Hi guys, today, I was browsing antique shops in Halifax. I came across an old single row diatonic.
The size seems just a bit smaller than a Cajun and it is a bit lighter. It is black.
The brand reads: "Kalbes's Imperial Accordeon"
The bellows leak quite a bit but all reeds are fairly tuned and work as well as the button mechanism. I could get it for $70. I'm thinking it could be a little restauration project.
Questions:
1) Where could I find a bellow to the replace the old one? Otherwise, how do you fix it?
2) If you need to replace reeds, do you have to replace them all or can you find substitute i.e. (Hohners, etc.)?
3) Do you think it is worth $70?
I took a picture with my cell phone but don't know how to post it here? How do I do that?
Re: Question for the "connaisseurs" on an antique box
In my opinion, most of the antique boxes like the one at which you are looking are not good for anything more than "mantel pieces". i.e. somthing pretty to look at when restored.
Even after restoration to "new" condition, they will not play half as well as a "modern" Cajun box.
That being said, it can still be a fun project to do just for the joy of it.
Here is link to a page on bellows repair.
http://accordiondoc.home.mindspring.com/bellows.htm
99% of those 'antique' accordions were nothing
but cheap junk to begin with
if it was one of the 1% that were
any good, chances are it hasn;t aged well..
mantelpiece
for which i wouldn;t pay over $25
ebay is full of them
sellers don;t know anything about accordions
they don;t realize that accordions mostly
don;t get better with age
they will babble for
pages and pages about the color,
age, condition of the finish, as if it were
an old chair, but not even realize accordions
play in a certain key, much less
what key it is, and they can;t tell you
if notes are out of tune,
or if it makes farting noises, rattles, or
smells like a dead fish :)
usually these came from estate sales
where the accordion was just part of the deal
About the only antique exceptions in the free reed world are concertinas, specifically quality English ones made by Lachenal, Wheatstone and a few other makers. They are made differently than accordions and a 100 year old instrument can actually be better than a new one. They also sell for quite a lot more.
Don't buy the old one you saw, unless you just want a decoration.
Actually there are occasionally a few worth looking at. Link #1 above may be one, though who knows what the reserve might be. A restored three reed Italian "organetto" with a stop for the low reeds might be fun to have. It's in D too.
The April 2011 Dewey Balfa Cajun & Creole Heritage Week
