Bryan had real difficulty making this instrument and has vowed never to make another using black and white ebony. When he received it, he stored the wood in the usual manner for a couple of years to dry out. When he went back to it, it had warped and had split in several places. It took some ingenuity to find usable pieces. However, I think you'll agree, he did a great job with it.
Bryan's is not a standard Cajun accordion, as you will see by comparing it with the one played by Marc Savoy in the video above. The one Bryan made has three extra buttons to enable playing in different keys, whereas Cajun accordions normally have just one row of buttons. I have two Cajun accordions, one made from curly maple by Marc Savoy (probably the best living Cajun accordion maker), which looks identical to the one he is playing in the video. The other was made by Junior Martin from the same wood but has been ink-stained to a deep blue colour.
I said in my original post that I have also made a melodeon, but I designed it to play French style (because I play in a French folk dance band) so it looks rather different from Cajun accordions (photos below). I made it in 2011 and it has been used extensively since then, so it has acquired a few dints along the way. The wood is cherry with mahogany highlights and marquetry inlay. The name plate conflates my surname with that of the Frenchman who taught me how to make these wonderful instruments. The name plate and grille took longer to make than the whole of the rest of the instrument because I decided the work would be more accurate if I did it entirely by hand.
