Help needed with Chinese accordion!

[wout]

Hello! Recently I have been trying to do alot of research on Chinese accordions, for the simple reason that it is way cheaper. Thing is I found an accordion brand called Black Diamond and overall reviews tell me it is great quality for the price. I am looking for a chinese manufactured cassotto accordion and unfortunately tBlack DIamond stopped selling them because there is not enough interest. I found another manufacturer called Elane but I can't really find anything about them. I see they produce cassotto accordions with cagnoni reeds in them and on request its even possible to order a mano reeds. Now thats great for the price you pay compared to the Italian manufacturers. I would love to buy one if those since for me the Italian brands are to expensive ( since I believe you also pay alot for the name written on it). So the question is: Does anyone have any experience with chinese cassotto accordions and especially with this brand?

Thanks in advance for your help

 

[wout]

Oh and here is a link to the accordions I am talking about:

http://www.elane-electronics.com/elane_accordion/Elane_Accordion_piano.html#

 

[JerryPH]

Since this is an international board, it would perhaps help a little knowing where you are located.

However, I think that you will find one adage that pretty much always is true... you get what you pay for. This means that if you pay low for a new accordion, it likely will not be very good. This is not always true, but probably is true 95%\of the time. Again, speaking generally, oriental accordions do not have the best reputation for making good accordions. In my opinion, I would suggest that you look at higher quality used accordions for the same price or less, but that is only my opinion.

When buying a new instrument, it is important to define what you want to play, where you are located, what your budget is and then start the research from there.

 

[wout]

I am located in Holland/Germany and there are plenty of good instruments here. However if you want to buy a decent cassotto accordions second hand its quite expensive as well and people still use names and made in Italy to as more money for them. Thing is with this black diamnond accordions for example they wrote this on the FAQ: "How come they’re so cheap?
They’re not, relatively speaking. The same factory produces accordions for the domestic Chinese market at roughly half the price, which use domestic mass-produced reeds. These are top-end accordions, played by professional classical musicians in China who are every bit as demanding as their western counterparts. Our instruments are affordable because there is still a disparity in labour rates between craftsmen in Europe and China."

Have to say it does make sense. Thing remains I can't find anyone with real experience with an accordion that supposedly high end market. (black diamond is ran by an english couple who supervise, I believe Elane is run by a German guy)

 

[wout]

I mean it is nowhere near a professional italian accordion probably but it might be better to buy a new unused one then go for a 60 year old second hand

 

[debra]

While the "you get what you pay for" saying is certainly true it is also the case that labor is a lot cheaper in China than for instance in Italy. When you buy an Italian accordion (and when it is really made in Italy) the higher labor cost not only makes the instrument more expensive but also means that it is likely that fewer hours went into production and especially quality control.
The Italian accordion will likely have better construction and material, but when it leaves the factory it is also likely to still have some mechanical problems and be out of tune, problems which are often easy to fix so that when you buy the accordion through a professional dealer you can hope that the dealer has fixed all these problems before selling the instrument to you.
I heard from a reputable source that when a Pigini Sirius Bayan leaves the factory it may still have around 60 issues that need to be taken care of before the instrument can be handed to the (professional) player.
With a Chinese instrument the material itself may not be up to par which makes it hard or impossible to fix. At the Frankfurter musikmesse I checked out the keyboard of a Golden Cup PA and a Parrot PA and on the Golden Cup there was a clear difference in required force to play the black versus the white keys. On the Parrot (a company in the accordion business for longer already) there was no big difference in required force. So clearly not all Chinese instruments are of similar quality.

 

[Deleted member 48]

Sino-US joint venture Jiangyin Goldencup Angels Musical Instruments Co., Ltd, a bright pearl in Yangtse River
http://www.chinagoldencup.com/en/about.html

http://www.chinagoldencup.com/en/contact.html

Contact Mr. shi. ...

charming: the concertinas are a subcategory of the tambourine section... :
http://www.chinagoldencup.com/en/pro6_1.html

 

[Deleted member 48]

just a question, on their Golden Cup accordion website, under accordion accessories, there is a reed item:

http://www.chinagoldencup.com/en/pro01_50.html

It is not clear if these are self made in the factory, or import from another country.
The about us section is silent on reed production or import of reeds / reedplates.

Who knows more?

 

[Deleted member 48]

At Parrot accordions, comrade Luo is at your service (click on the leadership link, under company)

http://www.ywyueqi.com/en/About_1.aspx?id=1

In 2015 they were recruiting people, also sales people.

 

[wout]

well I have to say never seen that before, a whole plate with the reeds in it instead of all seperate reeds. Anyone has knowledge about that??

 

[wout]

And yes thats the problem there is no information at all about these instruments. Not the kind of reeds used kind not what kind of wood nothing. Thats the problem and that is why I stumbled on these western venturers working with the Chinese because they have quality control checks and have more information about the material and properties on the instruments.

 

[debra]

well I have to say never seen that before, a whole plate with the reeds in it instead of all seperate reeds. Anyone has knowledge about that??

This was first common in Russian bayans and still is. Later Italians started making them too. Some bayan type Italian accordions have larger plates with several reeds on them, sometimes a whole octave for the lefthand side. My Pigini basson C39 has reed plates with (2x) 6 reeds on them, for the lower 3 octaves. These larger reed plates are often seen as high end but in fact it can also be used in cheaper instruments because they make the construction easier: the reedplates are mounted on the reed blocks with a leather buffer and are held in place with hooks. So no messing with wax, and the reed plates go on and come off easily for easier tuning and repair.