I can't believe I just bought another accordion! Well, yes, actually I can. Here's the story.
About a month ago, I was preparing for playing at Robbie Burns' Night, and remembering how long I would be standing, playing, strolling with my 16 lb. piano accordion. For some accordionists, this is feather light. For me, it's doable, but still gets heavy after a while. So, I started thinking about a smaller, lighter piano accordion, as with my button accordions.
Two rules I've tried to follow, learning from the school of hard knocks: don't buy an accordion on eBay, and be very selective buying an accordion on-line, not getting to see or play it. But, one night, I strayed over to eBay, found a 48-bass Bugari that seemed in great condition, and bid on it. I bid up beyond what I planned, but did stop. I didn't get it, but felt good that I'd helped the owner, who seemed like a good guy, get a good price.
Then I looked around, on line, on Craigslist, at Kimric's (Smythe's Accordion Center in Oakland), not finding anything, except one caught my eye on the used accordion list at Castiglione. I emailed for information, no answer. I emailed again, no answer. I phoned, they found the accordion, played it for me, said it was in perfect condition. The basses went from E-flat to E, which I really wanted (the Bugari was A-flat to A). It was a little too wet for my taste (difference in reed tunings to create tremolo, vibrato), but I asked for photos. He said he'd sent me photos, but would email again. Then he tried to talk me into a more expensive accordion. No photos came. Okay, end of that.
I decided I really couldn't play what I needed for Robbie Burns on a smaller accordion and gave up the thought. I'd noticed that the top few notes on the Sonola Rivoli that I was playing needed tuning. Note to self: take it to Kimric sometime. When a Valentine's Day gig came up, I thought, if I take it now, I'll have it back in time. So, Saturday noon, to Kimric's.
As I left home, my husband gave me his usual life advice, "Be restrained." I laughed and said, "I'm not going to buy another accordion!" (Background information: I just bought a new Castagnari B/C button accordion.) When I walked into Kimric's, he was with another customer. I set my accordion down and noticed, right by the door, eye's height, a little red 48-bass accordion (that wasn't there when I'd gone looking a few weeks ago). I'd wanted red. It had no name on it. When I asked, he said it had no name. Well, I had to wait, might as well take it off the shelf. Looked okay, felt very nice. 12.5 lb. What a difference 3.5 lb. can make! I played it. Sounded pretty good. A little wet.
Simultaneously, as I looked at the tag and Kimric told me where he got it, I saw #1019, Soprani, and Kimric said Castiglione, and I realized that this was the very same accordion I'd been inquiring about! He'd just bought it from Castiglione, told me it was not a Soprani, was not in great condition, he'd already had to do work on it, needed more. He was peeved. I was astonished. We talked about what needed to be done on it. I asked if he would dry up the tuning a bit. Outcome: I could get this accordion, which I actually held and played, with repairs, re-tuning, and a year warranty, for about $50 more than if I'd bought it from Castiglione in bad condition.
So... I bought it! As I stood there, I thought, "Is this another impulse buy?! Or, is this an amazingly good opportunity?!" This is just what I wanted. I liked the sound, very important to me. I didn't like any of the new ones I'd tried. It's not top-of-the-line, don't even know what line. But I knew it would go fast. It seemed an amazing coincidence that I happened to go there that day, and he'd just put it on the shelf, and I'd been looking at this very accordion on-line. Little Red won't be my only accordion, but it will be very fun and handy at the right times. What journey has this little accordion made to become mine?
Kimric thinks it's from the Czech Republic, circa 1970's. I was curious about his guess on origin, but I'd been running out to put coins in my meter so many times, I thought I'd better get out of there. Maybe I'll ask when I pick it up. The Sonola Rivoli that I took for tuning, I also got from Kimric a while back, and he did just what I wanted on that one, too: re-reeded it to turn an ML octave tuned into an LL swing tuned (just a little tremolo). Thanks, Kimric.
