Hey all; this goes out to all those with Dancemaster Irish accordions. I’m thinking of getting a C#/D dry tuned Dancemaster as a new accordion. I am selling my old Paolo Soprani because I cannot afford to fix it, and with the group I play with I’d prefer the dry sound. I am a college student and have an old Chinese accordion I learned on with inaudible high notes and an awkward fingerboard, and a beautiful PS I love that needs work. I am being paid to play on campus and get more and more gigs and it was time I chose between two accordions that need work or one well working one.
I’ve been told (In email by Michael from Dancemaster) that the accordions now use great handmade reeds. Has anyone picked up one of these bad boys? How bout in C#/D? Are you pleased? How does it compare to other top of the line accordions?
-Sean
Sean,
I am surprized knowone has jumped in on this thread! I know there have been plenty of comments about the Dancemasters on this board.
Quite a few beginners here, myself included all have Dancemasters.
You might search around on the pages and you can read about it yourself.
As for how it compairs to other high end accordions you might want to post a question on yahoo groups irishbox to reach a greater audiance of more experienced players.
As for me I also have a Castignari Lilly for comparison. The Castiganari of course has a beautiful wood box but as far as the action is concerned I would say the Dancemaster is better! The Dancemaster is a great box for the money, put together by someone who cares how it turns out. If somthing goes wrong with it, you will know where to send it! Michael guarantees his tuning for a year? (not sure exactly). People always comment about how good mine sounds and the dry tuning blends really well with other instruments.
Buy the best reeds you can afford right now because it is very costly to upgrade them later. I would get the handmade reeds, then will know that you have the best sound you can get for a little extra money. Michael says that alot of those high end accordions come with Durall reeds, not hand made reeds.
Good Luck on your quest!
Nate
I also own a Dancemaster C#/D but didn’t respond because I wasn’t sure if my opinion would be helpful. I’ve only been playing since August. Taking that with a huge grain of sand, here’s my 2 cents worth. In class I played on a Delicia from the Czech Republic, and then borrowed a friend’s Serenellini for a couple of months. My Dancemaster is dry tuned with Binci Durall-Avional reeds. It is miles above the Delicia in sound quality and button action among other things. The Dancemaster’s button action is at least as responsive as the Serenellini, if not more so. The richness/fullness of sound may not be quite the equal of the Serenellini but then it also did not cost nearly so much either. Getting the most for the funds I had was a priority, and I feel completely satisfied with the Dancemaster. As everyone else on this list has already said, Michael is very forthcoming, helpful and easy to talk to.
Perhaps this will help a bit,
Jenny
I didn’t get the chance yet to try a Dancemaster. I’ve owned a Satarelle and a Cairdin. Now i’ve got a Van Der Aa 2 voice on order. I’ve tried a Van Der Aa, there bellows action is very light and most of all i like the keyboard. The buttons are closer to the rim or thumb than any other make i’ve tried before, that’s what makes the buttons very comfortable, and gives me faster action. They’re not expensive either but around may last year his waiting list was 9 months.
I also have a Dancemaster and I am very satisfied with my decision. I have been playing only since September. When I took it to a session, (even though I could only play a couple of tunes) the fiddle player decided that he needed a button accordion! He ordered a C#/D Dancemaster. The worst thing that I can say about the Dancemaster is that the air button is so easy to access that I sometimes hit it by accident. I probably paid a couple of hundred dollars more than a Hohner, but Hohner would not have customized it to my specifications.
I wish that he would come out with a wood boxl, I would definately buy another one.
TM