Total newbie, just bought a russian cba...mistake?

[Ithel]

Hi all. My father played a piano accordion when I was a kid. Recently I helped him find an inexpensive PA for himself to pick up the instrument again. It spent a week at my house and I enjoyed picking out a few melodies (hymn).

To make a long story short, I got the itch, and for the past three weeks, Ive been browsing the internet, learning about accordions, watching your videos (Daddy Long Les, in particular). I love the sound of diatonic accordions, but I am doubtful I could get used to the push/pull nature of the instrument. It seemed sensible to go with a CBA, something small. But those are too expensive for what may turn out to be a bad experiment. So my next thought was the Russian bayans. Today I found on ebay a Kreminne 58X120 II Vintage, two treble switches (5 treble reeds, 3 bass reeds) with a buyout price of $270, with shipping from Ukraine to the US ($112). My buyout offer was $210, and it was accepted fifteen minutes after I made it, which makes me a bit worried, as it was a new auction. So with shipping, Im paying $322 (£208 -thanks for the guidance on making the symbol!)

Any thoughts? Was this a mistake? The ad said it was tuned and ready to be played. Assuming all those claims are true, was this a bad idea?

Ill try to provide a link to it, but Im not sure if youll be able to see the pictures from a closed auction. http://www.ebay.com/itm/171099117250?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649 If that doesnt work, Ill save the pics locally and post them here.

Thanks, and its nice to meet you all.

 

[Ithel]

I guess I should mention I didn't think the offer would be accepted. I was in the process of registering here to get opinions on it when I realized the offer had been.

 

[knobby]

Welcome :tup:

I can't comment on your choice of accordion, but if you hold down the "ALT" key then type 0163 on the numeric keypad to the right hand side of your keyboard you will generate a "£" sign.

 

[maki]

Time will tell.
Generally speaking, if a deal seems too good to be true it probably is.
On the other hand, it is also possible to hit the loto with a one dollar ticket. YMMV.
On the bright side if it ain't perfect you haven't lost much.
Good luck and good squeezin.

 

[Soulsaver]

Hi Ithel - I know nowt (nothing) about russian button accordions.. so I just thought I'd wish you luck with it. Is there any duty/tax due when it comes into the US too? Maybe not at this price?

 

[Ithel]

Hmm. I have no idea, actually. It didn't even occur to me.

 

[Soulsaver]

You seem to be having second thoughts? Have you paid yet?

 

[Ithel]

Yes, already paid. The second thoughts are that there must be something wrong with it at that price, despite being "in excellent condition." I've never bought anything from overseas before. New territory.

 

[donn]

Well, it's a cheap lesson at worst. I don't know anything about these accordions either, other than I vaguely recall reading that the very cheap Ukrainian bayans on Ebay are about what you'd expect, not the kind of miracle where you get something that should be worth 10 times as much. But it will be interesting to see what that actually means in practice, so I hope you'll keep us posted. I got my accordion in the mail from France, by the way, without any import issues. Bayans typically have a rather assertive tone I think. Dry tuned. Commonly have many reeds mounted on a single block.

 

[Anyanka]

My first accordion was very cheap, rather horrible, and I resold it at a profit. So there. Fingers crossed for you, Ithel!

 

[goldtopia]

My wife's cousin gave me a Russian accordion for free which belonged to her Russian father. Since he died it was kept in a garage for a few years. Some of the notes worked, some didn't and a couple were on all the time. We dumped it down the local council tip. I wish I had kept it just to take apart to see what I can do

 

[Ithel]

I won't receive it for several weeks, but I'll certainly let you know how it turns out.

 

[Ithel]

This morning I received a message from the seller in broken english informing me that they will send me a picture of the packing job for me to "confirm" before they ship it. Is this usual practice?

 

[donn]

Don't think so. It's an interesting idea, but what if you say "no"? Some of us here (not me!) know something about how to pack an accordion, so on the bright side it might be interesting to bring the picture here for comments. They just want you to sign off so you can't blame them for damages, but they might be receptive to suggestions.

 

[Ithel]

The accordion arrived today and appears to be the same as the one in the auction. However, most of the bass buttons have sunk below the level of the board, though the ebay picture showed them all in the proper position. Is this likely to be an easy fix? Thanks

 

[fjsys]

Depends, most of the time this is caused by a lever/rod beeing out of place on the bass side.
Open the bass side and see if anything is out of place.
Use the following as a guide, but you probably will not have to any dissasembly
http://www.accordionrevival.com/ACCORDION_REPAIR_2.php#Disassembling_a_bass_machine

Almost all that i have purchased on ebay have had this problem.
Ben

 

[Ithel]

Thank you, Ben. I opened the back and saw that two of these buttons were actually lodged within the case. I unbent their wires and sort of ran my finger along the other wires and everything popped back up with a snap. I have found, however, that one of the treble notes sounds even if the button isn't depressed, but I feel like it's getting there. It sure is a bulky thing.

 

[fjsys]

On that same site there are a couple of remedies for this.
What I generally do is play till I find the offending key/note and see if there is a bit of packing between the felt pallet and the board.
The other idea is to play it for a while and see if it resolves itself.
Ben

 

[Ithel]

Alright, I discovered the rubber pad had come off between the pallet and the board. I glued it back in place and noticed that that key and the adjacent key, unlike all the others, didn't quite sit firmly against the board. So I took out needle-nose pliers and gently tweaked the metal arms. Now I appear to have no leaks. It seems to be in tune.

Now....I just have to learn to play.

 

[fjsys]

Congrats on successfully repairing it!

I have had to do all the same things, and a couple others, with every box I purchased from ebay. Welcome to the joys of shipping accordions. It really doesen't matter how well they are packed, they show up with a little shipping damage.
Ben