The Chinese market has differentiated, and, as Jim D has pointed out here and on other threads, there is now significant daylight between the bottom and the top ends of the market, and the top end is raising its game (and its prices!) all the time. But these days, saying that all the accordions made in contemporary China are rubbish is like saying, for example, that all the cars made in Italy are perfect (and having owned an Alfa that fell to bits on me, I can attest they are not!). Of course there are those on this forum and elsewhere who dismiss everything Chinese out of hand. ![]() ![]() It is this factory that produces the Black Diamond range. The old, original, Parrot factory retained its highly skilled workforce, but relaunched under the new name of BaiDi, and, most importantly, its new management addressed the issues which contributed to the old Parrot going bust. This is what happened to the name ‘Parrot’ - it was sold to a start-up factory, also in Tianjin, who have produced under that name for the last few years. In the new deregulated China, they have a similar system to that in the UK when a company goes bust: the administrator sells the brand name when winding up the dissolved company. Some hated them, some absolutely loved them, but most were indifferent to them as bog-standard generic Chinese squeezeboxes.įor whatever reasons, but probably because they did not raise their game in an increasingly differentiated and competitive Chinese market, Parrot went belly-up in 2003. The original Parrot factory was founded in 1954 in Tianjin and produced boxes which most accordionists knew well. Whilst I bow to Jim Ds extensive knowledge of the Chinese accordion market, there is one small but extremely important detail about the old and the new Parrot brands which I feel ought to be pointed out. Hi – we’ve just been alerted to this discussion by a confused potential customer: I'm sure in time the Chinese will produce accordions to rival some of the Italian accordions made today but not only will the quality be the same but so will be the price!!! JIM D. The Excaliburs and Black Diamonds are made by the superior 3rd firm and some of their models are now equal and some superior to the current line of Weltmiester accordions for example. ![]() As I stated in an earlier post there are 3 firms making accordions in China and 2 of them make just plain junk and their products are accidents waiting to happen. You can find the same models as the Excalibur line in your local Black Diamond or Parrot line of accordions and purchase them from from a local importer with local service. The firm Jim Laabs has an EXTREMELY POOR reputation here and I would recommend you not consider any of the products they offer for sale. They come from the same origin as the Chinese line of accordions as your Black Diamond importer sells. Here in the US the Excalibur badge is found on accordions imported by Jim Laabs Music.
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