All the talk these days about inflation & the price of gas & food going up got me thinking. I'd be interested to see what people paid over the years for a new hand made accordion purchased from the builder.

I'll start it off. Mine is an Acadian purchased about 7 years ago for $1,250.

They've gone up, but the amount of effort it takes to build one of these goes well beyond the prices payed for them.

Believe me, it takes a lot of effort. I'm not the most professional tuner of accordions by any means, but it took a good 13+ hours to tune my Hohner 5 cents wet and Cajun tune it.

That's just a small amount of tuning, compared to the over all job.

Not to mention building the things.

If they charged less, in my opinion, they'd be selling themselves short. I've told many of them that back when I got my first one for 1250.00.

And, I'm not sure how much the prices of reeds/bellows and wood mostly went up, but I'm sure they have in the past ten years.

Please understand, I'm not questioning the price increase. I do a lot of accounting work for construction & it's incredible how much the price of materials have gone up over the years. And then, the labor & craftsmanship alone are worth the price of a good box.

I'm just curious about the range of prices. Who knows, "accordion futures" may be a great investment strategy. But for now, I'll stick to keeping my money buried in a PVC pipe in my back yard.

Jim, to your point, just from January to April, reeds alone have gone up $80 - in four months alone... It's getting to be quite expensive to tie up funds in shelf stock...

Le Capitaine, 4 years ago, $800. $890 shipped in a case.

Its not that the reeds have gone up, its that the USD is sinking.

Craig, you're correct... Cost of domestic parts have not gone up much, it's the imports that are the killers...

Sorry Craig, wansn't trying to impersonate as seen before here...

2002 Junior Martin C done in rosewood- 1800 with the case

2005 Junior Martin C done in Curley Maple- 1800 with the case and strap

Acadian in '04 (?) $1,100
Bon Cajun in '05 (?) $1,225

1985 114 Hohner $202.00



1986 Bayou (Donald Thibodeaux) $700.00



1987 Acadian $900.00



2005 Acadian $1,800.00




23 years of accordion bliss....

PRICELESS!!!!!

2007 Jay Miller Bon Cajun $1700

Greg Brown ,( Brigg's Brown's father ),has made 2 of the best finished accordions I've EVER seen..immaculate in all respects...they're called Tee Cajuns.
He showed me them at DI's earlier this month..and Briggs of course plays them brilliantly!

Greg told me he took 65 HOURS from start to finish...and remember that's labour only!!..materials not included.

Put any old hourly rate you like on it and it's still a LOT of $$....I firmly believe LA 'Hand Mades' are streets ahead of the pack and far better for fostering the best musicianship....both in the learning process and especially when needed for LIVE or recording work.

Greg is also related to the late great Sidney Brown so I figure he has some inside knowledge on the process.

My 2 cents worth...or should I say 1.6 cent US.

Darryl...Australia.

Used LeCapitaine in C 2007 $1000 Built in 1997...$800 new?

Capt. E

Brand spanking new. Cypress, Binci's, metal buttons, gold flappers and corners. Danny was taking care of some serious family concerns so it took a year. I had a chinese box to practice on so I had some time to learn a few things. I built a banjo and sold it to pay for the box, so it cost me about $100 plus the joy of building the banjar.

My LeCapitaine is curly maple with a dark red stain, Binici reeds, gold flappers red trim, diamond inlay strips, brass corner hardware, bellows with dark red gussets w/ black tapes and tri-color diamond decoration, metal buttons as well. Had more than one person say it is the most beautiful box they have ever seen... worth every penny to me.

1981--Hohner from Marc Savoy--$150.

1982--Master from Charlie Ortego--$500.

1983--Master from Charlie Ortego--$550.

1984--Master from Charlie Ortego--$850...(was run-over by a truck and rebuilt in 1985 or 86...so I paid for this accordion twice! well, almost twice.)

1994--La Louisiane by Ken Guillory--"free" won it in an accordion contest.

It is very hard for me to think of spending more than about $1200 on a handmade Louisiana accordion, and now $1800 -$2000--that's too pricey for me...but I have always pinched pennies. I like what the Acadians and Falcons and Martins look and sound like, but "j'su's trop pauvre pour tout ca" ... I have four kids, the first is which just started college. It'll be a while before I buy anything else.