snavoyosky
Member
All the accordion manufacturers of the past were handmade artists in one of three special parts of the accordion. They were either bass mechanism specialists, treble keyboard makers, or reed-makers. Bellows-makers were individuals on their own as that phase was not as time consuming and demanding in a technology sense. They normally had work contracts with several accordion manufacturers.
All the brands usually started manufacturing accordions as three owners, each providing his special service. Everything was handmade. Luigi Giulietti was the reed-maker for Italo American for example. Eventually he left the corporation firm and went to the west coast and worked for Galizi........as a reed-maker, of course. He then went to NYC and started his own business. Yes, he continued to make handmade reeds (that's why you usually find all old accordions having handmade reeds......there wasn't ever a mass produced handmade accordion reed back then....…
Who worked for Luigi Giulietti making the treble and bass sections? ....why none other than the Pancotti brothers from Italy....who,…...like Luigi Giulietti, who worked for the first accordion manufacturer in the world.....Paulo Soprani.
Luigi Giulietti learned his skill from his mother....a Petromilli...and her husband who was a metallurgist.
And so this is where the accordion steel reed all started…..with an Italian metallurgist husband and brass accordion reed-maker wife, combining their expertise to invent a steel accordion reed capable of producing stronger vibrations with more harmonics, and a more spontaneous response from air flow. They combined their knowledge in a series of attempts to change history. She commenced to train her son Luigi Giulietti to make handmade reeds and he worked for Paulo Soprani as reeed-maker of steel reeds.
But Luigi Giulietti wanted more money to make those steel handmade accordion reeds....and asked for a raise.
Soprani told him....”you were poor when you were born and you'll always remain poor.” So Luigi Giulietti quit, left Italy and his wife and child, and sought to make his fortune in the USA.
BTW, those Pancotti Brothers who worked for him used to steal his accordion parts---take them home and finish building the accordions under the Giulietti brand name......so they got fired after a buyer came to Luigi Giulietti with an accordion and complained about the product and pointed to the Pancotti brothers as being the salesmen. Luigi Giulietti's son….JULIO Giulietti worked there as a reed-maker. Back then reed-makers were also tuners of those reeds that they made.
Then in 1924, George Bundy (of Selmer Corp) wanted to get into the accordion business and he hired the Pancotti Brothers....who in turn incorporated with Bugari...a handmade reed-maker from Italy.......and Bundy suggested the name of that firm to be "Excelsior" which was the New York state motto...meaning 'highest'. Well-known accordionists were drawn to this accordion as well as the new and improved modern design of their accordions.....like the piccolo reeds.......the rocker action....and more bellow pleats than just 15 pleats, and the rounded corners of the bellows. The wood quality was higher. Many provino tuners were employed to keep production up. And this begins to tell you that not one Bugari person was involved anymore than one keyboard maker or one bass machine maker.
In fact it becomes interesting to know that while accordionist Charles Magnante was associated with the Excelsior firm from the very beginning…….so were his brothers….who in fact, worked there. Angelo, the youngest was the foreman, Joe the pugilist who built bass machines, and John worked there daily. John was also an accordion teacher at home.
So for those interested in Excelsior and their amano reeds, I hope this hasn’t rattled you to find all this transpiring in NYC with workers you least expected. The Pancotti brothers became officers of Excelsior never touching anything but a pen.
Handmade reeds basically ceased being made after Dick Contino caused excitement about the accordion on the Horace Heidt Amateur radio shows. This had everyone wanting to study the accordion and buy them.....all the kids wanted to be like Contino. This caused mass production to transpire and basically cheapen the quality of the instrument. Accordion reeds slowly quit being made by the handmade process..as it takes 22 days to make one complete set of reeds for one accordion. I know that to be true, because I was trained by JULIO Giulietti on how to make handmade reeds.
Players who are taken by the marketing terminology of selling *handmade reeds* to them are like people at a circus listening to P.T.Barnum. They really don’t exist anymore and haven’t for many years.
Let's back up. Excelsior accordions in the 1930s all had handmade reeds. So did their student line accordions...Accordiana.......because that's all that was being made at that time. However......consider the fact that all handmade reed makers were not of the same quality journeyman. So the value of a handmade reed is not only raw materials but the craftsmanship of that reed-maker making that set. The reed is only as good as the maker and tuner.
Well.....I spoke many words and drained you...so I'll stop and let you rest. I'm sure you got the point.
I’ll offer more to you another day….like are there always Excelsior reeds in an Excelsior?
All the brands usually started manufacturing accordions as three owners, each providing his special service. Everything was handmade. Luigi Giulietti was the reed-maker for Italo American for example. Eventually he left the corporation firm and went to the west coast and worked for Galizi........as a reed-maker, of course. He then went to NYC and started his own business. Yes, he continued to make handmade reeds (that's why you usually find all old accordions having handmade reeds......there wasn't ever a mass produced handmade accordion reed back then....…
Who worked for Luigi Giulietti making the treble and bass sections? ....why none other than the Pancotti brothers from Italy....who,…...like Luigi Giulietti, who worked for the first accordion manufacturer in the world.....Paulo Soprani.
Luigi Giulietti learned his skill from his mother....a Petromilli...and her husband who was a metallurgist.
And so this is where the accordion steel reed all started…..with an Italian metallurgist husband and brass accordion reed-maker wife, combining their expertise to invent a steel accordion reed capable of producing stronger vibrations with more harmonics, and a more spontaneous response from air flow. They combined their knowledge in a series of attempts to change history. She commenced to train her son Luigi Giulietti to make handmade reeds and he worked for Paulo Soprani as reeed-maker of steel reeds.
But Luigi Giulietti wanted more money to make those steel handmade accordion reeds....and asked for a raise.
Soprani told him....”you were poor when you were born and you'll always remain poor.” So Luigi Giulietti quit, left Italy and his wife and child, and sought to make his fortune in the USA.
BTW, those Pancotti Brothers who worked for him used to steal his accordion parts---take them home and finish building the accordions under the Giulietti brand name......so they got fired after a buyer came to Luigi Giulietti with an accordion and complained about the product and pointed to the Pancotti brothers as being the salesmen. Luigi Giulietti's son….JULIO Giulietti worked there as a reed-maker. Back then reed-makers were also tuners of those reeds that they made.
Then in 1924, George Bundy (of Selmer Corp) wanted to get into the accordion business and he hired the Pancotti Brothers....who in turn incorporated with Bugari...a handmade reed-maker from Italy.......and Bundy suggested the name of that firm to be "Excelsior" which was the New York state motto...meaning 'highest'. Well-known accordionists were drawn to this accordion as well as the new and improved modern design of their accordions.....like the piccolo reeds.......the rocker action....and more bellow pleats than just 15 pleats, and the rounded corners of the bellows. The wood quality was higher. Many provino tuners were employed to keep production up. And this begins to tell you that not one Bugari person was involved anymore than one keyboard maker or one bass machine maker.
In fact it becomes interesting to know that while accordionist Charles Magnante was associated with the Excelsior firm from the very beginning…….so were his brothers….who in fact, worked there. Angelo, the youngest was the foreman, Joe the pugilist who built bass machines, and John worked there daily. John was also an accordion teacher at home.
So for those interested in Excelsior and their amano reeds, I hope this hasn’t rattled you to find all this transpiring in NYC with workers you least expected. The Pancotti brothers became officers of Excelsior never touching anything but a pen.
Handmade reeds basically ceased being made after Dick Contino caused excitement about the accordion on the Horace Heidt Amateur radio shows. This had everyone wanting to study the accordion and buy them.....all the kids wanted to be like Contino. This caused mass production to transpire and basically cheapen the quality of the instrument. Accordion reeds slowly quit being made by the handmade process..as it takes 22 days to make one complete set of reeds for one accordion. I know that to be true, because I was trained by JULIO Giulietti on how to make handmade reeds.
Players who are taken by the marketing terminology of selling *handmade reeds* to them are like people at a circus listening to P.T.Barnum. They really don’t exist anymore and haven’t for many years.
Let's back up. Excelsior accordions in the 1930s all had handmade reeds. So did their student line accordions...Accordiana.......because that's all that was being made at that time. However......consider the fact that all handmade reed makers were not of the same quality journeyman. So the value of a handmade reed is not only raw materials but the craftsmanship of that reed-maker making that set. The reed is only as good as the maker and tuner.
Well.....I spoke many words and drained you...so I'll stop and let you rest. I'm sure you got the point.
I’ll offer more to you another day….like are there always Excelsior reeds in an Excelsior?
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