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Here's a very good French Canadian player on YouTube - Robert Boutet

Very nice sound. Does anyone in Quebec know him?
Maz

Re: Here's a very good French Canadian player on YouTube - Robert Boutet

Here's another clip, this time, using a single-row, very similar to a cajun box. Very nice!

Re: Here's a very good French Canadian player on YouTube - Robert Boutet

Yes Maz. Robert Boutet is the builder of my first single row accordion.I bought my first single row from a fellow in Quebec, and it was built by Robert Boutet. He builds a beautiful accordion. Back when there was a discussion about Canadian accordion builders, I mentioned his name. His accordions, as with many Quebecois accordions, have a quicker action than both Louisiana built boxes that I have. It is slightly smaller in outside dimentions, and is also completely built of solid wood, no reed stops. I guess to get a certain sound he uses solid wood for his "box end boards" as opposed to louisiana builders who mostly use a laminate wood for that purpose. Larry Miller's reason for this was that a fabricated wood would not expand and contract with the abient conditions, as a solid wood would.

Like many other Quebecois builders, Boutet also manufactures his flapper valves out of solid wood as opposed to metal ones. They are beautifully finished and varnished. These boxes end up being "artful craftsmanship" as well as "well built" boxes. I ended up selling that box back to Robert Boutet after buying my first Louisiana box. I was looking for that "cajun sound". He gave me a very fair price and he was simply going to use it that summer to perform, "he did not have a "C" box on hand at the time", and then was going to find it another good owner. He also sent me a copy of his last CD, "Reel La Bonne Fourchette". On his CD's he uses Hohner and other manufacturers single and triple row accordions. Even though he builds boxes, he is not shy about using other's boxes. Good box builder, dextrous performer, and a really good fella to deal with.

JL Brunelle

Re: Re: Here's a very good French Canadian player on YouTube - Robert Boutet

Salut Jean Louis, merci pour l'information.
Do have an idea of how much Robert Boutet's box sell for now? He seems to live in the Trois-Rivière area? How's your playing coming along?

Re: Re: Re: Here's a very good French Canadian player on YouTube - Robert Boutet

Hi Maz. I don't think that I'm progressing as quickly as you are, but slowly ploding along. Have a dozen good tunes under my belt.

Last I contacted Robert Boutet, he hailed from Ste-Christine de Portneuf, Quebec. I think that this is just east of Quebec city....... not cetain though. At the time, his boxes went for almost exactly the same price as most Louisiana boxes...... but this was in the $1800.00 CDN range. I guess with the exchange, that made these boxes a bit cheaper than the Louisiana boxes. The Louisiana boxes have all gone up by about $500.00 US since then. I don't know if the Quebecois builders have followed suit. My thought was that the american boxes mostly went up in price due to the US dollar devaluation against our currency and the Euro, where they purchase some of their parts such as reids etc.... On this forum though, I have discovered a few other Quebecois builders who seem to build some very boxes. Thinking of going to the Montmagny festival next year to check them out.


Cheers,

JL Brunelle

Re: Re: Re: Re: Here's a very good French Canadian player on YouTube - Robert Boutet

Merci. I will look him up the next time I drive up through Quebec city area (assuming my wife lets me go through a detour). :-)
I'm hoping to get to the Montmagny festival this year. I missed it again last year. It seems that there's always some other events competing during that long weekend of Septempber...



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