If you're wanting to advertise your wares, there are better ways than being contentious.

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Replying to:

I have one LA box but I can make much better by my self..

J.Helin

Dwight knows nothing about being contentious...

Hah, made you look.

J,

I would like to correct your statement in that, that
If you want to compare your box to an LA made you'll have in my humble views,to go a step further,in improving, tweaking here and there namely:

Your treble board two( Black) end blocks, albeith their nice contrasty colours to your overall red colour scheme , are visually way to thick, although you treble board thickness corners are way too sharp, witch are not made for comfortable playing.

I would bet, that your decorative marquetry srips are not inserted into the wood, marquetry fashion, but, rather ironed onto the frame surface.

Your box also would have benefitted in "Looks" had you choosen to have a different wider design for your corner brackets as to hide these ugly cross grain lines, and they do "show" .

Or better, you could have in order to avoid that major visual, historical and craftmanship detail, mittered "all" the frames corners, oh well here I go again :).

Also ,my take is still the same on your end plates logos, as they do not have to be partially hidden behind the treble board thickness, as I beleive your name alone a la "Falcon" style would have made a better visual statement.

Wait, i'm not finisned yet: What is that "Doodad" rearing it's ugly head on one of the frames, is it a "jack" pole?.

Aside from all of these details, had you remedy for what i'm critiquing you for, you could have "Fooled" many.

More importantly J my comments are not meant against the "playability" of your box, but rather as an anwser to you "Claim"

Cheers.

Claude.

Really, Claude, you have a discriminating eye. the treble board is thick and has sharp edges. And, are those shadows under the corner hardware? It looks like you could insert a knife blade under them. What is that wooden thing in front of the closing strap? Why are the decorations covered by the treble board...?

Well, I guess I shouldn't criticize. At least not until I try making one myself...

John,

You know, the shadows you're talking about? , the ones under the decorative corners ?, well they are spaces , or grooves , machine carved, routored so to speak, usually 2 of them, and they run the "all" length of the side of the frame, so that the flat of the metal hardware never, really has a chance to seat "flat" over the grooves.

Look at your LA made boxes, and you can usually "insert" a piece of paper under them

Now for years I've been advocating for the builders to stops machining the "grooves" the all frames length,like stoping before each corners thus leaving a flat area for the metal corners to seat flat as they should, and some of them have finally been paying attention .

I forgot to mention to J, that the metal washers trough witch you can see 2 screws passing, securing the treble board onto the end plates are way to large, as they probably the same diameter as the LA ones but the board having sharp corners did'nt necessicate in J's case to have the same "pinched" look as the LA counterparts, making up for the rounded corners.

Like I said John, a few discerning tweaks here and there, and J, can fool even a seasonned woodworker like me

. Cheers!.

Claude.

claude,

the word is "which", not "witch". Unless you're viewing an avante garde version of Macbeth, and you're wondering which witch is which.

Dwight,

Thanks for the correction, I will try to make sure to pay more attention to spelling.

Actually I'm much better with Outlook Express, as it has a spelling program.

Thanks again .

Clod.

J'etudie francais right now. You can correct me lots. I don't even know enough yet to finish a sentence.

How to finish a sentence: Tres facile mon ami,

MERCI, MERCI, MERCI POUR TOUT MON CHER CLAUDE!!!!.

Non, non, non. Pas de merci, monsieur.

The "grooves" in the frame of my Gabb "Cajun King" don't go under the corner hardware. They STOP short...alas no mitred corners though.

John, the fact that your box has unmitred corners,certainly won't affect it's playability.

But you'll notice them, not beeing miterred, when and if you play, practice that is in front of a mirror .

You've got a pretty decent box there, so mitters or not enjoy it.

Claude.

IMHO! I always found that those groves cut into the outside frames take away from the look of the fine figured wood that may be used to build the accordion. Especially if you are book matching the wood across the frames all around like John Roger does. Then like Claude says, those corners are just sitting up there with spaces where the groves are. Now I'll bet that if you paid $9000 for an accordion you could really get some fine instrument.

It sure is a nice looking box and probably plays great. In years to come after you have built your tenth box or more, I bet you will look back and notice several things that you improved over time.

When people buy an LA box from an established maker they are tapping into the decades of "Cajun accordion" traditions. It is kind of like real "Amish" products were I live.

Good luck with you projects.

You're post was a sure fire way to stir things up a bit! But, a serious querstion. How do you see your accordion as better? Are you talking playabitly, tone, and how do you define all that? Are you talking asthetics? Have you made what you consider improvements, and if so, what are they?
Steve

C'mon, guys, cut the guy some slack.
I don't really think he is trying to knock LA made boxes.
(I think the English phrasing may have been a bit off.)

The point really is that I think we all agree that a skilled craftsman with the right tools and parts can build an excellent box anywhere in the world.

Sparling wine made in Napa using the "Champagne" method can be every bit as good as sparkling wine made in Champagne. (You can't legally call it Champagne), but I think you get the point.

DP

could be a language barrier. to be fair to him, I think he needs a visit to savoy music center at 9 a.m. on saturday when school is in. let him play his box and compare to the LA boxes.

Amen!

I thought the point in all this was Cajun music. Who cares where the instruments are made. Did anyone care when German boxes were all that were available? Does anyone mind that the fiddles are made worldwide?
Take your blinders OFF!


"You gots to be who you is"

I agree with what you're saying, always thought it interesting that when instruments are in short supply, you use what you've got. In the old days, that meant German accordions (and fiddles, too). Now you've got some really nice accordions out od La, and there does seem to be a tendency to dismiss anything not made in La. Granted, there's a lot of less than nice boxes out there, but there is no legitimate reason a good cajun style accordion can't be made outside La. Sometimes the highway is scattered with self imposeed speedbumps and potholes. I wasn't busting on the guy, but since the claim was a better accordion, I wanted to give him a chance to say why. Who knows, maybe he's come up with some improvement no one's thought of!
Maybe I'm wrong here, but I think the scope of this board is not just Cajun music, but accordions themselves, a pinch of zydeco and other styles, all played on "Cajun Accordion'. As long as nodody's really trashing anyone, and things stay somewhat focused, it's all good.
Steve

The topic of box quality and origin surfaces quite regularly here ( regardless of country of origin ). You'll find numerous examples of members asking for advice on brands, quality, worth, as well as unsolicited comments on specific brands. A logical consequence is to compare makes and tastes. I think all have benefitted from the discussions, and have read few, if any, cases of trashing or wearing of blinders.

IMHO it's all been good.

G: