Accordion of the day: Fratelli Alessandrini’s “Celt”

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Every once in a while, someone asks me how expensive accordions can get, and what you get for shelling out a lot of money. Pictured above is an example: The Celt, an accordion with Irish Tuning (I have no idea what that means) made by Fratelli Alessandrini (“Alessandrini Brothers”).

Unlike less expensive accordions — the kind I own, perhaps save the one that my friend Sean Galbraith gave to me — the Alessandrini Celt doesn’t have any plastic parts. The mechanical bits are metal, of course, but that’s a straight-up wood body, wood keys, wood switches, and wood grille.

Not only is it a visually beautiful instrument, but it also sounds beautiful. Here’s a demo video by The Squeezebox Shop in Scotland:

If you’re on Facebook, you can also check out this video of Ross Little enjoying his newly-purchased Celt in the great outdoors.

And now, the price. For an accordion made with these materials and this kind of craftsmanship in small production runs, you can buy at The Squeezebox Shop for… £4,495.00. At today’s rates, that’s about $5,750 US.

I might wait until my LLC’s making a little more money before picking up one of these.