a good selection of new, professional quality accordions. Alex told us that an accordion of the size I needed would probably need to be special ordered from the factory, so we decided to keep looking for a used box.
Alex was incredibly helpful even though we didn't buy anything from him. He showed us all of the different kinds of accordions he had so we could hear all of the different kinds of sounds. He continued to help us even after he knew we would not be buying from him. And he even gave us tips on buying a used accordion.
In New York City, we were getting the grand tour of the city from an acoustic guitarist named Ira Strum. Ira showed us a street at Times Square known affectionately as "Music Store Row" which is at 48th Street and 7th Avenue. I think that street must be the most wonderful street in the world for people buying instruments. It has two stores that sell accordions.
One of the stores with accordions was closed, so we went into a store called "Alex Accordion Guitar", where we met the other accordion Alex. This Alex is a lovely gentleman from Italy who clearly loves accordions as much as I do. He showed me a big red accordion that he was anxious to sell. When I make it clear that this was not the accordion for me, and that I was looking for a much smaller instrument, he reluctantly said "I have just the accordion for you". He went behind the counter and pulled out a tiny black beauty of an Italian accordion that was stashed away from the rest of the accordions that were for sale.
Alex number two told us that this accordion was called a "Super Midget", and that that size is not made any more. It was made at the same factory as my old Crucianelli. The keys are probably about half the width of a full size accordion. It has exactly the kind of sweet sound that I was looking for, the action is as smooth and light as silk, and with the sound and action put together, the instrument plays like butter and velvet.
Nevertheless, I had learned my lesson from the Mastercraft Midget purchase, and I carefully played all of the notes, both while drawing and pushing on the bellows, in both of the voices (clarinet and violin). It was perfect. Alex number two told us this instrument is only seven years old. All of the parts are in great shape. Alex number one told us that any reputable dealer would take an instrument apart and show us the action and the valves. This, Alex number two did for us, and the little Super Midget looked as pristine as a baby's bottom inside.
The Super Midget has a three year warrantee and Alex number two said that if I bring it back once a year to have it serviced, he'll service it for free. He also asked me if he could play it one last time before I took it from the store. It seems that Alex had also fallen in love with the wonderful instrument and hated to part with it. He said he had used it when he played at private parties. He had a wistful look as we left the store.
It's certainly the most beautiful instument I've ever played. It's taking me a little bit of practice to get used to the key spacing, but I actually prefer this key width. I find it is even more suited to my hands than the ladies' size boxes I was playing before. I'm also finding that I can play a much larger repetoire of music than I could on any of my other accordions. Pretty much all of the kinds of music I like to play sound good on this instrument.
For someone like me who doesn't have a very good head for technical details, the accordion buying process is quite daunting. With the help of the two Alex's and Jack the Sailor, the process was made much less difficult, and the end result was successful. I suppose the best accordion buying advice I could give others like me, based on these experiences, is to find good people whom you trust, ask a lot of questions, play all of the notes both ways, and take good advice when it's given.
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