best accordion ever heard

[Miroslav1806]

What is the best accordion you ever heard?

 

[Miroslav1806]

Mine was a Russian Jupiter

 

[Tom]

The one my hands are currently caressing, squeezing.

 

[JerryPH]

There simply is no one "best"... IMHO there are 2 basic answers to that... one of which Tom already mentioned (the one thats in his hands at any given moment)... or simply "the one that sounds the best to you". Its more "favourites" than any true "absolute" final answer.

My preference? Easy, the only accordion that ever gave me goosebumps when playing it... a Hohner Gola.

 

[Walker]

Hi Miroslav1806,

Firstly, the best any of us can manage is to choose an instrument that enhances the music we wish to play.

Secondly, the search for the perfect instrument is a folly, because there is no perfect accordion.

I would simply expand on these two comments by saying that, to me, the goal of creating beautiful, expressive and sensitive music is a quest. It is a long journey that has no final destination. But I believe there is great merit in considering a free bass accordion.

I used to own a Hohner Gola, it was a stradella bass model 414 from 1963. As impresssive an instrument as it was, the stradella bass has too many limitations for really expressive and artistic music. I now play a modest Pigini with converter. At retail price it is probably a quarter of the cost of a new Gola 414. Yet, I say this in all sincerity - it is vastly superior to the stradella bass Gola 414 in its musical potential. I get 10 times more satisfaction playing my Pigini than I ever did from playing my Gola or my vintage Super VI. I am only surprised that it took me so long to realise my goal of playing free bass. I now feel that my music before free bass was 'a half life' musically speaking. I therefore respect your choice of Jupiter, it would serve you well. However, there are a number of Italian makes that I would personally choose over any Russian accordion. But that is simply my personal opinion.

We should not get too carried away with accordion models because they end up becoming status symbols and their musical capabilities become of secondary value. In fact, I listened to an accordionist playing a piece of music on a Gola 414 on Youtube. The accordion was gleaming, but the music was very limited - I am talking about the projection of artful and beautifully fluid sounds.

When I listen to music now, I listen to violin, cello, clarinet, piano etc. and full orchestra. At some point I hope all accordionists investigate converter instruments with stradella and free bass. Stradella is good and must be maintained, but I think until converter free bass becomes more common the accordion will continue, in the eyes of the non-accordion playing world, to lag behind the other musical instruments.

Free bass is available in many different versions, and with a bit of research we can all find a version to suit our way of thinking and playing.​

There is no best accordion as JerryPH says, but I could easily choose from Scandalli, Pigini, Zero Sette, Victoria and find a very satisfactory instrument.

 

[JerryPH]

Yup, and just to expand, if I was to find my "perfect" accordion, it would a 1960-1980 Gola 459 (5 sets of reeds on both left and right hands AND a 185 bass MIII Free Bass on it just like mu Hohner Morino VI N). A beast of an accordion, but that would be my choice for me (in my dreams it has to have Free Bass!... haha)

 

[Hongyu]

Victoria made Titano Royal or Emperor with Catraro reeds and Cassotto from 1960s. But I also have a non-chambered Titano Cosmopolitan made by Victoria from 1960s, the sound is not better, not worse, but different. I love them equally.
I also like bright sounds from a french Cavagnolo, roughness from a vintage entry-level accordion and "organ sound" from a Hohner Imperator VI.

 

[Pipemajor]

Surely it's all a question of horses for courses.
I could argue that it must be the Shand Morino as it was purely designed for Jimmy Shand's music and method of playing.
Of course it would sound out of place in other genres.

 

[debra]

Yup, and just to expand, if I was to find my "perfect" accordion, it would a 1960-1980 Gola 459 (5 sets of reeds on both left and right hands AND a 185 bass MIII Free Bass on it just like mu Hohner Morino VI N). A beast of an accordion, but that would be my choice for me (in my dreams it has to have Free Bass!... haha)

I have done work on a 60s Gola 459 and I wholeheartedly agree that this is a dream accordion in terms of sound and possibilities. People who don't know what it is should listen to some recordings by Mie Miki (especially playing baroque music).
In terms of quality of the mechanics there isn't much difference with the Morino. (The bass side is still quite different though.) Hohner sadly (had Excelsior) put in tipo a mano reeds in the Morino, to protect the market for the Gola (with a mano reeds).

 

[Valski]

The one my hands are currently caressing, squeezing.

How true, with the exception of an absolute piece of junk, they all have something that makes them attractive. When you coax sounds from them they can have some sort of allure.

To me accordions are much like the fairer sex, they're all enticing!

 

[JerryPH]

I have done work on a 60s Gola 459 and I wholeheartedly agree that this is a dream accordion in terms of sound and possibilities. People who don't know what it is should listen to some recordings by Mie Miki (especially playing baroque music).
In terms of quality of the mechanics there isn't much difference with the Morino. (The bass side is still quite different though.) Hohner sadly (had Excelsior) put in tipo a mano reeds in the Morino, to protect the market for the Gola (with a mano reeds).

True about the reeds... I've looked in to it and I could replace all the reeds in my Morino with "a Mano" for about 1/4 to 1/3rd the price of a Gola (ballpark estimate), that includes the reeds, installation and tuning by a professional. If I ever get fed up looking for that magical Gola, I'll just do that, if I ever feel the need to go that route.

 

[Mr Mark]

The best I have heard in person to date was a Castagnari, perhaps the Handry 2000 model. Granted, I haven't heard a lot of high end units in person but this thing was pretty superb, as was the player - and definitely a much higher level of craftsmanship than I realized was available up until that point. I really wish I had more references but around here that isn't going to happen alas.

 

[GeorgeH76]

An Excelsior played by Art Van Damme....all you need is the Bassoon reed.

 

[Dingo40]

One of my favourite players!

 

[Walker]

I believe the best Scottish accordion music ever is from the 1950s to 1980s.

I like Jimmy Shand's Morino:


I also like Lindsay Ross on the Gola:


In terms of Scottish classical musicians I like the music of Ryan Corbett, with Bugari converter.

 

[Vladimir M.]

What is the best accordion you ever heard?

Hi,

the beauty of sound is subjective to every accordionist. It is also important whether you hear the instrument "live" or from a recording. The most beautiful sound of the instrument I have ever heard from the recording can be found on this website:

https://collectionsdumusee.philharmoniedeparis.fr/doc/MUSEE/0818063/accordeon-chromatique

There are two audio samples available. When I listen to this instrument, figuratively speaking, “I go to my knees”. Perfect for me. It is an instrument of the famous Freddy Balta, the first winner of the famous Coupe Mondiale.

Best regards, Vladimir

 

[Walker]

I think one of the best accordionists Britain ever produced was a man called Jack Emblow.

He was famous for his Jazz music but he was so good, so musical, he could make any accordion sing and he did lots of other things including recording themes for famous TV shows etc...

He recorded with one of the great Jazz guitarists, Martin Taylor. I remember Martin Taylor made a CD called Spirit of Django and Jack Emblow was one of the band members. Anyway, for all the Jazz, Jack Emblow played his American Excelsior - one of the very best Jazz accordions. It could easily go on the list of great instruments.

However, the band recorded a piece called Musette for a Magpie, composed by Martin Taylor. Jack used a musette tuned accordion. Now I don't know what accordion it was, I heard once that it might have been a musette tuned Borsini - but I can't say for sure. However, the musette on his accordion is really nice. Maybe someone can tell me what musette accordion he played...

 

[Walker]

Just one more... Enrique Ugarte's Dallape Supermaestro IV deserves a mention as one of the best classic accordions with stradella bass. I think it is my favourite accordion ever.

I could choose any number of recordings, but Aranjuez composed by Rodrigo is special.

 

[debra]

True about the reeds... I've looked in to it and I could replace all the reeds in my Morino with "a Mano" for about 1/4 to 1/3rd the price of a Gola (ballpark estimate), that includes the reeds, installation and tuning by a professional. If I ever get fed up looking for that magical Gola, I'll just do that, if I ever feel the need to go that route.

Replacing the reeds would definitely make a difference. You would still be missing the MIII bass side going down all the way in just a single L voice (thus without being forced to LM in the lowest octave). You would also still miss the sordino (which also influences the sound even when it's open as even "open" it still closes off about 50% of the treble side... Other than these two aspects you would be getting closer in terms of sound (and the Morino isn't far off to begin with).
The 1960's Gola was clearly a different beast than the Morino, looking on the inside. When I look at a more modern Gola and Morino (say from just before Pigini bought Excelsior and killed the Morino as it was) they look much more similar to each other (minus the sordino). My guess is that as Hohner reduced the Gola workforce (and had essentially no Morino workforce, having the work done by Excelsior) the Gola became more and more a "standard" Italian construction in order to use commonly available parts as much as possible. The same is true for most Italian accordions as well: manufacturers make their own "bodywork" and reed blocks but pretty much everything else that you find in an accordion comes from the same set of suppliers (and that includes what goes into a Gola). The body and reed blocks have to be made to "fit" with these other standard components.

 

[Vladimir M.]

As for the Gola: there is no immediate birth of a legend. It always takes some time to spread a good reputation. With his famous model, Giovanni Gola followed up on the design of his predecessor Venanzio Morino at the beginning of his mission in Trossingen. Proof: a comparison of the identical resonators-arrangement of the bass part of the Hohner Morino VIM (the same scheme of 3+1 reed-blocks), Hohner Artiste and one of the first Gola instruments:


Sources: https://reverb.com/item/19489220-hohner-morino-vi-m-1960-s-free-bass https://m.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/hohner-morino-vi-m-studioinstrument/2031944645-74-5336
https://reverb.com/item/29440636-hohner-gola-459-1960-s-gloss-black-gold https://ac-pfister.com/galerie#p https://oki-toki.com/bayan-hohner-morino-artiste-ix-d-germaniya-moskva-i477442

Later, the Gola (standardbas+freebas) model had bass resonators arranged differently (like this 454):

Source: https://reverb.com/item/22301742-3423-black-hohner-gola-piano-accordion-lmmh-45-191

But yes. Today, we can consider the Gola the most widespread legend about the best instrument in the world.

Best regards, Vladimir