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Post by David Gordon Burke on Nov 24, 2004 9:35:14 GMT -5
So without going into an old style "Knock" this brand or that brand kind of debate, I would like to hear people's opinions on the brands of accordions that they are playing and have played in the past. So here are a few of the issues I would like to take up. 1. Button height and stiffness. 2. Bellows action. 3. Sound 4. Bass reeds - keep em or take em out. Any other comments that you would like to include, cool. Also, this conversation doesn't have to relate to the big name brands of accordions. Rossetti, Morrelli, Pastrami - all options and brands are important and we would all benefit from hearing the Pros and Cons for each brand. I only have one accordion, a Chinese Corona 2 in GCF. The buttons are a little higher but not stiff at all. I am used to that configuration and have no problem with it. The bellows action is about 90%. It is fast and needs almost no pressure to close. Only on really demanding tunes do I have any problems with getting the bellows closed in time. The biggest problem is the sound. For Tejano stuff it is fine. For the Norteña stuff where a Gabbanelli was used on the original recording, sometimes the sound is a little thin. (Remember from other posts that the Hohner 3500 has the same reeds as the German Hohner Corona but the reeds in the German are fine tuned one step more than the Chinese model. I had my box re-tuned by a Pro here in Monterrey so it has more the German corona sound) I have left the bass reeds in. The factor that I hate about this accordion the most is the color. Red. I hate it. But since it is the only option for the Corona 3500, there was no other option. I have added some pics to the post so folks know what we are talking about and what these brands look like. Also refer to the "Buyers Guide." StoneyHohner Corona HA 3500  Hohner Panther  Hohner Corona 2 (German)  Ranco  Gabbanelli  The New Ramon Ayala Cantabella Brand  Rossetti 1  Rossetti 2  Excalibur  Weltmeister  Excelsior  Sofia Mari  Dino Baffetti  Beltrami  New Santa Marsala (avoid these)  Classic Santa Marsala (buy one of these if you see one)  |
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Post by Jr Salinas on Nov 24, 2004 10:34:17 GMT -5
Gabbanelli The King OF Norteno Accordions
Sound Is The Thing That Stuck Out In This Accordion. I Played One In San Antonio When I Went To Buy My Accordion And It Just Gave That Deep Tone. The Buttons Had Good Action As Do The Bellows.
All In All It Is An Exellent Box, Pro Box.
Hohner The Tex-Mex Box
Sound Is Not As Full As A Gabbi But Its Good. Bellows Suprised Me Alot I Never Expected Them To Be So Easy. Button Action Was Good, I Liked It.
All In All Exellent Box.
Weltmister
Sound Like A Hohner. Action Not As Good As A Hohner A Little Tighter But It Is Good. Button Action Agin Like A Hohner But Some What Stiffer, Not Much But I Could Tell.
All In All Good Box.
Sofia Mari
Sound Is Nice Kinda Deep Not Like A Gabbanelli Or Any Thing But It Was Really Good. Action Buttons Kinda Stiff Not Much But U Can Really Tell, I Didnt Have A Problem With Them. Bellows Ok But Not That Good, Could Have Been Better. All Together The Action Was Kinda Good But This Is On One Box That I Played Not All Of Them. I Have Played Another That Was Really Good. Also The 3 Switch Model Is Really Good Kind Like A Norteno From Gabbi But A Little Stiffer.
All In All Good Begginer Box. Wich Ever Model You Get. (3 Switch Or The Small 31 Button No Switch)
Rossetti 1
Sound Is Really Good, Nice And Loud. Bellows Are Stiff But Break In Really Well. The Buttons Are Lower The Other Accordions I Have Played And I Little Stiff But You'll Get Used To It. The Wight Is The Thing That Got Me On That, It Is Sooo Light. Its Great Really Good To Play With.
All In All Good Begginer Box.
Diamante
Good Sound Like A Sofia Mari. Action Good Bellows And Buttons Are Good. Bellows Are Easy And The Buttons Are Great Too. Its Not As Heavy As The Sofia Mari With 3 Switches. Its Almost Like The Norteno From Gabbanelli, In Its Looks And In the Action.
All In All Good Begginer Box.
Now On Any Accordion I Would Recomend That The Bass Reeds Be Taken Out. I Dont Play With Them At All. It Helps Lighten The Accordion And It Helps You With Closing And Opening The Accordion Faster. This Is Just My Opinion On Accordions, I Dont Think They Should Have The Bass Reeds. But There Are Types Of Music That Call For Those Reeds. It All Up To The Person Who Has The Accordion. If You Keep Em You Keep Em And If You Dont You Dont.
Jr Salinas
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Post by GabbanelliSATX on Nov 24, 2004 11:33:31 GMT -5
Hey Everyone,
I have two accordions and would like to just give my input on what i think of them.
Gabbanelli 3 switch (green like the green color on the Ranco pictured, looks nice) I absolutely love this accordion. The buttons are so smooth and have great response to the fingers. The bellows of course at first were a little stiff but only because the accordion was brand new. With any accordion for the most part they will be a little stiff but with the Gabbanelli they quickly loosened up. I still have my bass reeds in and on occasion I play them a little. Overall I would stronly recommend Gabbanelli to anyone who loves the accordion.
Hohner Corona II German Model (Red) This was my first accordion and I really like this one too. It can take a beating as most people mention and has a little bit rougher sound than the Gabbanelli. It's good for those Alber Zamora poundings or for some good accordion abuse Polkas. The buttons aren't as smooth on this one but still aren't bad at all. They don't tend to feel as responsive as the buttons on a Gabbanelli. The bellows are nice and loose and so getting in air or getting it out, is never a problem. Again the bass reeds are still inside too. Great accordion and I would buy another one without a doubt.
Hohner Panther- I don't have on of these boxes but have played one. The bellows had good action and the accordion looks good with that black smoke look. I could still crank out some good sounds but the buttons just felt like they had to be pushed further down. I would recommend this box to someone looking to start playing accordion because its a good box for a good price. Plus if you think the pros don't use boxes like this, unfortunately you are wrong. Sunny Saucedo from Grupo Vida uses one and when I talked to him, he said he likes it. He said that Hohner stays true to their name in being able to take some abuse. If you have seen them live or even just listened to their songs, you know he doesn't take it easy.
Well hope this helps out anyone considering to buy an accordion or just give some new outlook on brands. Thanks everyone.
-Andy (GabbanelliSATX)
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Post by David Gordon Burke on Nov 26, 2004 16:26:40 GMT -5
By the way, if anyone knows of any links to great pics of other brands of accordions, drop me a line about it.
I could spend all day just looking at these babies.
Stoney
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Post by Emmanuel on Nov 29, 2004 11:12:11 GMT -5
Hello Everyone
I have used several accordions and here are my comments
My first accordion was a Fichallie or Firshelli something like that turns out it was distributed by Sears back when polk was many stream. Decent accrodions it was a piano and I have it to this day never once had to get it tuned.
My second accordion was a Milan Accordion chiness made. This was alright to start learning on but as soon as I got serious the accordion started to fall apart. This was also a piano accordion. This accoridons was also sold for 100 bucks becasue I could not bring my self to sell if for more.
My third accordions is a Gabbi piano accordion. Best accordion I have bought. Only got it tuned once and has taken a 4 year beating with out a problem. The action on the keys is really fast and the bellow tension is tight enought for my style.
From there I migrated to the button world and got two hohner corona classic accoridons. IMO hohner should make two-tone buttons and that would make me very happy, I would sell my gabbies and by one on the spot. Why, IMO better action on the keys. The keys are not stiff and the hohner sound is great for recording and playing out. They are super light with or without the bass reeds and are pleasent to the eye. I would give these accordions a 9.5 out of 10. -2.5 becasue of you have to haul around two and -2.5 because the bellow aren't stiff, I really like stiff bellows on a button accordion.
Finally I got two 2-tone gabbies which I got a month ago. Untill now no problems what so ever with the reeds. The only thing I didn't like about these accordions are the keys for my taste they are to stiff and after a while my fingers get tired. Remeber I have only had these accordions for a month and I am sure this will change as time goes by. The sound is what I expected for a gabbie. and the overall performance is great. 9.5 out of 10. -2.5 for the stiff buttons and -2.5 for the wieght. These accordions get kind of heavy after 4 hours of playing.
The last accordions I would like to comment on are the Sofi Marie or what ever they are called. And this comes from my experience with the accordions. Yes these accordions could be considered a great starting accordions. But I would recommend saving another $250.00 and getting a panther why because these accordions are not built to stand the test of wear and tear that an accordion is put thought in live situations. I don't own one and don't ever really think I would buy one but I have played my share at a local music store and with a friend who ownes one. There was banging and noises comming from inside the accordion and I hadn't even started playing it. So here is what I am trying to say. I know that when buying and instrument that the really good ones seems out of reach because price range. It took me 10 years to finally get quality accordions. But I spent a lot of money getting a cheap accordion fixed over those ten years. And could have gotten close to 5 hohners by know. I would suggest trying save as much as you can to try to atleast getting a hohner panther. If all you can get is a sofi marie well then that is all you can get but if given the choice and opportunity I think I would save a little and get a better accordion. Again I know some here play sofi marie and that is fine I am just giving my opinion on the experince I have had with this accoridion, and what others who play the accordion have told me.
Emmanuel
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Post by MEDEL514 on Jan 4, 2005 22:41:39 GMT -5
I have a Rossetti II FBE and its a beutiful accordion. A couple problems with it, but its overall a good box. My Brother plays on a Hohner Corona II GCF in similar colors.  I just got the Rossetti for Christmas so it still need som breaking in. I hope it gets as nimble as the Hohner is. My favorite player is Albert Zamora and you need to feed the accordion a bit of abuse to keep up with him. |
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Post by javier88 on Jan 26, 2005 2:31:28 GMT -5
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Post by javier88 on Feb 22, 2005 16:45:32 GMT -5
I bought a Excalibur Triple Crown in GCF,FBE but I have not been play for that long as I use to play alot but not anymore that much???????????????? |
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Post by Jr Salinas on Feb 22, 2005 20:47:01 GMT -5
Hey Javier How Does That Excalibur Play? Is The Button Action Any Good? Let Us Know Man. Type Up A Report On It.
Jr Salinas
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Post by AccordionNewbee on Apr 4, 2005 19:47:51 GMT -5
I have never played an accordion (except in the Gabby store here in Houston) and Love Nortena music. I orderded a Sofia Mari accordion from the musicians friend website. It looked good and was pretty cheap. Man would i have liked to get a hold at the Gabanelli i saw at the store but the price was killing me! Was me the sofia mari a smart thing to do? A newbee?
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