Handmade button accordion with top notch components in GC. The reeds are in LM bandoneon configuration with 2 switches providing M, L and LM options. High end Italian components from Carini are used everywhere. It features my favorite Binci Professional handmade reeds throughout. The case is black walnut and has walnut burl inlaid panels. This was made in France in 2018 at Emmanuel Pariselle’s accordion build workshop by a friend of mine. He plays mostly Irish music on BC instruments so he traded this to me for a different BC instrument. There is a picture of us holding our completed boxes in the photo section. I still have and cherish my BbEb made at the same time. My friend is a meticulous workman and his craftsmanship is evident. Neither of our instruments have the polished fit and finish of a Castagnari but they do have that one-of-a-kind handmade flavor.

It is in mint condition with only a few hours of playing time. It has nice Italian bellows with black tape and red cloth covered folds. It has 25 treble buttons in 10/9/6 layout. It has Emmanuel’s 14 bass left side which includes an additional two bass note buttons. The design has thirdless chords. A layout of the keyboards including the accidentals is provides in the picture section. The handmade Binci professional reeds are excellent and have more dynamic range than my Castagnari boxes. The valves are modern plastic and plastic/composite one way valves for long trouble free life. The air button hole is also larger than a standard instrument to gulp air quickly when desired. If you look at the picture of the bottom of the instrument you will see two star wheel adjusters. These provide an adjustable bass/chord muting to alter the balance between the trebles and bass sides.

The bass notes feature a cassotto style cantilevered design- see pictures. I added a black front grill cloth after most of the pictures were taken. There is one straight-on shot after the installation. The wooden keyboard is walnut and has a finger grooved edge of some exotic hardwood. The bass strap has Velcro adjustment. A nice Italian shoulder strap is included along with a gig bag.

I have just tuned all the reeds in this box. Since it is bandoneon (LM) arrangement all the reeds were tuned on pitch (no tremolo) with A440 Hz as the reference frequency. Final tuning occurs in situ with the reedblocks inside the case.

To learn more about the accordion build workshop here is a brief French newsclip about it: