Post by Joe Kesselmanquestion about value is axed by people who know little about accordions.
I presume you mean "is asked".
Usually nothing about how to play one. These people probably have no
business owning one
Sorry, but that's unreasonable. Often they are trying to decide what to do
about this -- whether to learn to play it or sell it, whether they need to
insure it (and if so for how much), whether it's worth the investment of
getting it fixed up before any of the above.
How does that make them have any business owning one? If they don't play
one, and aren't trying to l;earn, then with very few exceptions they are
wasting their own and everyone else's time. There are a handfjul of
knowledgeable technicians or teachers who could look at the accordion and
give an opinion, in the latter case often a wrong opinion, yet people in the
ng are telling them to find someone to look at it. I'm admittng it is a
problematic situation, and you are calling it unreasonable. If you have your
way, you are like the person who, if asked for directions on the street,
answers, "Well, let me think... It could be that way, or maybe that way." I
can understand people wanting to know value. What I can't understand is the
anmswers they get. My answer is usually, "Get a life", in effect or, if I am
in a good mood that day, and it might not be total junk, offer to buy it for
a little money. Not that I don't already have too many accordions and not
enough time to fix them all, since people who do have any business owning
one, keep giving me more work to do.
Post by Joe KesselmanOther than that, they should have to take their chances.
Why? Because nobody helped you when you were a beginner and you're still
sulking? Or because you're hoping to buy these instruments at
less-than-fair prices?
There are no less-than-fair prices. Such an animal doesn't exist.
Post by Joe KesselmanIf _you_ don't want to offer any guidance, that's your choice. Complaining
when other folks aren't so swift to dismiss the question seems rather
mean-tempered. We were all newbies once. I don't consider myself much more
than one.
I'm not complaining. Just pointing out ridiculous folly.
Post by Joe KesselmanThrowing out advice to the four winds, as it were, is at best irrevelant
or inadequate, or at worst misleading to a person without the good
judgement or resources to properly apply it
You're making a negative judgement about a person's competence from the
fact that they were competent enough to realize that they needed to ask
the question? Sorry, but I really don't see how that follows.
It's OK if you don't understand. But I deny making a judgement. I made a
blanket statement, not a judgement of a particular person.
Post by Joe KesselmanThe Good Lord watches the sparrow's fall. That's not my job.
Fine, but there are folks who believe the ASPCA has a legitimate role to
play, even it if sometimes stands for the Amateur Squeezebox Purchase and
Conservation Advisers.
Not only an excercise in futility in most cases, but actually causing
confusion. For one example, people taking the advice to find an expert
would more likely to be taken advantage of by someone who takes money to
repair the accordion, which does no good or most often makes it worse,
letting the owner think they need to have it fixed before selling it or
giving it away. Often these self-styled experts mean well, but basically are
just out to make money. I would almost never take a job from a person who
doesn't play the accordion, unless it is for a relative who hasn't got the
resources to do it themselves, and then if I am sure it is the kind of
accordion that person needs, for example one that they used to play and now
needs repair. If someone is interested in value, I will almost always find
for them, that the money they spend, and the time I spend, will increase the
real value only about as much as the effort spent. It's not like real estate
where in some morkets, (not this one I live in) you can fairly easily find a
fixer-upper house and spend a little and make a lot. True, you could take an
accordion with some mechanical problems, fix those relatively easilyh and
then represent the instrument as having been reconditioned. Some people are
doing that. Often the repairs they do are done wrong, and the accordion
still has bad reed wax, or worse, has been attempted to be tuned badly. Then
they might sell it adding in the cost of the bad repairs.
Post by Joe KesselmanIf it bores you, skip to the next thread. You'll be happier, and so will
the querants and those who don't feel it's our duty to make fun of them.
I can understand your attitude, but it happens to be based on well-meaning
ignorance.
--
www.1accordion.net
Ike Milligan