It’s simple and light, but is in very good tune and has a sweet tone. ?įor a casual acoustic kitchen jam I’ll often grab my little Titan. Not quite the same as an acoustic accordion, but you can crank it as loud as you want without feedback. When things get too loud for the Excelsior, I use a Roland FRx3 electronic accordion.
This is my gig accordion for amplified music - blues, zydeco, etc.
It’s was recently refurbished and tuned and had a set of pro Sennheiser mics installed. I also have an Excelsior 620M (41/120, 9/3, LMMH, dry tuned) which is very nice. This is my performing accordion for acoustic gigs (jazz, manouche). It needs a tuning touch-up which it is scheduled to receive in the next couple months. Very good volume balance between the left and right hand. Wonderful rich tone and very smooth action. My best accordion is a Victoria "Super" (41/120, 11/4, LMMH, dry tuned). I seem to have accumulated a number of piano accordions (it’s a sickness, I know), ? but a few are the stand-out favourites. If you want to investigate purchasing Dallape speak to the factory direct if you need somthing custom built they are extreemly helpful. When selecting the accordion the speed of keyboard was essential, mI tried a Borsini but the keyboard felt some what rubbery and whilst being a nice accorion was not as precise and solid as the Dallape. It sounded superb so I ordered a second accordion identical with +15, -15 musette for a more strident musette and can use either accordion as a spare for the other excepting the musette of course. I work in profesional audio so this is very important to me to get this right. It has midi and the better sennheiser internal mics fitted with slipt bass and treble outputs on it. However I wanted to replace my smaller Brandoni 34/96 bass (this was a superb accorrdion too, very small) accordion so asked Dallape to build me a 37/97 bass accordion with +7, -7 musette so was a quite dry sounding accordion with 7 bass couplers so it had the same bass as my larger accorion, they used a Artist case for this.
I had a Supermaestro cassoto accordion for some years which had a very fast keyboard and a bass that was full and rich sounding not boxy like some. I have 3 which may sound excessive but heres why. I was talking to Phil Cunningham about his Borsini - he had it midi-fied but disconnected the right hand side, only using the left hand midi. You may need to try many before you get the one that inspires you.
There you have it - every accordion is slightly differently voiced and actioned. The shopkeeper said - yes, that one has already been sold. The shopkeeper said - pick which one you like. Harry Hussey (top jazz accordionist) told a tale of 6 top of the range Borsini (I think) coming into the London accordion shop, all exactly the same.
I had tried both exact models brand new in the shop and they were not a patch on the old ones. I now play a Marinucci which has a lovely musette and no problems with the innards, except the leathers coming loose on the treble pads.īoth of these were some 20 years old when I got them so had been well and truly played in. The bass lever box kept coming adrift - I had hellish problems with them - but what a sound!!!! I had a galanti musette which I lasted some 15 years of continental travel. Re: What’s the best make of Piano Accordion? I’ve tried several flavours and really like the Salterelle piano box - although over # I’m not sure whether it’s financially viable to get the Gallanti repaired to it’s original standard - so I may as well buy a new or second hand instrument. That, coupled with the fact that it suffers from slight emphysema! I’d always wanted to own one after seeing Ritchie Kelly "King of the Ceili" strapped into one on the front one of my dad’s ancient albums!ĭespite my obvious attachment to this particular instrument I have been looking around for one with a more responsive keyboard, that I can play at session/gigs etc, as it’s particularly hard work banging out the triplets etc on this one. He’d seen me play as a kid and just wanted me to have the box! It is just the most amazing box to look at and certainly the best one I have to play. I’ve been playing accordion all my life (obviously stopping occasionally for meal/toilet breaks/sleep etc!) and have somehow managed to inherit a whole bunch of them over the years, of various sizes and descriptions in various states of repair.Ī few years ago I was left a Gallanti, by an auld Irishman after he’d died. Hope somebody can help me out on this one!