Fisitalia "Woody" PA
Helen P.
selected purchases"... from Italy. I have absolutely no vested interest in
any manufacturer; these are just my impressions from trying out this
instrument.
He brought home a really nice "woody" piano accordion made by Fisitalia:
medium-stained wood with beautiful grain, and a clear shellac coating to
protect it. The treble switches are of matching wood. The grill is shiny
gold, and the bellows a nice green. Keys are "swirl" pattern of light
gray/off-white. See the picture at
http://www.fisitalia.com/acc/style_38.htm .
It has 38 keys, 120 basses, LMMM treble, 5-reed bass, no tone chamber, and
hand made reeds. The MMM are tuned A440, plus one higher and one lower, not
too wet. See the technical specs for Style 38 at
http://www.fisitalia.com/tech_piano_pro.htm .
Bad points:
It's a little bulky and heavy for me, but I prefer a really small, light PA.
It's just about a perfect "stroller" for him (or you other fellows).
The bulk is partly because the wood is fairly thick in order to be sturdy
(a good point).
He says this makes the woody slightly heavier than a usual color "coated"
accordion.
The sound is very nice, though I wish the lower treble reed were just a
slightly clearer in sound.
Good points:
Excellent sound, easy bellows action, *wonderful* dynamics (from whisper to
shout, smoothly and gracefully).
I haven't seen inside, but he says it's nicely finished, with silk-like
material lining the bellows, smoothly finished wood, sound-reducing felt,
etc. The felt circling each bass button is visible.
Straps are comfy and easy to adjust.
The treble keyboard is superb: it handles even tricky ornaments (such as
several 32nd notes on one key) perfectly.
The musette MMM or LMMM is just wonderful: clear, clean, rich, and
penetrating.
Playing a lone M reed in the upper reaches doesn't sound thin or shrill, or
MM with the two "off pitch" reeds gives a wonderful effect (slightly spooky
or "ethnic" in texture).
Ventura adds that Fisitalia probably does the best reed tuning he's heard.
Altogether, it's great-sounding, fun to play, and worth getting.
This beautiful box definitely is a babe/hunk magnet. ;-)
-- Helen
Ventura
brought back from CastleFi until Helen had a chance to
pop over and play it... wanted a third party to review
it, as I am obviously prejudiced (since I bought it)
You may recall from my posts on the trip that I was very
impressed with the entire FisItalia operation. When I was in their
factory, I had some kind of accordion in my hands practically every
minute. I'd pause between songs to ask a question, or he'd point
something out to me, which would lead to something else that he'd
want to show me in some other corner of the plant to explain it.
So we're buzzing back and forth in this place like mad
(they are obviously delighted to show everything off to
someone who is enthusiastically interested)
Except I put a neat twist into everything... I'd follow him,
but I'd keep whatever accordion I was trying on and play as we walked.
(you remember I do a lot of strolling gigs) so there
was music all through his factory that day, and you could tell the
people working there (Joe & pete too) we're getting a kick out
of this. So I'd play, we'd talk, I'd play, we'd walk, he'd show me
something cool, I'd play, etc.etc. The only time they
got the accordion out of my hands on the factory floor was because
they wanted to show me the insides of the "Woody"
It really was a fun afternoon. Anyhow, I had been playing
every "wood finished" accordion I could find around town, as
they really appeal to me (that old fashioned look). Those of you
who recall my exploits on eBay recall I've been trying to find nice
alternatives to the "big black box" image for a while now.
The Polverini played nicely but I didn't care for the mechanics -
The Borsini was sluggish and heavy - One that i really enjoyed
playing was the Rosciani... the all wooden keyboard and lovely inlay
work made it extrordinarily tempting (it rated #2)
But the FisItalia beat not just these other Wooden finished
accordions, it beat or equaled in speed and tone everything else
I had played in town (with the signal exception of the Vintage
Scandalli that our friend brought with him to the Museum that week)
The reeds are from Famiglia Artigiana... hand made... and are sweet.
I've been gigging with this ever since I got home, and a
"Whisper to a Roar" is merely an accurate description. Upon
looking inside, I was pleased to see solid wood, smoothly finished
surfaces, smooth darkwood bottoms on the reed blocks, and a
fully finished bellows. Even the shifts are tooled of solid wood.
The mechanism is remarkably quiet, as well as quick. You know I
prefer a keyboard with some resistance and snap, so I took to this
one quickly, as it felt quite like my 960. The maximum depression
you can take the key is less than the average accordion, which
again reminded me of the Excelsior... I do prefer the shorter throw.
Also, the sharps and flats are slightly lower profile than the
average accordion... another pet preference of mine.
So here was this gorgeous 4/5 (L-M-M-M) "Woody" staring me in
the face, and I LOVED it EXCEPT the tuning was too wet.
So I said to him "look, if I send you an order for one of
these someday, I want the Clarinettes tuned
A-400, A-438 1/2, and A-441 1/2" and he said
"I'll re-tune it tonight, then you can try it again"
so OK, I go back to the Parco, and a few friends and I are sitting
around drinking espresso and chatting, when the Manager of the place
comes to my table and asks for a favor... "sure" I say... he explains
that a new guest has arrived, a young accordionist from France, who has
never been to Italy before and doesn't know where to begin or
who to talk to... "would you help him" (he knows I'm really into
this because i've been playing something in the Lobby here
just about every night etc. etc.)
So we invite Franco and his friend to join us, fix them up with
refreshments, and let them ease into our conversation. He describes what
he is searching for... what his accordion dreams are... and I proceed
to show him on his map where to find everything, a few names to ask for,
etc. Then I tell him about the Eiffel Tower button box at FisItalia,
and the little Asterix accordion and that led in to an explanation
of the tuning system Guisieppi developed. So he's really interested
and in walks Guisieppi to say "it's ready already" so we get HIM a well
deserved espresso and next thing you know everybody is headed back to
the factory (we are way after-hours now) So there we are
having a party in the factory, and I'm explaining all the stuff in the
place to Franco because his English is very good, and Guisieppi's is
not, so it's a lot easier for me. Now I'm handing Franco accordions
and saying "play" and he's grinning and diddlin
(nice stuff... he played La Foule on a big 5 row seriously French
style button box and it was really real... NOW I have a clue why
it's so neat having all those buttons... then I played la Foule for him
on the Woody and I didn't do too bad for an American)
Guisieppi is also getting off on the fact that I wasn't just
shinin' him on earlier in the day... I was really interested in
everything and proved it by remembering it all well enough
that I was able to give "the tour" to someone else.
Anyhow, I havn't heard from Franco yet, so I don't know what he
ended up buying, but I know he had a good time. H. Parco never
charged me for the bar tab either, so I guess they did consider
it a favor (it seems they really do care about their guests)
After all this, it seemed like the Woody really should belong to
me, so I got it... and with every gig, I like FisItalia better.
This is now my "go-to" accordion for French and Italian strolling gigs,
and I anticipate using it for nice weather festivals as well.
It was easy bringing it home, as the Italiacinte soft case protected
it well, and fit in the overhead of the 767 with no problem.
Oh yeah, we had one more day/night in Rome, and I played
"Arrivadierci Roma" IN Rome on my new FisItalia "Woody" .
I played it at the Hotel Hiberia, I played it in the Rome Airport
while we waited to board the flight, and if they'd have let me, I'd
have played it on the plane over the Atlantic.
So thanks to Helen for doing the first review.
Anyone who get's to DC this year is welcome to check it out, of course.
Ciao Ventura
Domino sounds great on it too