Thanks guys for the information. I'll check further before taking the plunge. Carol

Carol,
Check with Larry Miller in Iaota (Bon Cajun). He is retiring this Summer, and might still have a few left. They start at around $1500 and are worth every penny and more.
If he doesn't have any left, talk to his apprentice . His name is Joe. He has built a few for himself and perhaps he'd be willing to built one for you. Given that he's starting out, you might get a good deal within your price range.

I may have one for you that just fits your bill. Send me an e-mail and I will send info and pictures.

I am familiar with Hohners having owned over a dozen
but what is a model 3002 ..
is that An Erica 2 row ?

The Hohner HA114 is a fun light box and other than the tuning being a bit wet is not a bad machine, particularly if you get a German made HA 114B. These are black and the tuning is closer to Cajun "just" tuning than the standard Hohner tuning. Used about $450 to $650.

Another Option is the Weltmeister 1 row.. see the Button Box web site These are well made are very decent for the price.

As to Cajun built boxes, another suggestion for Jude Moreau for a new box.

I bought it through musiciansfriend.com. Hohner 3002B Ariette Cajun/Folk 10 button, the 'perfect beginners accordion'. A button came off, a reed broke within 4 months, musiciansfriend.com ignored me but Hohner sent me a replacement accordion free of charge. One of the bass keys squeaks on this one. Guess I got what I paid for, live and learn. Carol

Elderly Instruments in Lansing, MI has a used Excelsior Cajun accordion in C for sale. I don't know anything about the accordion, but the store is well respected.

http://www.elderly.com/vintage/cats/160U.html

Elderly is a respected dealer but they know little about accordions. I have dealt with them for years and have been totally happy except for one completely misrepresented 3 row accordion. Total BS..POS

Their accordion guy called me some time back and kept me on the phone for 2 hrs asking questions

He still cannot photograph an accordion' Still does not describe them correctly, completely clueless.

A waste of my time. I gave up trying to help them

As to the Exelsior. very fine compnay and produce excellent PA and CBA and multi row diatonics.
Vut as in other cases with manufacturers they do not necessarily make everything that has their name on it.. ie subcontracted.. Cant be sure in this case but

Down to definitions.. and this is my take..

A Cajun accordion is not a Cajun accordion unless it is made by a CAjun. I have said this before and compare it to the Amish furniture

If it was not made by an Amish it is not Amish furniture. Simple. If someone else makes "Amish" furniture it isn't Amish ( and by the way there is no such thing as Amish design)

So the Exelsior is a 1 row 10 button diatonic
accordion that may or may not be "Cajun" (7 limit just) tuned and may be entirley suitable for the job of playing Cajun music.. but it could be 12TET tuned as well.

Keep in mind the Italians also do not always put in the reed blocks the same way so any expectation they would sound "Cajun" is optomistic, even if they claim it was "Cajun" tuned

At $750 I would buy it and try it and have another more experienced player have a go at it...
And while you are at it.. pull it apart and take a look inside...

I was merely trying to provide information to a person looking for a decent and reasonably priced accordion - certainly didn't mean to imply that Elderly has expertise, or even deals extensively, in accordions.

As to terminology, I suppose I should have described it as a melodion, to be more precise. Does that mean my Acadian accordion that Mr. Savoy had built in Italy and which carries his trademark is not a Cajun accordion? Reckon I'll keep playing it after all these years even if it's not really "Cajun".

Carol, good luck in your search.

I've got an Amish accordion I"ll sell you.

Now that is just too funny Dwight.........thanks for the laugh:)

You wouldn't want me to post something useful, now, would you?

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Replying to:

Now that is just too funny Dwight.........thanks for the laugh

I have played quite a few Ariettes
The newer ones are better but still marginal unless you work on them

I have adjusted and relocated the straps
Adjusted the button height
Fixed the valves
Spot tuned them and they are still marginal but nothing of the quality of a plain old HA114

Good luck in your hunt

Oh brother, Break out the DNA test kit. What if your box is made by a Creole? Has anyone checked to see if the La builders are Cajun? Or Texas builders? What about the Cajun players from the 40's and 50's who only had imported boxes? Quality is determined by many factors. I doubt one's blood line has any bearing at all. Falcon boxes are exceptional and unique. The key components are made by Cajun Italians in Italy I suppose. Made in U.S.A. should be the argument!

opinions are like *******s, everyone has one. people born and raised in cajun country know what an authentic cajun accordion is.

Sure, the ones with Italian reeds and Italian bellows which design was originally German. Right?

You might want to reconsider your desire for ethnic purity. It has such a frightenly familiar ring to it.

not to stir up the gumbo too much or anything..

Hal

You need to add "and they all stink" to your quote.

OK here we go again.. shades of another Cajun Accordion forum

The "Cajun" accordion is not a Cajun design , it was developed by Austrians/Germans/Bohemians/Czechs only later to be made in Italy and much much later by Cajuns.

The German instruments were brought to the US by Germans ,, so were these Cajun accordions.?. no these were single row diatonic bisonoric button accordions

I have seen post after post after post saying that if you want a "real " Cajun accordion you have to get one from a Cajun builder.

In that the "Cajun" accordion was not designed by Cajuns then what makes the Cajun Accordion a Cajun Accordion.?. especially considering posts by others, not me, that to get a "real" Cajun accordion it must be made by a Cajun.
By your (their) definiton not mine.. a "real" Cajun accordion is made by a Cajun and since it is a virtual recreation of the German originals again what makes a Cajun box a Cajun box.? if not made by a Cajun
ergo the basis for my observation and statement. Any other single row 10 button (or 9 or 11) diatonic bisonoric button accordion whether built in Italy or the Czech republic,or Quebec is NOT a Cajun accordion.. by "your" defintion, not just mine.

So who are you criticizing but yourselves based on posts right here on this forum ?

I did not rewrite the history of the accordion, this is all available to anyone, do the legwork 1829 in Europe not the US and before that the Sheng in China thousands of years ago,, the origin of the free reed instruments

Marc Savoy, and others preceeding him ,dissected German made accordions and recreated them.. I see very little difference in my late teens Bb Saxon box and anything that comes out of Cajun builders. Possibly excepting the quality of the materials.


I suppose it is to much to ask that you recognize I was offering recognition to the Cajuns as building something unique assigning them a specialized position in the world of accordion building history..I have seen and owned Italian and German built "cajun" (no capital letters) boxes and they are not like Cajun built boxes.

As to the person who posted the completely offbase inappropriate ethnic purity comments.. in my opinion your own bigotry and xenophobia are like a neon bill board.

I appreciate the history of the Cajuns and am sympathetic to their ejection from Canada and the exodus that followed...but
many ethnic groups around the world also suffered injustice and banishment
Hugonots(sp), Mennonites, Doukhobors,Hutterites, Africans..read a little history about Bohemia and Bohemians. Good bet that won't happen
Bohemians aren't Germans, but you knew that.

On that note I am out of here and you can wallow in your ignorance and prejudice.

Bohemian is correct in regards to the historic origins of "Cajun" accordions. The main reason Cajun accordions (whether built in LA, Europe or China(!) are called Cajun accordions is because the vast majority of HANDMADE, one row, 10 key boxes ARE built by Cajuns in LA or Texas. Gabbanelli calls their Italian made one row boxes Cajun King, but they are not "cajun" accordions. The Irish and Canadians play melodeons, although some Quebec and two Irish artists do use Cajun handbuilt accordins).
The Chinese Hohner Arriette accordions are called Cajun accordions, but these also are not Cajun accordions. ALL single row diatonic accordions are melodeons. The Cajun TUNING only is what separates a Cajun accordion from the melodeon. Oh, and being hand built (from Italian parts).

Playing Irish

Guys, yawn!!!!!,

Wake me up, when there is a debate on Miters .

Respectfully.

Krazy.

Hi. Can anyone help me please. No supplier I can locate in Oz and I need a spare set of Shoulder strap BRACKETS of same size as those on the Hohner Ariette melodeon.

In studying the history of the melodeon I don't remember seeing that the Italians made one like the Cajuns copied. They did make a single row instrument but it had 4 bass buttons. It seems that at the time the Cajuns and Quebecois were adopting the two bass single row instrument it was slowly falling out of favor with others because of its limitations.

Look at the German made Sterlings and Monarchs. The Germans introduced the melodeon to the region.

I know about that guy but after WWII accordion production shifted to Italy but the 2 bass single row instrumnet did not have enough demand for them to manufacturer it profitability so they concentrated on other types of accordions.