Hi there,
I’d like to buy a B/C or a C#/D box, (still not sure after months) but prices are incredibly high. Recently I bought a flute from a top maker and it costs less than a bad quality button box since every worth instrument that I find is over 1200€.
Is there any (web) place that I can have access to second hand instruments?
Thanks so much
Might be worth contacting Theo Gibb in the UK to see what he’s got:
http://www.theboxplace.co.uk/instruments/forsale.htm
In the USA, the Button Box usually has some good stuff available:
http://www.buttonbox.com/stocklist.shtml
A guy here in Florida, USA, has quality new Irish boxes starting at 550 euro:
http://www.irishdancemaster.com/accordion.html
I’ve heard some good reports on these, i think a couple of posters here have owned or played one.
Hi Sylvester! You welcome in the box world!!!
You can try to contact John O’Connor at Custy’s Music Shop in Ennis (Ireland) Tel: +353 65 6821727 .
John have some second hand accordion in C#D or BC.
Alternatively… a friend of mine sell his accordion BC hand made from Beltrami (an italian accordio maker)… I have that accordion but C#D.
It’s a beautiful instrument, three voices, 23 treble, 8 bass, walnutwood, 2 stop on bass, 1 stop on treble. You can see this accordion on this forum at http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=39526&start=0
Good luck
Thanks for the replies. I’ve checked the sites and found interesting things. Silvio, I was in Custy’s last week, no affordable second hand at the time; maybe it’s a good thing to keep in contact with both John and Theo. BTW, What do you think of that C#/D melodeon?’ Is its suitable for ITM?
I also contacted with Accordion master and have to say that he’s a very informative and helpful chap. His love for this music goes far beyond commercial issues. Delivery expenses are however too expensive I’m afraid.
I couldn’t find anything in Dingle (Co Kerry) but I’m pretty sure that this is so because I don’t have any contacts there. I guess that most of them are sold privately if ever.
I tried a beautiful-looking and very very cheap (400€) one in a Galway shop (can’t remember the name) but had a very slow response. The make is the same as for a very popular and smart classy Italian drink. I wish it had been ok, but to be honest I think that I’d found it rather frustrating combined with my absolute ignorance.
Congratulations Silvio, I’m honored to talk to a World Champion.
Try Steve Chambers in his shop in Kilrush. He posts to Melodeon.net and concertina.net
Looking up Steve Chambers is a good idea.
Another name to look out for is John Brosnan - just searched the web and he seems to be in Kilcummin, near Killarney, Co. Kerry. Tel. 064 43047. I believe he sells reconditioned Hohner boxes that will do you nicely.
And yes a C#/D is suitable for Irish music. Personally I’m convinced it will mess your brain up slightly less than a B/C 
Steve
Met Brosnan once, embarrising enough we were playing a reel he composed when he identified himself. Nice guy.
Jackie Small plays the old Hohners and gets away with it very nicely too.
Oh… Steve’s shop it’s small but there’s some surprise sometimes.
I’m visit Steve’s shop in June. It’s very nice and caotic shop 
but there is some instruments very beautiful
Sylvester… you can try to contact Martin Connoly http://www.kincoraaccordions.com … Martin is very nice, and sometimes he had some “cheap” accordion to restoring (Black Dot etc)
Or… you can try to contact Paul Vignoles at his shop in Spiddal (near Galway): he know an accordion player near Galway that sometimes he sell some accordion from his collection (cheap or not cheap… ah ah ah… funny… “chep or not cheap, that is the problem..”)
It’s easy to find cheap accordions, but isn’t good to learn (sometimes) od to play seriously.
Wow… I’m forget… In Custy’s music shop in Ennis, there is for sale, my old accordion (Saltarelle Irish Boebe C#D… very good condition)… eh eh eh it’s a long way from Italy to Ennis! My accordion maker selled to Custy my old Saltarelle, and now… I don’t now the price… probably around 700 Euro.
Good luck!
Thank you all again for the contacts. I’ll try to check them all. Silvio, maybe it’s already sold. 700€ seems a fair price for me and I’ll check with them again. Maybe I’ll be back to Ireland again on September and could go with some enquiry before hand. A friend of mine lives in Galway so he could make it to Spiddal.
Guys you’re putting me in the correct lines. Thanks a lot.
My wife isn’t as happy though. she says that I have to sell a flute if I want the box.
Let’s give her time…
Nobody’s mentioned eBay yet - instruments coming up there all the time.
Of course it’s always a case of caveat emptor. Buying unplayed is alweays a risk on second hand boxes, more so on eBay than from a resotorer, but I though I’d mention it anyway.
There’s a guy on Melodeon.net currently selling a C#/D Hohner box on eBay, item number 330006215346
Thanks Martin, I’ve checked the site and contacted the seller. I’m afraid that delivery expenses from Oz could be too high, but one never knows. Price seems not too bad if it’s in such a good condition as the seller states. At least his feedback is perfect.
It’s got dry tuning. Besides, this guy has an extra tuning set in B/C in case you want one or the other, but not including both tuning sets in the price. Somebody in Galway recommended me buying a second hand if the make was a Hohner because the bellows is really tough when new.
Is it true all that about German and Chinese Hohner boxes?
The new ones for US$700 (?) are made in China and are of poorer quality, and not available in C#/D afaik. This one is German and excellent quality.
(extract from seller’s ebay description)
I know these boxes are popular in Ireland cause the might bear a bustle better than a Cairdin, Beltrami, Saltarelle, etc…but I’ve actually never listened to them ‘in action’; so I don’t know anything about the sound quality and ‘Irishness’ If I may say so. 
Any hints would me most appreciated guys.
It’s almost certainly been retuned from B/C, or had replacement reeds fitted, because as far as I know Double-Rays were only ever made in B/C. I have one myself, also retuned to C#/D, and dry. (Dry is boring, for my taste, but it’s the fashion among the younger players.) It’s a good box, simple, light and compact.
Hohners have a characteristic sound that is nothing like a Saltarelle or a Paolo, but very attractive. Quite Irish enough - Josephine Marsh plays one if I’m not mistaken, and plenty of other good musicians too. I’d ask the seller if the reeds are the original Hohners retuned, or a replacement set, and in the latter case where they came from.
As far as the bellows are concerned - my box is probably 1970s vintage and perhaps older than the one you are looking at. The bellows are certainly well-played in and easy. In fact they are a little bit too waggly in comparison with newer Italian boxes, and this takes a little adapting to.
One modification that you will want to have done, if it hasn’t been done already, is to limit the key travel. The buttons on standard Hohners disappear below the level of the fingerboard, which is OK maybe if you play melodeon style with flattish fingers. But for 2-row Irish playing you will want to play with the fingertips, and having your fingers falling into a manhole will slow you down! There are various ways of limiting key travel, most of them pretty simple, ranging from stuffing felt or foam under the keys to adding a little wooden bar or rod under the grille cover to stop the levers moving back too far. Easy to get info. on this if and when you need it.
I have no personal experience of the Chinese-made boxes but the general consensus seems to be that quality has taken a dive since production was transferred to China. A dealer here in Montreal told me that they had decided to stop stocking Hohner and go with Weltmeister instead because of the quality drop.
Steve
Informative as usual you all. I’ll try to make some enquiry
Cheers
Just to add that you can be sure of the quality of that double-ray box from Malcolm Clapp in Australia. I’ve dealt with him for years and always found him honest and straightforward. Also, his reconditioning/repair work on second hand boxes is of the highest quality.