debra post_id=63856 time=1540928461 user_id=605 said:
1) You MUST be able to visit the seller and try the instrument. Buying a used accordion unseen and untried is a REALLY BAD IDEA. The only possible exception is when you know the instrument model you buy is a recent model so the instrument cannot be older than a few years and is therefore unlikely to have major issues unless there was an accident.
2) You MUST be able to get the instrument repaired by a trusted repair person. It is highly unlikely that a used instrument you buy from an ordinary user needs no work, so you need to be able to get that done.
I follow on-line market places and there is a lot of junk for sale and there are few instruments on offer that look decent.
Very well put Paul. You wont get any better advice than that.
The fact is the chances are that you simply wont get any accordion delivered to your door which does not require some attention, however slight. Even a brand new one will have settled a bit, and may need to be spot tuned.
Therefore, even if you consider the first caveat does not hold any weight in your particular circumstances, and you are prepared to go against the advice on offer, then you cannot sidestep number 2. Its when youre at stage 2 that you might wish you had considered stage 1, especially if the repairer tells you that youd have been better putting your money on the 3.30 at Cheltenham (a UK horse race track).
On a forum such as this one very few people will actually admit that theyve had a bad experience with a mail order accordion. Even the good experiences tend not to be up for discussion.
If anybody is keeping a record of online experiences, Ive bought one brand new accordion online, and there simply is no substitute for trying before you buy. Mine came from the USA, and Id rather have wasted the money on the air fare to the store and rejected it there and then. Now I need to find somewhere to store it. I could always try and sell it online, but I reckon the guys with the black limo would be here before it sold. Please note, I wasnt ripped off. I actually saved a few hundred £GBP, and the last race was over at Cheltenham the day I decided to buy it. It just wasnt what I expected, pure and simple, and it needed tuning when it arrived. It might actually be worth something as a novelty, as few accordions will have travelled the distance this one has. China to the USA to the UK before anybody realised two reeds were out of tune. It also bore a German quality control tag inferring it had been checked by Hohner technicians in Germany. Dont know how they managed that.
OK it wasnt a Bugari or a Borsini, but after that experience it wouldnt matter if it was a £30,000 concert bayan. If I couldnt play it first I wouldnt buy it. Ill wager there are Friday afternoon £30,000 bayans out there too.
Im an optimist really. I know if I dont buy that £30,000 bayan my money will be safe.