A newbie with questions

[GMC]

I am pretty much a newbie to accordions even though I picked up what appears to be a nice Crucianelli a couple of years ago. I still have it but I am a guitar player and haven't spent much time on the accordion. Here's my dilemma now. My wife wants a small, lighter accordion to learn on (the Crucianelli is too big and heavy for her). I purchased a new Hohner beginner accordion for her for Christmas. It has proven to be basically a piece of junk. I am returning it. Can anyone steer me towards a good quality, lightweight, small(er), accordion that will not break the bank?

 

[Glenn]

Hi GMC,

Welcome as a Newbie (we all have to start somewhere).
Your question is a common one that is often answered with roughly the same advice, namely first time around spend your money on a second hand instrument of a half-decent make.
Depending on your budget there are quite a few accordions kicking around that people want to sell.
Then obvious places to look are eBay etc. Also depends where you are living and if there are some music shops in the neighbourhood that stock second hand instruments.
It's a pity about the Hohner. Some of the older student models are OK but indeed the newer ones are quite down market.
One cannot be expected to pick up a new instrument as complex as an accordion for a few hundred pounds and expect it to play like one costing 2000.
I imagine for 300 to 500 pounds you can find a small instrument to start on.
The beauty of the well loved, second hand instrument is that its resale value will hardly differ from your purchase value.
You only have the bother of selling it again if you move to a different instrument.

 

[Rebeka]

The first full-size accordion I had was a Hohner Contessa. It's a ladies model, so much lighter than other accordions. I eventually needed a box with more voices etc, but for learning and playing for fun, it was great. As much as I love my current box, I cried when my parents sold the Contessa!

In fact, I liked it so much, I picked up a Carena (a similar model) when I moved into uni accommodation and didn't want to take my own accordion

 

[Soulsaver]

Lots of good info - beginner (AND useable for the future) and bargain pointers... here: http://www.accordionists.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1404
And, taking Rebekas point, see http://www.accordionists.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2132&p=22819#p22819 - not featured in the above because they dont come up often. It looks normal size in the pic but its small, but perfectly proportioned for a female.

 

[JIM D.]

Hi GMC: And welcome. Not knowing what side of the pond your on, Iv'e not made comments to your post. As you may know here in the US the 95% of "used" accordions here are of either of US make up to the 1950's or Italian imports from the 1960's. German accordions were imported here but mainly of the button box type. I'm very curious to know what model Crucianelli you have ???