Royce’s Tango Thoughts

“I want to buy a bandoneon as your birthday present. What do you think?”

“Ah?”

“I think it’s a very nice tango gift. And since we’re in Buenos Aires, it’s the best opportunity to buy one. You don’t like it?”

“I like it, but I think it’s very expensive. I have been very curious about this instrument, but I never thought I would play it one day. If you expect me to play it seriously, then just forget about this idea. Looking at my abandoned piano and cello at home, I don’t think a bandoneon can be an exception.”

“But I can learn it together with you! Anyway, let’s go and have a look first, then we decide it after.”

Here started our bandoneon-hunting journey, which lasted for 2 weeks, not very long. The first thing we did was to check the price. I sent an email to ask Daniel (Taiwan) about the price of the bandoneon and where to buy. At the same time, we walked along Calle Sarmiento to check out the music stores one by one. After having an idea about how much a bandoneon would cost, we searched on internet how to choose a bandoneon. We read some advices and saw some photos. These helped to give us an idea of how to choose a bandoneon, but only when we tried to play and check the bandoneon with our hands, we start to understand what those advices really mean.

With our limited budget, we decided not to go for a Doble-A bandoneon. If one day we would play very well, then we will get a Doble-A. To start with, we just want a bandoneon in good shape, because we want to avoid the trouble of repairing as much as possible. We went through some 7 to 8 bandoneons in 2 stores and inspected them one by one - Played them to listen to the sound, checked the bellow to see if there was leaking air, opened it and see if the keyboard, the buttons, the wood and the reeds are in a good condition etc. It was very time consuming, but it is worth to do all these checking. Because an old instrument like bandoneon always have problems here and there. When we were in the stores, we must have looked quite funny - two absolute beginners tried to inspect the bandoneons as if they were experts. To get an old instrument in good shape, either you spend money, or you have to sacrifice or lower your criteria. In our case, we sacrifice the sound quality. Just by listening and comparing bandoneons of different brands, we could already tell the differences with our non-professional ears. An ELA or Germania has a rather soft and kind of “warm” sound; while Doble-A has a brighter, somehow louder sound, but at the same time the sound is much more profound than the other brands. We wanted to get an ELA or a Germania, but we couldn’t find one we like among the available ones. So finally we got “Isaac Junior”.

Isaac Junior is a simple bandoneon without any decoration. He belongs to the Arno Arnold family, and was born after the Second World War (Arno Arnold is a post-war mark). There’s a chop inside the bandoneon dated 1958, but we are not sure it is a chop of the manufacturer or the repairman. For sure Isaac has at least 50 years old. For a bandoneon, he’s young. From what we found on internet, the Arno Arnold’s bandoneons are just average, and they don’t have a bandoneon sound because the reeds are different. We didn’t notice that when we tried this bandoneon for the first time. But when we tried it again another day and made a direct comparison with other bandoneons, we could hear the sound difference. Isaac does have a kind of “harmonica-like” sound. Just that without a professional ear and a direct comparison, we could hardly hear the difference. Besides the sound issue, Isaac seems to be in very good shape, and we hope he will be trouble-free at least for the coming 1 to 2 years.

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