Just received this one from Goodwill auction from southern Florida, shipped all the way to northern California, only with a paper box without any padding, for the hard case or the accordion itself. Paid total of $830 USD. I wrote the store pleading with them for careful packing, ... to no avail. Luckily, when I opened the box, only the leather corner protectors of hard case were gone (dont know happened during shipping or before that), and now I just noticed that the pearl cover for triple musette switch is missing. Its not in the accordion case, but it was shown in the auction images (see below), so it must fall off somehow during the packing... Sad :evil: :hb .
The great news is this accordion itself is in PERFECT condition, not a single reed, button, or switch is loose, stuck, or has any other problem. What a miracle :b I have FedEx to thank I guess. From the way the accordion was packed, the Goodwill folks clearly could have cared less about the well being of the beautiful instrument.
This is my first Excelsior. Its a 4/5 triple musette C-system CBA. 120 bass, 92/49 notes. I did some home work before bidding. This one looks like from the 70s by the shape of the treble switches? But on the current Excelsior website, they are still producing new Excelsior 610 today with the exact same look and setup. Model 610 is Excelsiors lowest model of the 120 bass full size CBAs. The other two models both have double cassottos among other things. The Model 610 has only 8 distinct treble switches and 3 duplicates. Would be nice to have all 11 switches unique instead. I also dont like the fake treble buttons on all my Italian CBAs. Dont know why they put the fakes there in the first place. All my Italian CBAs have fake buttons, very frustrating. Morinos have more buttons, the old Artiste iv d has a lot more in fact. All of the 102 buttons are functional, no fakes. My little Hohner Nova 3 doesnt have fake buttons either. I like the German way much better in this regard. That should be the way to go!
After playing it for an hour, comparing to the 120 bass 87/45 notes Philharmonic triple musette CBA (from the 1960s), the Excelsior is smaller both in physical dimension and volume. But the reeds on the Excelsior sound clearer and wholesome, even though not as loud. The bass reeds are clearly superior to the muddy, oomphy, and harsher Philharmonic with a lot more clarity and sweet timber. The 610s button is more responsive and the reeds are more sensitive. The bellow is perfect. So is the shape and size, fits me so much better than the much bulkier Morinos CBAs. The treble switches on the 610 is the best among all the accordions I have, period! Precise, smooth, and responsive. A little touch, I get the reassuringly quiet and positive click and the switch is done! Perfect! I am impressed. Too bad the careless shipper scratched off the triple musette switch cover. Ill have to find something similar to make a cover and glue it there. What a shame!
Nevertheless, I must say I am extremely lucky to have won the bid on this perfect 610 for the price. :ch :b {} I didnt expect to win with the max bid I put in. Guess CBAs arent very popular in the US or I just got lucky this time? Perhaps folks already spent too much on the past Black Friday
I saw similar or older PAs were sold for much more on the same website. LibertyBellow has a very similar 610 on sale for 3 times the price! From their demo video, I think my 610s bass sounds SO MUCH better than theirs! Anyway, Earlier this year, I won a bit on a 100+ year old accordion from a different Goodwill store. It arrived with most of the reeds loose in the bellows in a pile! From the look of it, the old box must have been quite a beauty during its prime. Coming from a poor country growing up with very little of anything, I found the waste and disregard of these old artistic creations in the US appalling and incomprehensible. Then again, my home folks in the old country had no problem blowing up thousand year old structures for parking lots. So what do I know?
Itd be great if the experts here could share more insights on the Excelsior make and Model 610 and other full size CBA models in particular. Your experience, opinion and thoughts are greatly appreciated as always. Thank you all in advance!
The great news is this accordion itself is in PERFECT condition, not a single reed, button, or switch is loose, stuck, or has any other problem. What a miracle :b I have FedEx to thank I guess. From the way the accordion was packed, the Goodwill folks clearly could have cared less about the well being of the beautiful instrument.
This is my first Excelsior. Its a 4/5 triple musette C-system CBA. 120 bass, 92/49 notes. I did some home work before bidding. This one looks like from the 70s by the shape of the treble switches? But on the current Excelsior website, they are still producing new Excelsior 610 today with the exact same look and setup. Model 610 is Excelsiors lowest model of the 120 bass full size CBAs. The other two models both have double cassottos among other things. The Model 610 has only 8 distinct treble switches and 3 duplicates. Would be nice to have all 11 switches unique instead. I also dont like the fake treble buttons on all my Italian CBAs. Dont know why they put the fakes there in the first place. All my Italian CBAs have fake buttons, very frustrating. Morinos have more buttons, the old Artiste iv d has a lot more in fact. All of the 102 buttons are functional, no fakes. My little Hohner Nova 3 doesnt have fake buttons either. I like the German way much better in this regard. That should be the way to go!
After playing it for an hour, comparing to the 120 bass 87/45 notes Philharmonic triple musette CBA (from the 1960s), the Excelsior is smaller both in physical dimension and volume. But the reeds on the Excelsior sound clearer and wholesome, even though not as loud. The bass reeds are clearly superior to the muddy, oomphy, and harsher Philharmonic with a lot more clarity and sweet timber. The 610s button is more responsive and the reeds are more sensitive. The bellow is perfect. So is the shape and size, fits me so much better than the much bulkier Morinos CBAs. The treble switches on the 610 is the best among all the accordions I have, period! Precise, smooth, and responsive. A little touch, I get the reassuringly quiet and positive click and the switch is done! Perfect! I am impressed. Too bad the careless shipper scratched off the triple musette switch cover. Ill have to find something similar to make a cover and glue it there. What a shame!
Nevertheless, I must say I am extremely lucky to have won the bid on this perfect 610 for the price. :ch :b {} I didnt expect to win with the max bid I put in. Guess CBAs arent very popular in the US or I just got lucky this time? Perhaps folks already spent too much on the past Black Friday
I saw similar or older PAs were sold for much more on the same website. LibertyBellow has a very similar 610 on sale for 3 times the price! From their demo video, I think my 610s bass sounds SO MUCH better than theirs! Anyway, Earlier this year, I won a bit on a 100+ year old accordion from a different Goodwill store. It arrived with most of the reeds loose in the bellows in a pile! From the look of it, the old box must have been quite a beauty during its prime. Coming from a poor country growing up with very little of anything, I found the waste and disregard of these old artistic creations in the US appalling and incomprehensible. Then again, my home folks in the old country had no problem blowing up thousand year old structures for parking lots. So what do I know?Itd be great if the experts here could share more insights on the Excelsior make and Model 610 and other full size CBA models in particular. Your experience, opinion and thoughts are greatly appreciated as always. Thank you all in advance!
