Beginner accordion advice

A friend of a friend is moving across the country so she’s selling some stuff, including a grey celluloid lisheen beginner accordion (B/C) (you can see it here in red http://www.accordions.ie/student-accordions ). I had been toying with the idea of picking up a new instrument over lockdown and have fond memories of the accordion as my granda used to play one. She’s looking to sell it for €400 but I might be able to get it a bit cheaper. It’s an ugly looking yoke but from the demo video on the website I linked above, it sounds ok. But it might be a case of a very good player making a not so good instrument sound good. Is it worth getting or should I shop around? And if I shop around, what makes/models would ye suggest for a beginner who already has experience with reed instruments (I play the concertina, I also play the fiddle too but that’s not really relevant here)

I’d also be interested to hear your opinions on B/C vs C#/D accordions. Or any advice/tips in general. Thanks 🙂

hi Roisin, if you start on C#/D then you can immediately start on the D row melodeon style then add the chromatics from the other row as you get used to it. I am admittedly biased in favor of C#/D as i am a big fan of Jackie Daly, though I greatly admired the late Joe Burke[B/C] - he said in a recent documentary when he started on a 2 row box he was told one row was for jigs and the other for reels!

If you play the C/G Anglo Concertina in a cross-row style, I think you’d find the transition to B/C box pretty straightforward. That’s the path I took.

When it comes to accordion quality, basically the better the accordion the higher the maximum speed limit. You don’t want to start on a total piece of junk but the Lisheen would do you very well for a good while.

As far as keys go, I’m not sure it matters overmuch. B/C boxes seem to be easier to sell on later down the line. Other than that, there’s nothing stopping you playing a B/C as if it were a C#/D, it’ll just play a tone lower, obviously. The other thing is if you enjoy flat key tunes as a fiddler, they’ll be easier on a B/C than the C#/D.

Regarding the system B/C vs C#/D, perhaps you should pick out 4 or 5 box players that you would like to sound like if you had the choice, and then ask yourself the question what system they are playing, you can ask here if you want to know what system they play, the following site can help as well https://irishbox.blogspot.com/ not always accurate though…. the other way of looking at it is, if you spend 400 euros on the box, you will probably get that amount for it if you decide to sell it, or worst case you would have rented an accordion for a year for not a lot of money, make sure the accordion is in tune (there’s no real reason why it shouldn’t be) but you don’t want any repairs or tuning costs.

Hi all, thanks for the advice, after sleeping on it I’ve decided to buy the lisheen. I prefer the sound of the B/C over the C#/D and wether I keep ok with the accordion or not it won’t break the bank. I got a chance to play it the other day, and while it isn’t the most responsive instrument it’ll do me grand for now. And I managed to haggle her down to €360 so I’m happy out haha