R
redpola
Guest
Hi!
So, I'm 42, and have owned and badly-played an accordion for about 20 years. I actually play guitar, piano and drums, so accordion sort of took a back seat. Currently I've several "vintage" (i.e. need repair) accordions, and one Chinese Baile Superchampion which just about plays ok. Oh, and a Roland FR2.
I've also an old Italian accordion - the name of which escapes me, but which has an interesting story attached to it, which I'll share.
The story starts the day I saw the Chinese accordion in the window of cash converters in Cambridge. I haggled and paid something like £120 for it, which pleased me a great deal, having a "proper" instrument on which all the notes played and nothing was rotting/dropping off. I walked down the road towards my home and dropped in to see my friend Greg who managed Coral's (the bookies) at the time.
"Guess what's in this case!" I said, holding up my silly-shaped accordion case. Before he could answer, some heavily-accented regular punter was accosting me and I suddenly found myself in conversation with "Italian Tony" whom I'd never seen before. He informed me that my case contained an accordion and he had one in his shed, which I MUST go and see immediately. I looked up at Greg who gave me a "he's ok (and not a serial killer)" signal and with that we jumped in Italian Tony's car for the two minute journey to his house.
I was directed to the shed at the bottom of his garden, and after some rummaging he produced another oddly-shaped instrument case. We opened it and inside was this beautiful beast. "Does it play?" I asked. He didn't know - apparently the story goes that it belonged to his (actually Italian) father and had been in the shed since he'd passed away. "You can have it!", Tony insisted. Well, I don't believe in anything for nothing, but Tony was insistent, so we cut a deal where I insisted he had all the money I had right then in my pockets for the accordion. This pleased him no end as it meant he could instantly return to the bookies and give it all to my mate Greg on the off chance of winning some money. I had something like £35-45 in my pocket......
When I got the beast home I carefully took it apart. A few dropped reeds, but the bellows were good (it didn't look like anyone had tried to play it after the reeds had dropped) - and the wax had dried and cracked so needed resealing. I made good with it temporarily and it plays beautifully and sounds fantastic - one day I'll need to replace the leathers and it should be as good as new.
And that's the story of the day I bought two accordions, one accidentally.
Cheers,
Neil.
So, I'm 42, and have owned and badly-played an accordion for about 20 years. I actually play guitar, piano and drums, so accordion sort of took a back seat. Currently I've several "vintage" (i.e. need repair) accordions, and one Chinese Baile Superchampion which just about plays ok. Oh, and a Roland FR2.
I've also an old Italian accordion - the name of which escapes me, but which has an interesting story attached to it, which I'll share.
The story starts the day I saw the Chinese accordion in the window of cash converters in Cambridge. I haggled and paid something like £120 for it, which pleased me a great deal, having a "proper" instrument on which all the notes played and nothing was rotting/dropping off. I walked down the road towards my home and dropped in to see my friend Greg who managed Coral's (the bookies) at the time.
"Guess what's in this case!" I said, holding up my silly-shaped accordion case. Before he could answer, some heavily-accented regular punter was accosting me and I suddenly found myself in conversation with "Italian Tony" whom I'd never seen before. He informed me that my case contained an accordion and he had one in his shed, which I MUST go and see immediately. I looked up at Greg who gave me a "he's ok (and not a serial killer)" signal and with that we jumped in Italian Tony's car for the two minute journey to his house.
I was directed to the shed at the bottom of his garden, and after some rummaging he produced another oddly-shaped instrument case. We opened it and inside was this beautiful beast. "Does it play?" I asked. He didn't know - apparently the story goes that it belonged to his (actually Italian) father and had been in the shed since he'd passed away. "You can have it!", Tony insisted. Well, I don't believe in anything for nothing, but Tony was insistent, so we cut a deal where I insisted he had all the money I had right then in my pockets for the accordion. This pleased him no end as it meant he could instantly return to the bookies and give it all to my mate Greg on the off chance of winning some money. I had something like £35-45 in my pocket......
When I got the beast home I carefully took it apart. A few dropped reeds, but the bellows were good (it didn't look like anyone had tried to play it after the reeds had dropped) - and the wax had dried and cracked so needed resealing. I made good with it temporarily and it plays beautifully and sounds fantastic - one day I'll need to replace the leathers and it should be as good as new.
And that's the story of the day I bought two accordions, one accidentally.
Cheers,
Neil.
