Post by ciao_accordion.....The acoustical instrument itself is custom make by Pierre Maria in Italy
Concerto has sourced accordion bodies from various manufacturers
over the decades... specifications have varied widely... for many
years Serenellini was his primary source.. as i recall 10 or 12
years ago he switched to one of the small Boutique houses.
PierMaria is a French (family owned) Brand with a shared interest
in one of the newer "factories" in Italy, which came about after
SEM dissolved
in addition to the primary brands built at that location,
bare-bones accordions are also sourced there by several
of the "boutique" finishing houses located in the CastleFidardo region
"custom made by PierMaria" ONLY applies to an accordion with the
PierMaria nameplate on the front and sold through their dealer network
sometimes people get a bit carried away with wanting to
hook the cache of a major marquee to their house brand
and stories get embellished and claims are insinuated
if you have the money to spend, doubtless a Concerto can
be ordered which will sport the finest state of the current art
of italian accordion building... but of course the same can be
said for any American owned brand name
Concerto, however, has their unique set of electronics
to add to the box, which is exclusive to the brand...
that is what makes it unique and that is what you either
"buy into" or not
personally, in many ways, i still miss the simplicity
and power of the original Cordovox
ciao
Ventura
Ols stuff is good, when referring to electronic designs. The acoustic
part of Cordovox was based on really good reeds tuned well, mounted
well, but bare-bones as far as acoustic power.
In the old days when no one had amps, acoustic accordions had to be made
better, and someday these may be as rare as Strads, since the art of
maintaining them is being lost.
The accordion I use now is almost 100 years old, custom "made" in
Chicago by Piersante for someone name "Guyon". The bellows are still
good and the low reeds are super-powerful. I tuned it in an historical
well-tempered system, and it is better than anything I could buy from
anyone. I don't even have to use good playing technique to get a good
sound out of it. In fact my hands don't have the suppleness they use to
most of the time and the accordion helps me out by kicking ass. I need
to stop carrying the thing around manually and do hand exercises to
limber the fingers. I was carrying the heavy stuff not using a roller
just to keep my bones strong.
Your electronic stuff is hampered by having to use Equal Temperament and
by lacking the response that only a real handmade reed can provide. On
the plus side it can be easy and fun to play and give "special effects".
I don't use it for the same reason I never went to see "Star Wars" or
"Jurassic Park".
Phil, that isn't the one with the Scandalli name on it BTW.