An ACADIANA is up for auction on Ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Brand-New-Cajun-Accordion-Key-of-C-/221021270008?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3375e4eff8

Nice looking box. Does anyone know anyting about the builder or this brand. The asking price on eBay is very attractive.

There's been quite a bit posted on here about Leland Colligan, including recent posts down a bit. By all accounts I've heard, seems to make a good accordion at a reasonable price.

Yes, about Leland....very nice guy and can play the heck out of an accordion as well. He was surprisingly young when i met him a few years ago, so he should be building for many more years= he will be accessible to work on his own boxes. He lives in Carencro, La.

Hope this helps....

CharlieB.

Funny you say that Charlie, because Leland is always telling me he is about to retire. Then I'll stop by his shop a few months later and I see he's building a few more.

Leland kind of fills in a niche market I guess you could say. He uses decals on the face plate, and bellow frames rather than actual wood inlays. He also uses a lower quality finish which looks fine but his accordions can get dinged up really easy and the varnish is susceptible to wear and chipping. This saves on time and money.

But his accordions have really good sound and he tunes them well. So you get a good sounding box at lower cost then most other builders, but at the same time you sacrifice in other areas. Considering he sells his boxes for about $1,600-$1,700 which is about $1,000 (give or take), less than Martin, Acadian or Falcon, I find his boxes to be a good value at that price point.

Oh, and he also uses nylon for the thumb strap which I hate because it does not grip to the skin like leather does. If anyone orders from Leland I recommend asking a for a leather thumb strap, otherwise he will put on a nylon strap.

Falcons are now 3000.

I heard Martins were too. Can anyone confirm this? Has anyone called recently for the new Martin prices?

I got a new Martin, two weeks ago, & the price was $2,475.

Talking to a European builder friend who told me he doesn't understand why anyone would sell a one row less than $5000. Imagine how many more builders there'd be at that price.

Ya get what you pay for Jonnie. Buy a Martin never lose money if ya want to sell it. Buy crap flush it!!!

First bid, $500.
Winning bid 1,500.

I'm quite sure that I paid less than that for my
first Savoy accordion in "C".

But, that was a ways back now.

I wish I had bought more accordions and less shares
of stocks!

-- bn