http://cgi.ebay.com/Rare-Louisiana-Built-Cajun-Style-Accordion-/150497223921?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item230a5564f1

ha!

that used to be mine!

i sold it to former brave albert,
[[ DAILEYSPINALTAP ]]

i think it was in 2006

looks like he;s selling it
my name still on it
i assume there is a discount for that :)

it is a nice accordion

made by dick richard

the blue dye is kind of faded


wle

Keep it in the family buy it back, after all its got your name on it!!!!!

can;t afford it now!

actually i replaced it with one from larry miller, when albert bought it

and the new one has my favorite modification: A note where the low G pull would be

wle

That color is still a beaut Mr. English. Looks blue in some light, blue-green or green in other light. I thank you again for selling it to me.

time flies Larry, bought the Pointe Noir, December 05 and bought case, January 06

What is your reserve price?
DP

I'm assuming it didn't sell. I think the buy it now price tag scared people off.

plus he only had it for sale for one day

maybe it was some kind of a test

wle

Looks like the reserve price was $3,300! That's ridiculous if you ask me, especially considering it has someone else's name on it. No offense Larry .

I understand its a rare accordion by a legendary musician but still...

I think it was the "buy it now" price at 3300. Must be in the "never hurts to ask" category.

right

i privately emailed albert

he was just testing

offering it for one day is also consistent with that, ie if he really wanted to sell it, he;d have the ad up for a week or two at least

also, it is true that the buy it now price, and the reserve price, are not the same

also, i;m sure it has a substantial discount built in, because of my name on the front :)

if anyone does buy it, i have some amusing stories about meeting dick richard and his wife, and a couple of mysteries about the accordion;s construction

stories are only $99.00 each
2 for $175! :)
buy here, pay here!


wle

I can't afford a story, but how much is a mystery?

ha

mysteries run little more than stories, typically..

it;s a good one actually..

wle

Dang, sure had me intrigued with a construction mystery. There's a lot of mysteries in there. I'll to wait for a sale I guess.

more like an accordion builder practical joke

"did he really do that?
how is that even possible?"

wle

Oh, now that's not nice at all. You're hitting my soft spots.

ok just send the $29.99 later

what happened was:

i got it
took it out of the box

first thing i did was of course, test all the notes, in and out

the lowest push note, E, didn;t work though

it kind of wheezed and sputtered

sounded like the low octave reed wasn;t working

i had all the stops out

the others worked

i tried it a couple times and i was getting ready to call mr dick and ask

right before dialing church point, i tried one more time

it worked and never failed again

practical joke on a newbie, or not?

inadvertent dirt speck?

i can;t believe he didn;t test it

during tuning, you have to play them all

did something weird happen in shipping?

i never found out

wle

I've had this happen to me. I think it can be several things, and is the reason I want to keep them for at least a week and play before turning them over (besides the fact it's hard to part with them). It takes very little throw a reed out of tune, and not much more to stop it. The tolerance on the reed and the reed hole in the reed plate is very tight and I've seen some that catch enough to stop them, so you can imagine how small a speck of dirt it takes wedged in just the right place to do the same thing. same with a little missed wood fiber that was laying flat then popped up.

I've also seen where just a little melted wax that ran under a little bitty gap under the reed plate on went inside where you can't see it stick the leather temporarily. If it's not much wax, it can do just like you described, once the leather breaks free it doesn't stick again, unless maybe the accordion gets hot and softens the wax enough to stick again.

These are strange and fascinating creatures.

As for reeds freaking out after shipping and transport: During transport often shocks cause especially the larger and weighted reeds to miss-align a little. I also expect cold is a cause for rivets to become loose, reinforcing this effect. A re-alighment by playing a while or by manual force, and eventually a whack on the rivet, solves that in most cases. Take the reed out first lads. Aluminum has different shrinking properties versus steel, and airfreight cargo holds at 10.000 meters high can be very cold, if there are no dogs, cats or even horses to be kept alive. Happened often with imported accordions, even when they were transported by Fedex. - Nout

also Brian, if the reed is screwed too tighly it may not "speak". sometimes backing off of the screw ever so slightly will do the trick, testing it before and after waxing.

Yep, the screws do all kinds of things, stop some from sounding if too tight, sometimes expand the thin reed block enough to catch the leather inside, and changes turning on a few reeds (at least has for me). I'm not sold on using screws, I know Marc uses them, and Larry did too, and they are much more knowledgeable than me, but I'm still not sold. It made sense to me that they may help the reed by giving firmer contact, but I couldn't tell any difference after adding them to mine.

Believe it or not...
location of the screws changes the reed reaction

There are web sites about this...

Maugein ( a venerated French company ) makes a science out of fixing reeds and the key to why and how they get their distinctive sound.
They don't wax all their reeds... some being on leather..

Some makers never use wax.

The builder that finally decides to get rid of the expedient of wax and explore nails/screws on a gasket such as leather or a synthetic will make the next jump in accordeon technology ,if not excellence,
even though it is taking a step back in history or doing what other pro builders ( in Europe) have already learned.

It'd sure be nice to do without the wax. I know Marc has made some using leather, but he said it was more trouble cutting all the little strips than waxing. And I can see where there is a potential science in the screws. It has amazed me how little it takes to influence sound.

Waxing versus leather.

- The type of wax (rosin added makes it more brittle) plays a role too. As i experimented a little with wax mixtures, i came to a mixture of wax and venetian oil (condensed turpentine, expensive) only, is what works best for me. Looks a bit like the wax Marc Savoy uses. I use screws too, set not too tight, with little rings, since this wax mix stays a little softish but stickier; comes in handy in those hard to heat places like them edgy corners down below.

- I have seen & worked on screwed and non screwed Bon Cajuns, and the latter have a more dark type of wax, probably with quite some rosin added. The sound of such an instrument in D sounded quite overtone rich, but too many facts play a role too to see that as a pure cause. Also over the years wax tends to turn more brittle as i noticed with older accordions.

- Eric Martin (French maker) i saw uses or used leather in stead of wax, probably makes the sound softer with those standing reed blocks and the lesser straight mechanical contact between reeds and blocks. Maybe our Marc th Brave knows more about the modern Eric Martin's construction, he owns one. - Nout