Buying guides · 6 min read

Seven mistakes people make buying an accordion

Buying too big, ignoring weight, trusting a photo, skipping the leak test: seven errors that turn a new accordion into a cupboard ornament, and the fixes.

2026-06-02

Buying too big, and buying to grow into

This is the single most common mistake, and it is usually made with good intentions. A parent buys a 96-bass instrument so the child will not outgrow it, or an adult beginner buys a 120 because that is what the professionals use. The result is a student who cannot reach the bass rows without twisting, cannot see the keyboard, and stops practising because playing is physically unpleasant.

There is no prize for owning a large instrument. Smaller accordions hold their value reasonably well and are easy to sell on, so the real cost of starting small and trading up is much lower than it looks. Meanwhile the technique a student builds on a well-fitting instrument transfers cleanly upward; the compensations built on a badly-fitting one do not.

Ignoring weight, and ignoring the straps

Two accordions with the same bass count can differ by four kilos depending on how many reed ranks are inside and whether there is a cassotto. The specification sheets usually list the weight, and buyers usually skip past it. Forty minutes of practice with an instrument that is two kilos too heavy produces shoulder and lower back complaints that people then blame on posture.

The related error is treating straps as an accessory. Wide padded shoulder straps, correctly adjusted, and a back strap that links them behind the shoulder blades, change how an instrument feels far more than most buyers expect. If the bass side is sliding away from you when you pull the bellows open, the straps are wrong, not your technique. Budget for good straps on any instrument that comes with thin ones.

Judging by the numbers on the grille

Bass count and key count are the only two figures most listings advertise, so they become the basis for comparison. They are close to irrelevant to how an instrument sounds and plays. What matters is reed quality, whether the bellows is airtight, whether the pallets seal, whether the register sliders move cleanly, and whether the tuning has drifted.

A 72-bass instrument with hand-finished reeds and a tight bellows will outperform a 120-bass with machine-stamped reeds and a leaking corner in every way that matters, and will weigh several kilos less. Reed quality is often described in tiers with names that vary by maker, but you can hear it: play a very quiet long note and listen to how fast it starts.

The third figure worth knowing is the register count, but only in the sense of which ranks are present. A box advertising eleven treble registers built from three ranks is offering combinations, not more sound.

Not testing the thing before paying

An accordion can look immaculate and be full of problems. The minimum inspection takes four minutes. Close the bellows fully, press no key, hold no air button, and try to pull the bellows open. It should resist and hold. If it drifts open, air is escaping somewhere. Do the same in compression.

Then run a slow chromatic scale, pushing and then pulling, listening for any note that arrives late or wavers at the start. Late notes mean curled valves or poor reeds. Play the same note push and pull: on a piano accordion they must match exactly. Work through every bass button, because the bass machine is where neglected instruments hide their worst problems, and a single seized rod is expensive to fix.

Finally press each register switch and listen for a clean change without scraping, then shake the instrument gently and listen for rattles, which usually mean a reed plate has let go of its wax.

Buying from photographs, and underestimating restoration

Vintage accordions photograph beautifully. Mother-of-pearl celluloid, chrome grilles and Italian names sell a lot of instruments that have not been opened in thirty years. The problems that matter are all invisible in a photograph: leather valves that have curled, wax that has dried and released reed plates, bellows gussets gone porous, and tuning that has wandered by twenty cents.

Restoring such an instrument is skilled work and takes time. Re-waxing, replacing valves, repairing bellows corners and a full retune together can cost more than the instrument is worth, and a technician cannot quote accurately until the box is open. There are wonderful old accordions out there, and they are worth buying, but only after somebody has looked inside them.

The same caution applies to online purchases generally. If you cannot play an instrument yourself, arrange for someone who can to play it, or buy from a seller who will take it back.

Ignoring tuning style and what you want to play

Accordions are tuned in styles, and the style is not a setting you can change on a whim. Dry tuning, where the two middle reed ranks are at the same pitch, gives a clean straight tone suited to classical repertoire, tango and anything where a second instrument has to blend with you. Musette tuning, where those ranks are deliberately offset, produces the wavering shimmer of French and Italian popular music. Between them sits a range of intermediate wetness.

Buying a heavily wet-tuned instrument and then trying to play Bach on it is a frustration that no amount of practice resolves. Retuning is possible but it is a full workshop job, not an adjustment. Decide what you want to play before you decide what you want to hear, and try the instrument on that repertoire rather than on whatever it sounds best doing.

None of this requires expertise on the buyer's side, only a habit of asking. A teacher will usually come along and listen, and at A&G Academy we check candidate instruments on these points as a matter of course before a student commits money to one.

Frequently asked

Is it safe to buy an accordion online?

It is safe if the seller accepts returns or a technician has inspected it. The faults that matter, curled valves, dried wax, porous bellows and drifted tuning, are all invisible in photographs and inaudible in a short video. If nobody has opened the instrument, assume it needs work and price accordingly.

How do I know if an accordion leaks air?

Close the bellows fully, press no key and do not touch the air button, then try to draw the bellows open. A sound instrument resists firmly and holds. If it creeps open under steady pull, or slowly collapses when you release it in compression, air is escaping through a bellows corner or a pallet that is not sealing.

Can a wet-tuned accordion be retuned dry?

Yes, but it is workshop work rather than an adjustment. A technician files or scrapes each reed in the offset rank, note by note, then rechecks the whole instrument. It takes hours and costs accordingly. It is far cheaper to buy an instrument tuned the way you want in the first place.


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A&G Academy teaches accordion, bayan and double bass, and sells the instruments we teach on. Ask us anything — we'd rather talk you out of the wrong instrument than sell you one.

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