Wow!
Does anyone recognise exactly what instrument is being played here?
It sounds like a baroque flute occasionally
Does anyone recognise exactly what instrument is being played here?
It sounds like a baroque flute occasionally
Fantastic performance, music and instrument
- Thread starter saundersbp
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Pigini with alternative (closed) grille, B griff, quint system melody bass. Exact model is hard to say, but this sound I would not easily mistake for another, even with the alternative grille.
Thanks Paul - I couldn't have guessed it was Pigini as I didn't the usual badge on it!
Professional performers often do not use the badge so as to avoid issues with the manufacturer's name being considered advertising. For me the two not very conclusive visual cues were the bellow pins and the bass registers, but they are not unique. Most characteristic is simply the sound. The treble side isn't a very good indicator because of the effect the alternative grille has. The bass side is also not very conclusive because 1) a quint convertor sounds differently from a chromatic convertor and 2) there may be a sordino-like deivce inside the bass compartment that we cannot see...
So take my guess with a grain of salt. It is very hard to really identify an accordion by its sound because you don't know how the recording is done, you don't know about alterations (like the treble grille here), you don't know whether an M or L register is played (and both sound quite differently), etc...
I once saw a video on Facebook of a woman playing a song on a Ballone Burini button accordion, filmed in a tropical setting, so obviously playback on top of a studio audio recording. I quickly noticed the sound to not be of a Ballone Burini as shown and sure enough the poster/player confirmed the song was recorded on a Jupiter bayan... So you cannot generally believe what you see and have to really listen.
In the video you posted the player did his best to make his bayan sound more like a Bugari or even a Russian bayan (mostly by means of the grille) but I still believe it's a Pigini. (It's definitely not a Russian bayan because of 1) the bass registers and 2) the single L reed used for the bass, which a Russian bayan cannot do.)
I was mistaken about the quint system. He is playing a (russian system) B-griff melody bass. His use of melody bass with Stradella base notes mixed in had me confused.
And if I may make a further educated guess I believe what he is playing is the model Bayan 58/B de Luxe (but with alternative grille).
And if I may make a further educated guess I believe what he is playing is the model Bayan 58/B de Luxe (but with alternative grille).
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Brilliant piece of detective work - thank you - I want one! 
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