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Old Universal on e-bay

Does anybody know about the Universal Accordion brand?Would this one be a good one to try and restore, or would it just be more trouble than it is worth?
JB

Re: Old Universal on e-bay

I would say this particular accordion would be a waste of your time. I have been checking ebay like crazy for the past two months and only one decent accordion showed up, it was a "Globe" brand....really nice accordion, but went for around $500. I would be on the look out for any 3 or 4 stop accordions by Monarch, Sterling, Globe, and Eagle, these all appear to be pretty well made boxes, and and worth restoring.

Re: Re: Old Universal on e-bay

I bought a Sterling, unseen, very similar to that one. Cheap and nasty. I'm suprised they used the same brand on the two very different types. Mine says Sterling Melodeon on the corners and the one piece reed plate looks like it's nailed in.

Can anyone date it from this info?

BJ

it might look good on your mantel

I don't know about that brand, but...

I wouldn't expect that you'd get any decent playability out of it, or nearly any other of these old accordions that show up on ebay. They really were not particularly well made in the first place, and the passage of time will not have been kind to them.

I have an old accordion like one of those. It looks nice on display, but it will never play again.

-David

Re: it might look good on your mantel

I picked up a very old Eagle brand in the key of F for $20. It has two stops, one of which is for show only - doesn't do anything. I agree with David, they make great mantle pieces. A piece of history.
Steve

Re: Re: it might look good on your mantel

it was cheaply made even when new

don;t pay any more than you want to spend
for a wall-hanger

as far as that 'sterling', it may have been
totally unrelated to the ones the old
cajuns played

wle.

Re: Re: Re: it might look good on your mantel

You may be right, Larry - I'd love to know more pre-war accordion history.

BJ

Re: Re: Re: Re: it might look good on your mantel

I have an existential question:

JB, when you look in the mirror, do you see BJ?

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: it might look good on your mantel

We're the same person, but dyslecksick. And we don't know if we're coming or going.

BJ ( or am I JB? I'm getting one of our headaches )

Re: Re: Re: Re: it might look good on your mantel

most of what i have seen has been
cheap mass-produced junk, not much
better than toys

at least the one- and two-reed models

they kind of remind me of the current
chinese accordions - they can have
many 'brands' but they all look surprisingly
similar

probably they just used 'sterling' by accident,
not knowing there was a decent
brand of the same name, then quit when
they got sued, or just changed to a new
name the next year anyway so no one
would realize that this year;s junk
was the same aas last year;s junk


wle.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: it might look good on your mantel

That sounds plausable ( more than some accordions do )

BJ



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