Starter Accordion Models (Article)

[murathan]

So you want to start to play an accordion. Which one to choose?

Many people will think to buy a piano accordion with Stradella bass system first which the treble side is made from piano keys. Everyone is familiar with these keys from childhood or from school music education.

It is a matter of budget and where you are living but you will think where you will spend your money. You will divide your budget to an instrument, lessons, sheet music (method books) and accessories like a sheet music table. A general idea is not to buy the cheapest and almost non-working instrument. I made 2 categories for you to select according to your budget situation.

Cheap Starter
I always suggest a 60 bass Weltmeister Stella (used). This model is the best price/value balance in general and in Turkey (where I live) and available to buy always. It is the most produced model of a piano accordion. In countries like U.S.A. there are many accordion shops, so brand and model options are wider. You can also rent instruments. The idea is to buy a 60 bass with a 3 reed block instrument which is a good choice. Thisway you will experience the potential of what an accordion can do. With having at least 60 bass and 3 reed blocks, you can go with that instrument almost indefinitely without buying another one, in the means of an average normal musician.

Good Starter
If you have a good budget, you will think to start with a brand new instrument. I suggest Hohner Bravo models like Hohner Bravo 3, with 80 or 96 bass. These are the best instruments what you can buy with that price. Of course other brands are about the same prices with these abilities you can select. The rules are same here. At least a 60 bass, 3 reed block instrument. Starting with a new instrument and a good looking shiny Hohner will make more pleasure and less repair problems for sure.

Have Fun

 

[debra]

The first suggestion may be a good one.
The suggestion that it might be a good idea to start with a brand new instrument (like Hohner Bravo) is actually not good at all.
If you want to start on a smaller instrument and already think of upgrading to something larger and better later, then buying any instrument brand new is a really bad idea, because the difference between what you pay for it and what you can sell it for later is by far the worst when buying a new instrument. It is just like when buying a car: by the time you leave the dealership with a brand new car it instantly loses about 30% of its value. Only after you have learned to play the accordion and want to get serious with it should you buy a new instrument to use for the next 30-odd years.

 

[Ffingers]

"Everyone is familiar with these keys from childhood or from school music education."
Well, not quite 'everyone'.
Those folk with very rational but adaptable minds will benefit from the more systematic layout of the Chromatic Button Accordion where distorting the natural movement of the hands and fingers as in the 'piano' keyboard is unnecessary and fingering can be adjusted very simply to accommodate more complex music; there is also the more compact nature of the button keyboard which allows for wider spans of notes and chords.
I thoroughly researched this topic before commencing my journey on the accordion and came to the conclusion that for me the best keyboard is the Bayan layout but had to search hard for instruments to suit my meagre resources: There are far more used C griff instruments available in CBA and very many more 'piano' accordions due to their historical popularity.
I have found this one to be a very suitable instrument for my ab initio studies:




I could have wished for a few couplers on the bass side for tonal range, but otherwise it suits me well.

I posted this on another thread - it shows clearly the very logical layout of the CBA keyboards:

The fingers tend to fall more naturally onto the buttons than on a 'piano'.

 

[Walker]

Thankyou @Ffingers for your excellent and informative piece on the accordion layout. Now, as resident country bumpkin I don't profess to know much about the chromatic button accordions, so I can't really comment on which is better. If you say it's bayan, then that's enough for me.

However...

When I apply the Father John MacMillan of Barra test (a tune that is ubiquitous in Scottish accordion circles) I find the piano accordion is supremely comfortable. There is ample real estate afforded by piano type keys that allows natural finger placement, cheeky wee grace notes and a tactile experience that is luxurious compared to the finger-tip-placement-with-zero-room-for-error style of the chromatic button accordion.

However, I suspect the C system is really a piano accordion masquerading in button clothes and many of the finger sequences in tunes are very similar to a piano accordion. In that regard, if playing Father John MacMillan of Barra on button accordion, I'd pick a C system.

Phil and Aly
(Father John Macmillan of Barra starts around 3 mins mark)

 

[Tom]

So you want to start to play an accordion. Which one to choose?

Many people will think to buy a piano accordion with Stradella bass system first which the treble side is made from piano keys. Everyone is familiar with these keys from childhood or from school music education.

It is a matter of budget and where you are living but you will think where you will spend your money. You will divide your budget to an instrument, lessons, sheet music (method books) and accessories like a sheet music table. A general idea is not to buy the cheapest and almost non-working instrument. I made 2 categories for you to select according to your budget situation.

Cheap Starter
I always suggest a 60 bass Weltmeister Stella (used). This model is the best price/value balance in general and in Turkey (where I live) and available to buy always. It is the most produced model of a piano accordion. In countries like U.S.A. there are many accordion shops, so brand and model options are wider. You can also rent instruments. The idea is to buy a 60 bass with a 3 reed block instrument which is a good choice. Thisway you will experience the potential of what an accordion can do. With having at least 60 bass and 3 reed blocks, you can go with that instrument almost indefinitely without buying another one, in the means of an average normal musician.

Good Starter
If you have a good budget, you will think to start with a brand new instrument. I suggest Hohner Bravo models like Hohner Bravo 3, with 80 or 96 bass. These are the best instruments what you can buy with that price. Of course other brands are about the same prices with these abilities you can select. The rules are same here. At least a 60 bass, 3 reed block instrument. Starting with a new instrument and a good looking shiny Hohner will make more pleasure and less repair problems for sure.

Have Fun

Thanks Murathan, your perspective from Turkey is interesting and refreshing. Please hang with us! Ffingers makes good points about the efficiency of the CBA too, but they are “rarer than hens’ teeth” around here. We can all argue about how to get the best, most reliable instrument, but let’s just say, everyone’s journey is different and unique, and when you find it, your heart will fill with joy and your music will be unavoidable.

 

[murathan]

Thats my advice when people reach me to get lessons. Also for YouTube viewers. Not perfect but gives an idea, which still is the only advice in Turkish. I ve made that a video but in Turkish. It was very necessary at 2017.

 

[murathan]

The first suggestion may be a good one.
The suggestion that it might be a good idea to start with a brand new instrument (like Hohner Bravo) is actually not good at all.
If you want to start on a smaller instrument and already think of upgrading to something larger and better later, then buying any instrument brand new is a really bad idea, because the difference between what you pay for it and what you can sell it for later is by far the worst when buying a new instrument. It is just like when buying a car: by the time you leave the dealership with a brand new car it instantly loses about 30% of its value. Only after you have learned to play the accordion and want to get serious with it should you buy a new instrument to use for the next 30-odd years.

1 US Dollar = 32 Turkish Lira so people must have guts to buy a brand new one here

 

[Walker]

1 US Dollar = 32 Turkish Lira so people must have guts to buy a brand new one here

guts... and a good calculator.

Many people will think to buy a piano accordion with Stradella bass system first which the treble side is made from piano keys. Everyone is familiar with these keys from childhood or from school music education.

Totally agree. Piano accordion is a wonderful gateway to the world of music... the right hand keyboard is not an accordion-centric design, it is a universal keyboard design.

Cheap Starter
I always suggest a 60 bass Weltmeister Stella (used). This model is the best price/value balance in general and in Turkey (where I live) and available to buy always. It is the most produced model of a piano accordion. In countries like U.S.A. there are many accordion shops, so brand and model options are wider. You can also rent instruments. The idea is to buy a 60 bass with a 3 reed block instrument which is a good choice. Thisway you will experience the potential of what an accordion can do. With having at least 60 bass and 3 reed blocks, you can go with that instrument almost indefinitely without buying another one, in the means of an average normal musician.

Good Starter
If you have a good budget, you will think to start with a brand new instrument. I suggest Hohner Bravo models like Hohner Bravo 3, with 80 or 96 bass. These are the best instruments what you can buy with that price. Of course other brands are about the same prices with these abilities you can select. The rules are same here. At least a 60 bass, 3 reed block instrument. Starting with a new instrument and a good looking shiny Hohner will make more pleasure and less repair problems for sure.

Thank you for these suggestions. I'm teaching my family the piano accordion and will be looking for a 72 bass (or more) accordion soon. Might consider a Hohner Concerto or a small Italian accordion too.

 

[kimric]

You are lucky it Turkey to have a lot of smaller used accordions. In the US the schools back in the accordion heyday pushed 120 bass instruments. The smaller vintage instruments are not that common so you have to take what you get when it comes to rebuilding them. The majority of these are from the 1920's and 30's. The advantage is they tend to be very compact in design but typically have 20mm keys.

 

[Pipemajor]

When I apply the Father John MacMillan of Barra test (a tune that is ubiquitous in Scottish accordion circles) I find the piano accordion is supremely comfortable

In actual fact all of these pipe tunes are probably easier on a CBA as you can easily stretch 2 octaves without moving the right hand, so 9 notes is a doddle.
My main problem with that tune is starting off playing Father John and unconciously going into Donald Macleans Farewell to Oban (not only on the accordion)