A page of links about Irish-style button accordions and, to a lesser extent, other button accordions and accordions in general.
Updated 19 December 2010
Under construction. Broken links, corrections and suggested additions? .
Websites
Web forums and lists
History
Accordion players
Festivals, gatherings and conventions
Accordion makers
Dealers, repairers and tuners
Suppliers of parts and accessories
Used boxes for sale
Miscellaneous links
Han Speek's Irish box page. Bass layouts, some info. on technique and ornamentation. Pieces with suggested fingerings for C#/D learners.
The Irish melodeon.
Melodeon.net. UK site on diatonics originally set up by John Spiers, now run by a group of users. Various useful resources including keyboard layouts for many systems, a beginner's guide (to the D/G system), and a discussion forum.
L'accordéon diato des amateurs. Useful site (if you read French) with lots of information and links. Health warning: More hideous midi music.
Melodeon.net forums. Main focus is on D/G "melodeons" but quite a bit of discussion of Irish-style boxes too.
Squeezeboxes in Irish trad. A Chiff and Fipple forum.
IrishBox group on Yahoo. Moribund, occasional flickers of life.
IrishTradAccord group on Yahoo. Brain-dead.
Diatonic box group on Yahoo. Non-Irish traditions.
Diato group on Yahoo. En franssâ.
Concertina.net forums. The place for talk about dwarf six-sided squeezeboxes.
TheSession.org.
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History of half-step boxes as used in Irish music by Stephen Chambers in a discussion at concertina.net forums.
Graeme Smith's very interesting paper on B/C box players in Australia, formerly available free from the University of Illinois Press, can now be purchased for $7 from this site (or you may be able to obtain it free via inter-library loan or similar procedure).
History of Paolo Soprani boxes by Sean Quinn
Extracts from "Histoire de l'accordéon" (book by the late Pierre Monichon).
Summary of above work, with pics.
International accordion museum, Castelfidardo, Italy
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Will Zarwell's Irish Accordion Discography. Links to video and audio clips of many players.
Peter Browne
Joe Burke
Johnny Connolly
Joe Derrane - Sé mo laoch TG4 documentary
Jackie Daly
Patty Furlong
James Keane
Josephine Marsh
Billy McComiskey - videos of performances at the Kennedy Center.
Simon Melia
Dave Munnelly
Paddy O'Brien (Offaly)
Mairtin O Connor
Danny O'Mahony
Dan Possumato (melodeon player)
Sharon Shannon.
John Whelan
John Williams
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Northeast Squeeze-In, Massachusetts. Annual autumn gathering of tina and box players.
Carrefour mondial de l'accordéon de Montmagny. World accordion festival near Quebec City.
Dino Baffetti
Beltrami
Beltuna
Castagnari
Pietro Mario
Mengascini
Serenellini
Paolo Soprani
Makers chiefly of "organetti" - Abruzzi-style melodeons
Alessandrini
Giustozzi You can write to them in English - and they'll answer.
Marrara
List of French and other makers with contact info.
Cartmeleon
Bertrand Gaillard
Stéphane Le Lan
Bernard Loffet
Maugein
Saltarelle
Stelvio
Serafini
Finnish Accordion Works: Aaro Luukinen
Akkordeonwerkstatt - Marco & Daniel Untersee. Swiss makers, site in German
Zdenek Koutny. Delicia and Lignatone accordions
Doug Briggs
Cairdin
Paddy Clancy
Kincora
Streb e-melodeons
Wesson
Frans van der Aa
Karel van der Leeuw (site is in Dutch)
Baldoni
Hohner USA
Irish Dancemaster
Peter Hyde
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The Button Box, Amherst, MA, USA. Sales and service of all types of squeezeboxes.
John Nolan.
Castiglione Accordions, Warren, MI, USA.
Main Squeeze, NY, NY, USA.
John Williams. Dealer for Saltarelle.
Musique Gagné, Québec City (concessionaire for Saltarelle and others)
John's Accordion Service, Windsor, ON, Canada
Accordéons Excellence, Montreal, QC, Canada
Yves Hélie, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada. Tuner and repairman.
All about accordions. Sean Garvey, Dublin. Dealer in Paolo Soprani, Serenellini, Castagnari & Mengascini.
The Box Place - Theo Gibb, Gateshead, UK. Tuner and repairman, used and restored boxes for sale.
Mike Rowbotham, St. Ives, UK. Refurbished vintage Hohners.
Thrift Music, Essex, UK.
Hobgoblin Music. UK & USA.
Jollybox, Northampton, UK.
The Music Room, UK. Large retailer.
Rees Wesson, Wales, UK. Specializing in Castagnari.
La Maison de l'accordéon, France
List of French tuners and repairers, and makers
La Boîte de l'accordéon (Laurent Jarry, Montreuil, France)
Thierry Beuze (near Quimper, Brittany)
Stéphanie Simon (Orval, central France): sales, rentals, repairs, tuning (Bertrand Gaillard's tuner).
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Frank Romano Enterprises, Montréal
CGM Musical Services (Charlie Marshall), nr. Falkirk, Scotland
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Current stock of Irish accordions at the Button Box, Amherst, MA. Used and new.
Theo Gibb's current stock of used boxes, Gateshead, England. Usually a few Irish models on sale.
Wanted and for sale - Brittany. Site is in French. Mostly G/C boxes, occasional Irish tunings.
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Robert English's accordion gallery - includes an illustrated guide to making a tuning table.
Voci Armoniche reed manufacturers.
Accordions worldwide. Don't go there!
Squeezebox sound clips page. Enter at own risk.
Dirk's Projects. Software for accordion tuners.
Hans Palm's accordion page.
Tuning, wetness, etc. By Gilbert Hoek van Dijke, ed. Wendy Morrison
Jax' free-reed instruments page
Montmagny accordion festival, Quebec (September)
Stuff about reeds
Center for the Study of Free-Reed Instruments
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