Keymn post_id=54976 time=1517491830 user_id=2502 said:
When I decided to go back to accordion playing, I purchased a $300 model at a Pawn Shop. Basic ladies size single reed accordion, some off brand. Did my first couple gigs and got a couple good reviews...
Believe me, I am not virtuoso on the accordion and self taught. So I think it is more attitude and smile <EMOJI seq=1f60a>?</EMOJI>.
You sing. The instrument then basically determines how much fun you have.
That being said: of a lady-size Contello PA I sold (because I no longer did PA), the main registration as well as the one I used when performing was M. This was a seriously nice-sounding instrument. Now a single-reed accordion still sounds different from playing a single reed on a 4-reed accordion, but this accordion was not really large (in spite of being 41/120) and had only registers L, M, H, LH, and LMH. So clearly M
was the intended main registration. And it was a really wonderful M (tipo a mano, leather valves, and very nice and pliable sound quality, mellow but distinctive, matched in volume to the rather weak bass).
It wasnt exactly a $300 buy at a Pawn Shop but could have been. Sometimes you get lucky. I got my main instrument on a flushout sale and have by now invested several multiples of its original price. As a result, I am now a 4-row C system player, used to having the diminished chord row where Russians would expect it, and seriously awkward with register switches (my main instrument has no combination registers but thumb levers on the right and thumb sliders on the left). Also I depend more than other players on using the air button (which extends over the full height of the accordion).
In short: the instrument made the choices for the player rather than the other way round. Basically it had the upper hand with its if you want it differently, you can pay for it yourself attitude.
Having it built on order would have been prohibitively expensive at any point of time. When you have a bunch of money available, you dont need to rely on sifting through leftovers on the hunt for treasures and adapting to them. You get what you pay for gets truer the more standardized what you are looking for is, and the more you know what you want. And of course, it depends on how long you are prepared to wait for luck to come around your parts.