Hi
I have the opportunity to buy a B/C Double Ray. This box is new. How do they sound? Anyone have one? Should I wait and spend more money and get a French or Italian box?
Thoughts? Opinions?

The 1960s-era German-made Black Dots are great boxes and can still be found at insanely cheap prices. But the new ones are made in China, and the quality has suffered. You might be better off waiting.

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Trip to Kilkenny/Cos Reel/Up and Around the Bend (Roaring Mary live, 6/6/2001)
Some of the other music I do

For an example of a superb sounding Black Dot, check out Josephine Marsh in episode 5 of The Full Set: http://www.rte.ie/tv/thefullset/ep5.html

I had one years ago, and I wish I´d kept it.

The new Hohner Black Dot is made in China

You can try to search on Ebay... sometimes there's some vintage Black Dot or Erica.

The must is the Black Dot black (not red perloid)!

Charlie Piggot and other great irish accordion player play an old Hohner Erica.

This is my Hohner Erica black (1960)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/beltrami/1401044653

I started out on a 1970s vintage 2 voice black dot... it is ok... but there are better boxes out there. The sound is good, but the action is not the best in the world. There has always been too much travel in the buttons. The old 3 voice boxes might have been better. In general though, most of the ones you hear being played by the best players have been modified to improve their action.

Rather than get a new box, you might want to think about looking for a used box. If weight is not an issue, there are a fair number of red pearloid Paolo Soprani Clones floating around under names like Bell and Garini (I have the latter and it is a pretty good box.. and was a steal at $800, and I know someone else who got a Bell that is Identical to it (with the same grill even) for even less than that).

Of course the worst part for me is I now have several accordionas and rarely play any of them now that I switched over to concertina LOL.

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Bill

Liam, the travel of the buttons is adjustable if you find a good accordion maker.
My buttons are 3 mm out keyboard and they stop aligned to the keyboard.
I have modified the springs and now is very fast with a soft but resposive action.

Silvio, almost any box can be made better if you have access to a good accordion maker... of course if you have access to a good accordion maker, why not have him make you a good accordion . I did say that the Hohner's could be fixed, but since there are so many better boxes out there these days, I think it is better to just get a good box to start with rather than getting one that will need work done on it to make it better.

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Bill

This fella claims the double ray was made in Germany - but it's a recent model. is this possible??

If it was made in Germany, the words MADE IN GERMANY will be printed somewhere on the box, usually on the back of the keyboard. Ask to see a photo!