hi Walter
up until a few months ago, he was still advertising in the
classifieds of "the Music trades" - though he is not in
the current issue, nor is he listed anywhere in the new
"Purchasers guide to the Music industries"
509 Florida Ave.
Clearwater, Florida 33756
727 443 4113
Post by w.d.Does anybody know if John Gauns from Florida is still around?
while the Music Trades mag and the yearly guide are the "Bible"
of our Industry, they are by no means a complete picture, as
most of the Accordion trade is so small it falls through the
cracks of the Music Industry, which is so small IT falls
through the cracks compared to really BIG industry like,
ummm
Calendars (lol)
Lawn Mowers
ummm
pretty much everything else
Anyhow, notably the American Accordionists Association is no
longer listed under the associations section, for instance
( a lapse that was never allowed to happen under a former
Stewardess'ship's watchful eye... hehehe )
the most impressive presence in the mainstream journal
is still the Deffner group, with a listing under
Music Publishing ( Deffner ), and under Music Products
one each for Crucianelli, Titano, Pancordion and E.Deffner
Single listings for Acc. exchange, Acc Int. Acc and Kbd,
Castiglione, Huang, Gabanelli, Hohner, Lark, Petosa, Bell
and Weltmeister
double for Iorio and Syncordion
the Cemex listing is gone, of course and a single fax number
to a separate line (one assumes) at the Pigini offices
is all that is left of Excelsior's listing (lol)
In the top 225 Global music and audio (to the trade) not one single
company for whom Accordions are the principle product line
is represented, of course, which pretty much assures us that
everyone else is doing less than 9 million a year in business...
Hohner's sales figures are not broken down, though one would
think if they were doing 10 million in Accordions, they would have
never "rocked the boat" by outsourcing to China. Hohner is still
listed as a German company, though several years ago the Chinese
component was reported in Financial news as having purchased
controlling (majority) interest in the company. Honor is still
listed as parent to Sonor (drums) and HSS (Distributing)
Draw your own conclusions, of course, but for me it does suggest the
state of "health" of various companies to see their listings and
presence in the trade magazines, and at the trade shows.
Master, Limex, Orla, Musitec, and others are listed in the
international section, which is re-assuring, and I assume
by now Limex address is to more than a garage door under
a residential house in Castlefidardo (which it was on my
first visit) Master has always had a nice sized
2 story stand-alone modern facility which even has a
performance (sound stage) for trying out new equipment.
They also sell to more than just the Accordion trade, and have
even had long-term contracts with Roland Europe regarding
retrofitting Roland products for the French and other specialty
markets.
Fortunately for us, the people at Master love the Accordion
and so they continue to provide state of the art electronics
and service to us.
There will always be accordion companies on the way up
(like Fisitalia)
riding the crest
(like Beltuna)
treading water
(Zero, Pigini, Guerrini, etc.)
and some bleeding once venerable brand names of every vestige of value
(too many to list :(
The days of trusting (accordion)a brand name are rapidly drawing
to a close... you had better trust the evidence of your eyes, hands
and ears on a case by case basis. There is no "comparison by
specs" as there once was... you can have a tone chamber worth
$1000 dollars or one made out of mahogany plywood stapled and glued
together and leaking air like a sieve... you can have a man claim
(on an internet webpage) that his new Piermaria's are the direct
decendant of Elka (ROFLMF______A__Off)
PS: Elka was an electronics manufacturing firm
you can have another man say "there is only a little bit of
chinese content in these accordions" which is about like saying
"my daughter told me she is just a little bit pregnant"
yes, you had better trust your eyes and ears and hands and
try before you buy...
sheesh we've even had people get on here and say how
happy they were with their parrot's
(really ROFLMF______A__Off now)
Ciao
Ventura
Merry Christmas Walter, i'll save you last years guide
and bring it to you in the Spring... i need to visit you
and i want to see Faith next year too so you can expect me
after winter breaks