mtj
Member
My wife and I vacationed in Italy this month and spent an afternoon in Castelfidardo. We started at the largest playable accordion in the world, La Fisarmonica da Guinness, which is a cute way to spend a few minutes and is on the same street in the center of town with Victoria accordions and the accordion museum.
First stop Victoria accordions, ah mecca, the legendary brand. I had sent an email to Victoria saying I wanted to visit but they never got back to me, that notwithstanding they were open and friendly and had a few instruments to play. Years ago before I started to learn accordion I heard someone playing beautifully on a Victoria and I thought someday I will own a Victoria. So this was all quite a treat.
I believe I first tried a Poeta. It was nice sounding but not quite a life changing experience. I own what I think is a pretty nice golden era Giulietti and my wife thought my Giulietti sounded better. I was more interested in a smaller LMM musette and tried one which I didn’t care for.
Next stop Beltuna, which is thankfully more conveniently located down the hill from the center of the old town with its own parking (parking in Italy in my experience is generally a nightmare). I had sent Beltuna an email and they had gotten back to me and they were expecting us. We first got a tour of the factory and then I tried some instruments. They were really nice and the tour of the factory was great. Both my wife and I were really impressed with how they run their business and how gracious they are. First I tried their Matrix Free. The Matrix line is their electromechanical acoustic system (). I believe it was Matrix Free on a Spirit and cost over €20,000. This was pretty much a life changing experience. The sound is amazing. I haven’t played a lot of new accordions but from what little experience I’ve had with new accordions (mostly Scandalli) I’ve noticed the treble side is better than the bass (this appears to be because the bass is often not used when playing in bands etc. so treble gets the priority in design and manufacture). But with Beltuna they have very noticeably made the bass sound a priority. The Matrix system uses solenoids to open the valves replacing the complex mechanical system. In the Matrix Free also has a signal running from the treble side keys to the bass system and the register switches are all electromechanical and so the treble side keys can play the bass notes and the bass can be configured however the user wants (quint, C griff, B griff, Stradella). The accordion basically has a MIDI system built into it which enables interfacing with a phone app and USB to a computer. The Matrix Free Spirit was, I think superior to my Giulietti Bassetti in every way and the finest accordion I have ever played.
They did not have the exact configuration I’d have liked to try, LMM musette, but had something similar and I really liked the sound of it (although not nearly as much as the Matrix). My wife was also very impressed with the sound of the Beltuna accordions.
Last stop Giustozzi. Located in a residential area it was a smaller company. They said they had sold a lot of accordions recently and therefore didn’t have much in the way of LMM musette to try. I tried an LMMM and it sounded okay, and my wife wasn’t very impressed with the sound. But I was trying their lower end accordions in the €4-5,000 range and had just come from Beltuna playing accordions that cost a lot more. They did have a used LMMM for €1,600 (what the final cost would be shipped would certainly be several hundred more) which was a pretty good deal I thought and it had reasonable sound, but was still heavier than I wanted. I really wasn’t able to give them a fair evaluation because they didn’t have a lot of options. They were very nice and it was a good time.
So in the end I didn’t find an LMM to buy. But we did have a lot of fun which was the main goal anyway and the three places were all great. I have no plans to spend a lot of money on a new accordion (maybe that will change if the stock market goes up a lot
) but if I did Beltuna would certainly be at the top of my list. Probably like most everyone buying a unique electromechanical instrument seems like it might be a risk when accordions can have a life of 50 years or more. But it certainly has an awesome sound. Even an LMM musette Beltuna would still be at the top of my list.
First stop Victoria accordions, ah mecca, the legendary brand. I had sent an email to Victoria saying I wanted to visit but they never got back to me, that notwithstanding they were open and friendly and had a few instruments to play. Years ago before I started to learn accordion I heard someone playing beautifully on a Victoria and I thought someday I will own a Victoria. So this was all quite a treat.
I believe I first tried a Poeta. It was nice sounding but not quite a life changing experience. I own what I think is a pretty nice golden era Giulietti and my wife thought my Giulietti sounded better. I was more interested in a smaller LMM musette and tried one which I didn’t care for.
Next stop Beltuna, which is thankfully more conveniently located down the hill from the center of the old town with its own parking (parking in Italy in my experience is generally a nightmare). I had sent Beltuna an email and they had gotten back to me and they were expecting us. We first got a tour of the factory and then I tried some instruments. They were really nice and the tour of the factory was great. Both my wife and I were really impressed with how they run their business and how gracious they are. First I tried their Matrix Free. The Matrix line is their electromechanical acoustic system (). I believe it was Matrix Free on a Spirit and cost over €20,000. This was pretty much a life changing experience. The sound is amazing. I haven’t played a lot of new accordions but from what little experience I’ve had with new accordions (mostly Scandalli) I’ve noticed the treble side is better than the bass (this appears to be because the bass is often not used when playing in bands etc. so treble gets the priority in design and manufacture). But with Beltuna they have very noticeably made the bass sound a priority. The Matrix system uses solenoids to open the valves replacing the complex mechanical system. In the Matrix Free also has a signal running from the treble side keys to the bass system and the register switches are all electromechanical and so the treble side keys can play the bass notes and the bass can be configured however the user wants (quint, C griff, B griff, Stradella). The accordion basically has a MIDI system built into it which enables interfacing with a phone app and USB to a computer. The Matrix Free Spirit was, I think superior to my Giulietti Bassetti in every way and the finest accordion I have ever played.
They did not have the exact configuration I’d have liked to try, LMM musette, but had something similar and I really liked the sound of it (although not nearly as much as the Matrix). My wife was also very impressed with the sound of the Beltuna accordions.
Last stop Giustozzi. Located in a residential area it was a smaller company. They said they had sold a lot of accordions recently and therefore didn’t have much in the way of LMM musette to try. I tried an LMMM and it sounded okay, and my wife wasn’t very impressed with the sound. But I was trying their lower end accordions in the €4-5,000 range and had just come from Beltuna playing accordions that cost a lot more. They did have a used LMMM for €1,600 (what the final cost would be shipped would certainly be several hundred more) which was a pretty good deal I thought and it had reasonable sound, but was still heavier than I wanted. I really wasn’t able to give them a fair evaluation because they didn’t have a lot of options. They were very nice and it was a good time.
So in the end I didn’t find an LMM to buy. But we did have a lot of fun which was the main goal anyway and the three places were all great. I have no plans to spend a lot of money on a new accordion (maybe that will change if the stock market goes up a lot
) but if I did Beltuna would certainly be at the top of my list. Probably like most everyone buying a unique electromechanical instrument seems like it might be a risk when accordions can have a life of 50 years or more. But it certainly has an awesome sound. Even an LMM musette Beltuna would still be at the top of my list.
... yes, it's the accordion answer to a Delorean car! For something so modern I really get a hint of the 1980s - maybe its the grey carbon fiber and hexagonal grill pattern. Wonder if it's got a Back To The Future time-travel coupler... Could always go back and pick up a couple of Golas for us. 
