Accordion brands, what do I choose?

Question

Hi, I need help buying an accordion; I've never played it before. I'd like to get a piano accordion as I have some experience with the piano ;)

Thing is, I've been reading forums and so on and people are always saying to stay away from Chinese ones, and that you can't get a good one for less than 300 dollars. I was wondering if anyone could tell me which brands I should keep an eye out for, and/or which to stay away from? I'm willing to spend about 250 USD, and if makes any difference I'd like to play folk music (folk metal, actually).

Also, I'd appreciate it if you could recommend a bass size? I don't want something huge, but not an eensy 12 bass either. Is a 48 bass okay? If it's 4x12?

Thank you!

Answer 1

Get a Hohner piano accordion. It's an excellent instrument for folk music -- specially the Cajun-Zydeco style of music that's popular down south.



Regarding the price point, I recently bought a Silvio Soprani accordion for less than $300. You can also browse through the 'Ariette' series of Hohner accordions for the price point you're comfortable with.

Answer 2

Accordion Brands

Answer 3

I play the accordion, and i have one that has both. The buttons are used to play chords, and are often set at the original accordion sound. The first two rows of buttons are single notes. and the other rows are major and minor chords, you can press the buttons a certain way to play various folk music. on the keyboard side, you have the keys, and the tune settings. There are usually 5 buttons above the keys. The first button is the clarinet style, which is popular in eastern european, jewish, arab, indian, and some forms of meditteranbaean dance music. the second one is the bandeon, which is used in Italian, french, german, Greek, polish, latino, british, celtic, american, and latino dance music. The third button is the original accordion sound, used primarily in russian, rennaissance, and english folk music. the 4th button is the french accordion, which is used in italian, french, and greek romantic songs, and different tangos. the 5th button is the concertina, which is most often used to be played without the buttons, due to its weak sound, but it is used in english, scottish, irish, american and sea shanty music. in the way of an all button accordion, the only ones i can think of are the bandeon and concertina. real ones

Answer 4

Hohner, Excelsior, Avanti



... but you're not getting those for $300.



At your price range, you're really going to have to look for at Chinese instruments, or find a bargain in a used instrument. 48 bass will keep you going a long time.