Buying accordion overseas sight unseen advisable?

[utterances]

Hi folks, as an aspiring player wanting to upgrade from my wee beginner accordion, I've been looking for an irish / French folk sound in a Saltarelle or even Castagnari PA. As I am based in USA, I almost got a used Saltarelle from Liberty Bellows this year and had to painfully return the instrument when it was damaged during shipping. I'm now thinking of ordering from shops in EU who potentially have stock like O’Neill’s Music Shop in Northern Ireland:

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boorinwoodmusic.com

the cost and logistics of visiting them in person is difficult so I'm curious if experienced folks here think is advisable to have pricy instruments like this shipped over seas from UK > USA (and given my recent bad experience with shipping im extra cautious but I could also just got unlucky), and any complications for quality/defects/store warranties?

any pointers would be helpful!
p.s. of course alternatively I'd just have to wait a long while for another instrument to pop up here closer to home.

 

[Tom]

Sorry to hear of your bad fortune with shipping. Thousands of accordions are successfully shipped everyday, but, as you have experienced, not all make it. . I have had at least 5 shipped with no problem. I would not worry about this as an issue, but would say yeah, go with someone with experience in shipping if you can. Good luck!

 

[murathan]

You can buy another from Liberty Bellows. It was a bad luck incident I think. I didnt do business with them but they are trustable to my opinion.

 

[Xiane]

Hi folks, as an aspiring player wanting to upgrade from my wee beginner accordion, I've been looking for an irish / French folk sound in a Saltarelle or even Castagnari PA. As I am based in USA, I almost got a used Saltarelle from Liberty Bellows this year and had to painfully return the instrument when it was damaged during shipping. I'm now thinking of ordering from shops in EU who potentially have stock like O’Neill’s Music Shop in Northern Ireland:

Search

boorinwoodmusic.com

the cost and logistics of visiting them in person is difficult so I'm curious if experienced folks here think is advisable to have pricy instruments like this shipped over seas from UK > USA (and given my recent bad experience with shipping im extra cautious but I could also just got unlucky), and any complications for quality/defects/store warranties?

any pointers would be helpful!
p.s. of course alternatively I'd just have to wait a long while for another instrument to pop up here closer to home.

I've had mixed results, and there's really no knowing why it happened that way.

One, a cheap old one row melodeon for me to fix up was packed like nitroglycerin and arrived in perfect, though already somewhat dilapidated, shape.

Another, an impressive old Hohner that was restored for me was well packed, double boxed, the works, but that was no match for the USPS, and the treble reed blocks all came loose. Fortunately the design just had them pinned in, and it was an easy fix after sorting out some rattling reeds.

You might ask about the UK shops on melodeon.net

 

[debra]

Shipping accordions can be a nightmare, only surpassed (in horror) by traveling with an accordion as checked baggage.
Shipping can be done safely when you use a crate that allows for at least 6 inches of padding on all sides of the accordion. Strangely enough accordion factories ship their new instruments with much less padding. A lot of padding is better insurance than any insurance you can pay for when booking the shipping.
As for buying... buying an accordion sight unseen is ALWAYS a very bad idea, even when it doesn't have to go overseas. The safest way to get an accordion is to travel to wherever it is, try it out there, then carry it back home yourself. If this involves air travel, pay for an extra seat for the accordion. Under no circumstances let the accordion travel as checked baggage (in the cargo hold). The likelihood of it arriving without any damage is extremely small.

 

[colinm]

I have had about ten accordions shipped from europe to uk, one from usa to uk and twenty within uk, no damage.
It is very difficult to insure musical instruments for shipping within uk.
I think you would be unlucky to suffer damage when shipping from a reputable supplier, however, the more I buy, the more I wish I could try before I buy.
( I only have 3 accordions at present)

 

[OuijaBoard]

I've done it, with good results. But none were high-end investments. A Titano Titan 30/50 from Canada in pristine condition at a bargain price. A couple of small new 3-row Hohner Nova CBAs I acquired a year apart specifically for outdoor traditional Scottish music festival performances. All stolen from my home late in February along with other instruments in a burglary/ransacking that has been very traumatic.

I have looked at new Italian PAs and CBAs in stock with European dealers, as the simple fact is the selection is better abroad than in the U.S., most especially for CBAs. But it has to be weighed against the potential headache if there is some problem.

 

[Aaron]

It is extremely difficult and stressful getting any of the major carriers to pay a shipping damage claim. If you can find a 3rd party (independent) insurer, you would probably be better off. Also, see the packing instructions Debra gave. Sellers claim to know how to ship instruments, but most never double-box, nor follow the 2 inch rule, let alone the 6-inch rule Debra stated.

As somebody who works at a major shipping company, I can tell you anecdotally that damage most often occurs on poorly packed items. It seems obvious, but people, and even large companies choose to avoid proper box sizes and skimp on the packing material.

 

[Rosie C]

I bought an accordion and had it shipped - its value was roughly what it would have cost me to travel to collect it. It arrived without any damage to the case, but some of the Stradella buttons were jammed in. That made for a pleasant boxing day afternoon with a friend who is a retired engineer who loved exploring accordion innards, but it taught me a lesson not to ship one again.

 

[Corinto]

Hi, I've had shipped 10 accordions within Europe, and then to pre-brexit UK for tuning and/or overhaul and back to me, still own 6 of these. Iirc 16 times shipped, all within Europe, and never a problem. The UK people I worked with really did a good job with correct padding, so Iearned to pack very carefully, mostly with 2 inch padding.

On planes I take a really small accordion so it goes with me as cabin luggage.

Of course I've also seen once a wrecked (brand new) accordion here at a fettler's place in Spain, as since brexit I need a fettler here.

 

[tcabot]

Padding the accordion inside the case is probably more important than outside padding. There's no joy in 2 inch padding on the outside if the squeezebox is wobbling loose inside its case.

 

[vivdunstan]

I’ve bought 2 accordions overseas, one from Germany, one newly built for me from France. Both reached me in the UK fine. Maugein in France were particularly impressive re the phenomenally thick internal walls of padded packing they used. I’d do it again. I’m severely disabled from a progressive neurological disease, housebound, and largely bed bound. So travelling to try and fetch myself is just not an option.

 

[utterances]

appreciate hearing all the different experiences about shipping, now I think im leaning towards buying from a US shop where I can just drive there and collect instead of rely on shipping. potential of dealing with shipping mishaps and repair seems can be quite frustrating...

I did emailed the ONeil's shop briefly earlier about how they ship and and they sound pretty confident about packing accordion for shipping to US, and that insurance would cover... I didnt know getting a damage claim can be difficult though, that's very good to know!

It is extremely difficult and stressful getting any of the major carriers to pay a shipping damage claim. If you can find a 3rd party (independent) insurer, you would probably be better off. Also, see the packing instructions Debra gave. Sellers claim to know how to ship instruments, but most never double-box, nor follow the 2 inch rule, let alone the 6-inch rule Debra stated.

As somebody who works at a major shipping company, I can tell you anecdotally that damage most often occurs on poorly packed items. It seems obvious, but people, and even large companies choose to avoid proper box sizes and skimp on the packing material.

 

[Xiane]

I bought an accordion and had it shipped - its value was roughly what it would have cost me to travel to collect it. It arrived without any damage to the case, but some of the Stradella buttons were jammed in. That made for a pleasant boxing day afternoon with a friend who is a retired engineer who loved exploring accordion innards, but it taught me a lesson not to ship one again.

At one point I figured out that the cost of shipping a case of wine somewhere, with customs, etc, etc, without a volume deal with a shipping company, would cost the same as a weirdly super cheap airline ticket, and I could just declare the wine mine at customs with little cost. So I flew the wine across the pacific. Also the person on the other end was a friend, and we ended up rambling all over the place.

 

[Xiane]

Padding the accordion inside the case is probably more important than outside padding. There's no joy in 2 inch padding on the outside if the squeezebox is wobbling loose inside its case.

I wonder if stuffing the inside of the bellows/reedblocks with some of those Amazon type inflatable shipping "pillows" might not help? It would have helped in my case. The damage is all fixed, and it wasn't a big deal, but it could have been, and this would have prevented anything sliding out of place, if you could close it up, anyway. And then fill the box the accordion is in with them as well. And the second box.

If they popped or whatever, you don't have some annoying substance to remove from the inside of the accordion. It should come out cleanly.

 

[tcabot]

Apologies - I meant inside the accordion storage case, not inside the actual accordion!
So, Accordion -> padded inside hard case -> padded inside a decent quality cardboard box (or two).

 

[Xiane]

Apologies - I meant inside the accordion storage case, not inside the actual accordion!
So, Accordion -> padded inside hard case -> padded inside a decent quality cardboard box (or two).

For me, something inside the accordion itself would have helped, honestly. The accordion itself was packed according to the wisdom here. It should have been fine, but I guess someone dropped it really hard, or kicked it, or did whatever the USPS does, and the reed blocks came loose. Again, easy fix, but annoying.

 

[Rosie C]

At one point I figured out that the cost of shipping a case of wine somewhere, with customs, etc, etc, without a volume deal with a shipping company, would cost the same as a weirdly super cheap airline ticket, and I could just declare the wine mine at customs with little cost. So I flew the wine across the pacific. Also the person on the other end was a friend, and we ended up rambling all over the place.

Back in the 1990s I worked for an Italian computer software company, in their UK office. Once every few months they did a complete data backup by dial-up internet (ISDN) which took about 24 hours. I worked out it was cheaper for me to ride my motorcycle to Italy with a backup tape. It sounded great to me, but sadly my boss didn't accept my proposal

 

[Xiane]

Back in the 1990s I worked for an Italian computer software company, in their UK office. Once every few months they did a complete data backup by dial-up internet (ISDN) which took about 24 hours. I worked out it was cheaper for me to ride my motorcycle to Italy with a backup tape. It sounded great to me, but sadly my boss didn't accept my proposal

That's funny. In the early days of digital production I knew someone who did a lot work with stuff produced in Japan but was adapted for an English speaking market. So you could edit and render, and dub, and all that, but to send it back from the US to Japan and vice-versa, for certain revisions, approvals, added content, etc, without compressing, would take days and days. So at major milestones it worked out to be faster, and better, to fly someone with a briefcase full of hard drives to Japan.

 

[Rodney]

Hi folks, as an aspiring player wanting to upgrade from my wee beginner accordion, I've been looking for an irish / French folk sound in a Saltarelle or even Castagnari PA. As I am based in USA, I almost got a used Saltarelle from Liberty Bellows this year and had to painfully return the instrument when it was damaged during shipping. I'm now thinking of ordering from shops in EU who potentially have stock like O’Neill’s Music Shop in Northern Ireland: the cost and logistics of visiting them in person is difficult so I'm curious if experienced folks here think is advisable to have pricy instruments like this shipped over seas from UK > USA (and given my recent bad experience with shipping im extra cautious but I could also just got unlucky), and any complications for quality/defects/store warranties?
any pointers would be helpful!
p.s. of course alternatively I'd just have to wait a long while for another instrument to pop up here closer to home.

I agree that it’s best to use well established music shops, with the rider that I had a bad experience with gear4music and realised they aren’t a real music shop, just box shifters and not very good ones at that!