Button Accordion: A Complete Buyer's Guide

Buying a button accordion is best approached backwards from the music: decide what you want to play before you start looking at specifications and price. The diatonic and chromatic families have almost no overlap in their use cases, so buying the wrong type for your tradition is not easily fixed by later adjustment. The same principle applies to key selection in the diatonic world — the tuning of your instrument determines what sessions and players you can join.

Diatonic or Chromatic: The Essential Decision

A diatonic instrument — such as a two-row B/C or C/G accordion, or a melodeon in D or G — is the natural choice for players learning Irish traditional music, English folk, French musette or Cajun. The bisonoric system rewards the specific hand positions those traditions developed and makes common ornaments, rolls and cranks feel natural under the fingers. A chromatic button accordion, by contrast, is the instrument for concert accordion repertoire, Scandinavian and Slavic folk, and any player who needs full harmonic access regardless of key.

These two paths lead to different instruments, different teachers, different methods and different communities. Deciding which music calls you most clearly is worth more time than any specification comparison.

Choosing a Key for Diatonic Instruments

For Irish and English traditional music, a B/C two-row accordion is the standard starting point for most learners in the modern era. The C/G two-row is also widely used, particularly for certain English and European styles. Single-row instruments in D (for English and Breton) or G are common in specific traditions. Before buying, find out what key the local session or teaching community uses — arriving at an Irish session with a G/D melodeon when B/C is the local convention can limit what you can learn and play alongside others.

Brands to Know

In the diatonic world, Hohner's Pokerwork and student melodeons represent the most widely available entry-level options, though quality control varies. The Italian makers — Castagnari, Saltarelle and Paolo Soprani — produce mid-to-high-end diatonic instruments that are widely used by professional and advanced players. In the mid-range, instruments from Chinese and Eastern European manufacturers have improved considerably and offer usable quality at significantly lower prices than Italian equivalents. For chromatic button instruments, Weltmeister is a well-regarded German manufacturer with a long history in the format. Hohner also produces chromatic instruments, as do several Russian and Belarusian makers.

New or Used

A well-maintained second-hand button accordion from a reputable maker typically offers better value than a new budget import. The bellows, valve condition and reed response of a quality used instrument almost always exceed those of a new low-cost instrument. Before purchasing used, have the instrument inspected by an accordion technician — ideally one familiar with the specific design — or use a dealer who offers a condition guarantee. The main inspection points are bellows integrity, reed response at soft dynamics, bass-button action and register switch function.

Our overview article explains the full design in detail. The best value guide covers top picks at different budgets, and the mistakes article covers the errors most new buyers make.

Frequently Asked Questions