Please check the link, and notice the long history of accordeon making in Canada, and particulary in the province of Quebec.

Originaly, the accordeon making was the product of one family, but in this present time quite a few individual fabricants, do built their own boxes.

Maz, among many others, has pointed out a "similarity of style" or look in bettween quebec and LA made boxes, some saying that the Quebec makers were "copying" the Cajun boxes of their southern cousins.

Well, if you look at the history of the Gagne family,and a photograph of their first products, you'll notice a similarity of "style" with the "Cajun" accordion and you'll notice as well, that there is quite a few years of discripency, from the time that Marc Savoy built his first accordion ( in the 1960's)and the time that the first one was built in Canada.

Today , there could be up to a dozen independant box makers in Quebec.

Now ,how do they compare to LA boxes and this is an asserted , common and agreed assesment that the Quebec ones have in general superior wood working qualities, a much, more agile key board action and generally more attention to detail then the LA boxes.

They're also much lighter then their LA counterparts.

They also look different from one builder to the next, in size and details.

They are more ergonomically designed, in terms of having more rounded corners, giving the wearer more comfort.

The LA boxes are invariably built in more or less the same "Mold" like, same size for one maker to the others, hence a similarity of design as one can attest by looking at the pics of 3 different LA buildres boxes as posted by Joanie.

I do think that most Quebec buiders make their own bellows.


The Quebec builders seems to show more individuality in their designs, and far more attention and expertise in their fabrication techniques, but again, , i think the difference is a more discerning audience and a longuer history of building then in LA.

And no, not all of them have decorative corners, witch BTW, is not an LA innovation, actually, you might see splines of a different wood,as substitutes, just like most Italian organettas.

BUT, like everything in life , there will be comparisons, and in my case, the boxes irregardless of their country of orign have to have excellence of fabrication as part of their attributes .

And no ,I am not fixated only with mittered corners , overall quality should play an equal role.

The high price of Quebec boxes as compared to LA ones reflects their excellence overall, a defi, that i know , has been taken up by some young excellent LA builders.

BTW, some LA boxes are used by a few Quebec musicians.

My 2 Canadians cents.

Claude.

Hi Claude,

Thanks for the detailed information. It is nice to get that, as many of us have only vague, subjective impressions about the Quebec made accordions. I have never seen one up close, or played one, but I would like to.

When I lived in northern Vermont, I was acquainted with a number of diatonic accordion players from Quebec. The accordions that I saw in use were either the Cajun style single row type, or two row diatonics. The single row accordions that I saw were always Acadians, and most of the two row accordions were Castignari (talk about NICE accordions!). But my observations (circa 1988 - 1991) were far from comprehensive - I would say that my experiences and observations were somewhat anecdotal. I never did see a single Quebec made single row, however. That may not be too surprising given that the Quebec musicians with single row accordions were playing Cajun music, not Quebec music. There was one exception which the group "La Bottine Souriante" they were a very good band. The didn't play Cajun music as far as I know, but the accordion player always had an Acadian every time I saw them play. But like I said, this is anecdotal information, and I draw no general conclusions from it. I am certainly not suggesting that Quebec made accordions are inferior, or that noboby uses them. I just want to make that clear so that there is no confusion.

-David

Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture!

Rejean Brunet (performing with Le Vent du Nord) had a Melodie of clear finished maple (what I think of as "quilted maple": closely space parallel waves of grain [inadvertent reference to patriotic American song]). The maple at the frame corners had a 1/2-inch by 1/2-inch notch cut out, and the notch was filled with a very dark wood quarter-round dowel that had been turned on a lathe so that its groove and edge radius matched that of the end frames. Sleek!

Like I said, I wish I had taken a picture. I occurs to me that an instrument with exposed and radiused wood edges would need to be treated a bit more preciously than the Cajun box with the metal angles.

The other two Quebec players I've seen the last couple of years (Benoit Bourke and Sabin Jacques) were both playing Messevier accordions.

Steve Blais

Well, I guess we should have some of our Braves join us at the next Carrefour Mondial de l'Accordéon in Montmagny this coming September!
The link is above (#3) for more details. It's funny.... The Québécois builders & players I met at the Memramcook festival a couple of weeks ago were all very impressed with my LA boxes (Acadian & Bon Cajun), and I'm sure all Cajun and other players also very much appreciate the same for the Quebec counterparts. In general, it all comes down to the oveall appreciation of the instrument and its craftmanship. It's like people who love cars, well, they love cars...period.
All builders I spoke to bought their reeds (Binci) and bellows in Italy and took care of the craftmanship. I agree with the previous comment (Claude ?) about the originality/discrepency that prevails between each builder versus a more homogenized approach with Cajun builders in design and craftmanship. I'm really gonna try to make it to Montmagny this time (Aug 31 - Sep 3). Regarding the playing technique, it's a complete different system! The Quebec players play so fast (single notes), you can barely see their fingers going at it. I wonder if there is any beginner video (like Dirk Powell) for Quebec style playing??? I wouldn't mind to take a crack at it.
Maz

I am fimilar with many of the builders in Quebec and have to say their work is excellent. However I am not sure their desigh would sell in Louisiana or for that matter the states and am not sure why. They have not made any major sales in the states yet. There are builders in Louisiana that give as much attention to detail however. So stating that builders in Quebec do more detail work is not entirly accurate.

Hi there. I'm an accordion player from Melbourne, Australia, About as far as you could get from either Quebec or Louisiana for that matter. In 1992 I had the great fortune to travel to both places. In Louisiana I picked up a C Acadian that I had ordered from the Great Marc Savoy. Left handed too!
In Quebec I went to the Montmaginy festival. Marc happened to be attending that year as well. I attended workshops by Dennis Peppin, a great Quebec player who was playing a D Acadian as many of the Quebec style players were at that time.
Given the similarity to Irish Music, I don't find it too suprising that the qualities being built into the Quebecios Accordions these days are just about the same as what you would expect in a good Irish Accordion. Lightning fast action. Low button height. Light weight. Great Reeds (often supplied by FRM Enterprizes.) Good for the speed and high ornamentation that is built into these celtic musics.
The technique involved in modern Cajun Accordion playing seems to require a different weight balance in the Accordion. It is a different music after all, and believe me, you need a whole lot of different skills to play it than for any other style of Accordion music. Maybe the weight factor is one aspect of Accordion design that is needed to achieve the unique style that is todays Cajun Music.

I've live in Quebec for 30 years and yet play cajun music (for 15 years). I know quite a few single row players here that play quebecois trad music. The boxes look similar because they were both based on designs adapted fron the european single row, 4 stop models available before the war. They call them melodians over there. Here, Messervier and Melodie are supposed to be the best. Most player here use key of D boxes. The quebec boxes are faster, more responsive than the louisiana equivalents. the quality of woodworking is beautiful, but I like the esthetics of good Louisiana boxes just as much. The best Quebec boxes have bellows made by the makers.This doesn't mean that Luoisiana accordions are lacking, the good ones are great for the style. I think a Messervier box tuned cajun would be awesome and a dangereous instrument in the hands of a Ray Abshire!
There is a site for the SPDTQ that holds dances, puts on the trad festival (La Grande Rencontre) in Montreal and has the music/dance school L'École des Arts de la Veillée where you can study with master players here.

here is the website for these activities:
http://www.spdtq.qc.ca/

Harlan: Are you aware of any learning video for Quebec style (like equivalent of Dirk Powell's for Cajun style)?

Salut Maz-
Je te suggère de contacter le SPDTQ avec cette question par le lien que je ai donné dans mon dernier message.

For those who have not actually had one in hand. Firstly, they are very well made and depending on the builder, they are somewhat smaller than La built accordions. The treble keyboard is more like a modified Hohner keyboard in being that it is a shell with the wooden part of the valve arms hidden below the face of the keyboard. For the most part the bass box is the same as a La. box. The large majority don't install registers at all. The treble face plate is usually solid wood 3/16" thick. Air holes in the face plate on most are 7/16" in size on 3/4" centers. They usually have the standing reed blocks removable and sometimes with some builders all the reed blocks are standing and removable. Many make their own bellows. Treble valves are most always varnished natural wood and some use wooden buttons. Ebony etc. Finish on their accordions is very good. Ouilette ( Melodie) accordions and his brotherinlaw also make furniture so have a complete woodworking shop and spray booth for use in making accordions. Tuning is completely different than La boxes. The accordions are loud but harsh sounding. Not suitable for cajun music if you want to sound traditional. Even with retuning, IMHO, they would not sound very cajun, for lack of a better term. With no registers and being smaller they are lighter. Treble keyboards are fast and could easilly be used on La. made accordions but would those playing cajun music accept them.????? Many Quebec builders don't use metal corners and some don't use bellows straps but use an inside hooking system found on some piano accordion.

These observations were made while exhibiting my accordions in Quebec and repairing Quebec accordions. Unfortunatlly I no longer have the specs. but these are well made boxes. The style could be adapted for La. made accordions but would they sell. It's seems that those interested in cajun music want traditional looking accordions.