AnneH
Newbie
Hi, my name is Anne. I’m a new member. I recently bought this very nice Crucianelli video 85 accordeon. I don’t know much about accordeon makes. Does anyone know when and where it was built? Thanks!
Crucianelli video 85
- Thread starter AnneH
- Start date
Dingo40
Been here for ages!
Hi Anne, and welcome!
This is quite a good manufacturer, possibly from the late 1950s/early 60s.
Can't quite see the coupler switches, but looks to be a three voice 27 treble keys/80 bass buttons in 5 rows.
This could be excellent for folk music or busking.
It may have a small plaque on the back somewhere saying where it's made (eg, "made in Italy")?
I have several Dutch friends and the accordion was very popular in Holland in the 1940s-1960s, and much music adapted specifically for the accordion was published there at the time.
I wish you joy with it!
This is quite a good manufacturer, possibly from the late 1950s/early 60s.
Can't quite see the coupler switches, but looks to be a three voice 27 treble keys/80 bass buttons in 5 rows.
This could be excellent for folk music or busking.
It may have a small plaque on the back somewhere saying where it's made (eg, "made in Italy")?
I have several Dutch friends and the accordion was very popular in Holland in the 1940s-1960s, and much music adapted specifically for the accordion was published there at the time.
I wish you joy with it!
Last edited:
Ventura
Been here for ages!
it certainly looks like a typical italian accordion from the 1960's
and it is probably nicely built and may still have many good years
left in it to give you.. so i am not saying there is anything wrong
with your pretty accordion on it's own merits
but several things jump out to me..
the Video line of accordions was a third brand commissioned by the Deffner company
in New York, USA, who also were the exclusive importer for the Crucianelli line,
and their main line, PanCordion, also commissioned through and made by Crucianelli.
there were many competing accordion schools and music stores back then and
this was done to allow brand exclusivity to dealers in overlapping areas.. for example,
the small family run school on the South side may have had Video, while the big famous
school downtown had PanCordion, and the North Side club had Crucianelli for sale
Video branded accordions were not sold or distributed in Europe, period.
and while the Crucianelli "built by" label was sometimes on the back of a Pan
or a Video, 2 names were not put on the front as that would have
defeated the purpose and caused confusion.
also, i have personally never seen any model in any of the 3 brands with that grill,
not even anything remotely close to that design, nor do the shifts look like
anything that factory ever used on any models of accordions they built.
the keys themselves look different than typically made in that factory.
and only 5 rows of Bass buttons ? literally everything above the 12 bass beginner
models had 120 bass and 41 keys, as the competition was intense and
dictated minimum specs back then in the USA
the Crucianelli factory burned to the ground early on, well before the
glory days were over and the market changed to favor shortened keyboards
and 5 row bass schemes
my conclusion is that someone who refurbs old accordions fixed this one
up and had some chrome names salvaged from other accordions and put
them on this one to increase the chances of selling it
it is also pretty obvious that there used to be another "label" on the front
lower face, down from the nailed on crucianelli chromepiece, so obviously
someone chose to remove that likely actual original bit of information
sorry.. though as i said earlier, on it's own merits, a nice little box
and it is probably nicely built and may still have many good years
left in it to give you.. so i am not saying there is anything wrong
with your pretty accordion on it's own merits
but several things jump out to me..
the Video line of accordions was a third brand commissioned by the Deffner company
in New York, USA, who also were the exclusive importer for the Crucianelli line,
and their main line, PanCordion, also commissioned through and made by Crucianelli.
there were many competing accordion schools and music stores back then and
this was done to allow brand exclusivity to dealers in overlapping areas.. for example,
the small family run school on the South side may have had Video, while the big famous
school downtown had PanCordion, and the North Side club had Crucianelli for sale
Video branded accordions were not sold or distributed in Europe, period.
and while the Crucianelli "built by" label was sometimes on the back of a Pan
or a Video, 2 names were not put on the front as that would have
defeated the purpose and caused confusion.
also, i have personally never seen any model in any of the 3 brands with that grill,
not even anything remotely close to that design, nor do the shifts look like
anything that factory ever used on any models of accordions they built.
the keys themselves look different than typically made in that factory.
and only 5 rows of Bass buttons ? literally everything above the 12 bass beginner
models had 120 bass and 41 keys, as the competition was intense and
dictated minimum specs back then in the USA
the Crucianelli factory burned to the ground early on, well before the
glory days were over and the market changed to favor shortened keyboards
and 5 row bass schemes
my conclusion is that someone who refurbs old accordions fixed this one
up and had some chrome names salvaged from other accordions and put
them on this one to increase the chances of selling it
it is also pretty obvious that there used to be another "label" on the front
lower face, down from the nailed on crucianelli chromepiece, so obviously
someone chose to remove that likely actual original bit of information
sorry.. though as i said earlier, on it's own merits, a nice little box
Last edited:
Dingo40
Been here for ages!
Ventura
Been here for ages!
g'day Dingo
especially here on the east coast we were awash with
Video ( pronounced like (and inspired by) Monte Video )
their most common grill was a kind of pouffy cloud motif
as well as tons of Cru and Pan.. no shortage of comparables
the did a lot of them in blue
especially here on the east coast we were awash with
Video ( pronounced like (and inspired by) Monte Video )
their most common grill was a kind of pouffy cloud motif
as well as tons of Cru and Pan.. no shortage of comparables
the did a lot of them in blue
My first accordion was a 3/80 Crucianelli, probably the same model but a later design (from around 1970, not too long before the factory burned down). It was a fine accordion for a 12 year old. I eventually grew out of it and moved to a Super Video (4/120, LMMM).
A problem we discovered later is that Crucianelli tuned accordions 442 or 443. At the time the orchestra I played in was mostly Crucianelli so they were all tuned "high", but as we later moved to other brands we moved to 440 tuning and all the Crucianelli accordions were eventually abandoned. (I still have a small 26/40 Crucianelli which I tuned down to 440, and I still have my late sister's Super Video, tuned 442 now.)
A problem we discovered later is that Crucianelli tuned accordions 442 or 443. At the time the orchestra I played in was mostly Crucianelli so they were all tuned "high", but as we later moved to other brands we moved to 440 tuning and all the Crucianelli accordions were eventually abandoned. (I still have a small 26/40 Crucianelli which I tuned down to 440, and I still have my late sister's Super Video, tuned 442 now.)
AnneH
Newbie
Thank you for your reaction!Hi Anne, and welcome!
This is quite a good manufacturer, possibly from the late 1950s/early 60s.
Can't quite see the coupler switches, but looks to be a three voice 27 treble keys/80 bass buttons in 5 rows.
This could be excellent for folk music or busking.
It may have a small plaque on the back somewhere saying where it's made (eg, "made in Italy")?
I have several Dutch friends and the accordion was very popular in Holland in the 1940s-1960s, and much music adapted specifically for the accordion was published there at the time.
I wish you joy with it!
AnneH
Newbie
Thank you for your reaction. The picture of the accordion is bad. About the label someone removed… oh oh, those were prints of my fingers I think. I don’t see any signs of earlier labels. I also know that a player in a dutch band has exactly the same accordion with the same labels on the front…
Well, it remains a mystery. Never mind, it sound very nice
!Ventura
Been here for ages!
so do you think they used Video in europe to designate a model line ?
the keys really throw me though.. the vast majority of cru labeled full size
boxes over here have curved sided keys for the highest and lowest naturals,
and the lady and child sized keyboards, while straight edged, had obviously
longer, thinner, sharps and naturals
well i could be wrong.. wouldn't be the first time.. been searching photo archives
for another with those shifts.. widely used by other brands and jobber boxes
like DaVinci, can't find any on a cru
the bass section too.. no photo's with that geometry surrounding the bass buttons..
Cru typically having rounded, voluptuous sculpting and different angles than
this box, and other more modern looking Cru's in euro searches also different
physical shaping and lines of the bass section..
i rather wondered though, if after the factory burned, did they have some built by
another factory to fulfill orders or try to get things going again ? short lived..
but of course CRUMAR continued on.. we did see crumar/crucianelli on some
organ accordions over here a decade after the fire. they were the series when
small chiklet type momentary tab switches came into vogue.. Castiglione
imported them.. can't ask him now..
Last edited:
Alan Sharkis
Well-known member
You’re recollection of the lower left and high A (assuming 41 treble keys) matches mine. I remember that Crus, and Pans all had them. My own LMH Video at that time had chromed switches so that the players had to discover what each one did on their own. (Mine was L, M, H, LMH, LM, MH, LH going from top to bottom.)
But here’s the interesting thing. Mine had a Video badge, but was a Pan, and it was new around the 50s. The Crus of that era all had those paddle shifts.
Ventura
Been here for ages!
can you imagine a world where importers couldn't find enough
accordions to fill orders, and needed such branding schemes to
cover all inquiries ?
a world where 12 bass accordions could not even be sold much less
have asking prices above $50 because they were considered the
cost of doing business (loaning them out over and over to beginners)
ahh.. back in the days when accordions were RUGGED and could
take a pounding and they all seemed to have good reeds ?
accordions to fill orders, and needed such branding schemes to
cover all inquiries ?
a world where 12 bass accordions could not even be sold much less
have asking prices above $50 because they were considered the
cost of doing business (loaning them out over and over to beginners)
ahh.. back in the days when accordions were RUGGED and could
take a pounding and they all seemed to have good reeds ?
In the large group I played in, almost all using Crucianelli, only the "Super Video" model had the word "Video" in its name.
Sorry, I never paid attention to the keyboards on the different models.
The only accordions I have actually seen with narrow black keys are Hohner Morino VI N accordions.
I never saw this register switch design. It must be quite a bit older than what we had.
After the factory burned down I didn't see new accordions for quite some time, and then new ones with different lettering started appearing. Someone mentioned that Maxims Group now makes accordions with the Crucianelli brand name, but there may have been a period between the fire and Maxims starting... I just don't know enough. Maybe JimD knows more about this.
