Romano Genuine Ensemble Accordion
fazder
I have an accordion that was handed down to me for which I cannot find
any information. It appears to be a 'Romano Genuine Ensemble', but I
am not certain if 'Romano' is the make or model. The only other marks
for identification are 'Made in Italy' etched on the underside. I know
this accordion is at least 50 years old, as my grandmother (now
deceased) used to play it for my mother when she was a small child.
Does anyone know anything about this accordion?
Here is a link to some pictures I took:
https://picasaweb.google.com/stephaniewoodley/RomanoAccordian?authuser=0&feat=directlink
Thanks for your help!
fazder
ciao_accordion
quite pretty, it is nevertheless a 3 reed treble
ladies or "student" level model accordion, and is unlikely
to have any special redeeming qualities or features
it was not an expensive accordion back then
this is not the last word, as a hands on appraisal might
reveal higher level components than "typical" comparable models,
but we can not infer that just because it has a nice outside...
most accordions in this range were sold more on "sizzle"
than "Steak"
i am guessing it was not kept in an attic, or the glues would have
dried out and some of those black tips would have dropped from
the tips of the keys - this was a key style as well as a finish used
in the Settimo factory in the 1950's for student instruments, but was
used in many other factories of the day as well.
ciao
Ventura
Kalop
>
> Thanks for your help!
Hello,
I would say that Romano is the name of the dealer who sold this
accordion under his name. There were hundreds of manufacturers that
anybody could farmed out the order. The same thing is happening
today with Chinese made instruments. Importers and dealers put on them
own name and try to pass them to uninformed accordion enthusiasts.
Model of your accordion is common to all of them. Looking at the
picture you can tell that this is ¾ size, with 17” or lesser treble
keyboard, with three reed blocks inside with one set of each reads:
clarinet, bassoon and piccolo, otherwise: middle, low and high. This
configuration was used in America in “jazz ensemble.” It could be
school accordion orchestra or the small band.
Since, you have this as a family treasure, it would be nice, if you
could show that you’re as talented as your grandmother. It’s never to
learn how to play accordion. It’s very nice hobby to have it.
Depends in what condition this accordion is inside. It might need lots
of work despite that it was rarely used. Accordions deteriorate
quicker that any other musical instrument.
Since, you got this accordion for free, you might consider to
install in it MIDI controller. MIDI controllers as kits are very
cheap these days. The work by professionals, though, is very
expensive. Installation of internal MIDI kit in accordion like yours
would cost about $1400-$1600, as one dealer from Florida said on
YouTube, but on eBay MIDI accordions are listed these days from $3M
to $6M. Try it to figure that out.
Lots of people do them themselves. Through adopting for that
purpose Arduino MIDI for Robotics and OCL C++ software. I also do
it as a hobby. I’m very successful installing those internal
Arduino kits in my accordions. They work better that kits which I
was buying from Europe paying for one a few hundred dollars a
piece, or more. Add the labor and installation and you got the
real message. Well, if somebody wants to have nice modern MIDI
accordion, so there is no other choice.
Enjoy it,
W.D.
David Kastrup
> On Jul 28, 8:56 pm, fazder <fazderbaz...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> I have an accordion that was handed down to me for which I cannot
>> find any information. It appears to be a 'Romano Genuine Ensemble',
>> but I am not certain if 'Romano' is the make or model. The only other
>> marks for identification are 'Made in Italy' etched on the
>> underside. I know this accordion is at least 50 years old, as my
>> grandmother (now deceased) used to play it for my mother when she was
>> a small child. Does anyone know anything about this accordion?
>
> Since, you have this as a family treasure, it would be nice, if you
> could show that you’re as talented as your grandmother.
[...]
> Since, you got this accordion for free, you might consider to install
> in it MIDI controller.
Sort of pointless for a family treasure to install stuff in it that has
no relation to how the instrument has been played before.
Seems like a reasonably fancy model for its age, so it might actually
make sense to let it be serviced. But of course only if someone is then
going to play it.
--
David Kastrup
Dave Garland
> I have an accordion that was handed down to me for which I cannot find
> any information. It appears to be a 'Romano Genuine Ensemble', but I
> am not certain if 'Romano' is the make or model. The only other marks
> for identification are 'Made in Italy' etched on the underside. I know
> this accordion is at least 50 years old, as my grandmother (now
> deceased) used to play it for my mother when she was a small child.
> Does anyone know anything about this accordion?
"Romano" is clearly the brand. Unfortunately, that does not tell us
much, since music schools (and there were a lot of them specializing
in accordion, back then) and importers could have their own brands,
made to spec by one or another of the (then) many accordion factories
in Italy. "Romano" is not a common or well-known brand, so probably
it's one of those "badge engineered" accordions.
It's a 3-reed model, probably something suitable for a student.
Dave
Kalop
Why not, providing that this accordion has those features that the
internal MIDI is possible to be install in. He has to talk to the
expert and find out first if this could be done, and later decide if
he has enough money for the thing. Yes, many accordion enthusiasts
can live without it. Observing little kids in modern accordion
schools, they also want hybrid accordions and not reedless. So David,
you just picking on my postings, without any particular reason for
it. Get to work man, and make your own hybrid MIDI accordion, than
you will appreciate better other’s people work.
W.D.
David Kastrup
> On Aug 6, 4:08 am, David Kastrup <d...@gnu.org> wrote:
>> Kalop <wj...@comcast.net> writes:
>>
>> > Since, you have this as a family treasure, it would be nice, if you
>> > could show that you’re as talented as your grandmother.
>>
>> [...]
>>
>> > Since, you got this accordion for free, you might consider to install
>> > in it MIDI controller.
>>
>> Sort of pointless for a family treasure to install stuff in it that has
>> no relation to how the instrument has been played before.
>
> Why not, providing that this accordion has those features that the
> internal MIDI is possible to be install in.
Well, was his grandmother a musician or an electronics freak? Your own
proclaimed incentive was "show that you're as talented as your
grandmother". It is sort of like using your grandmother's wedding dress
as a bedsheet because you got it for free.
> He has to talk to the expert and find out first if this could be done,
> and later decide if he has enough money for the thing. Yes, many
> accordion enthusiasts can live without it. Observing little kids in
> modern accordion schools, they also want hybrid accordions and not
> reedless. So David, you just picking on my postings, without any
> particular reason for it. Get to work man, and make your own hybrid
> MIDI accordion, than you will appreciate better other’s people work.
I happen to have a working hybrid accordion around. The instrument
getting by far most of the action, however, is acoustic. Even a small
two-reed gets more play time than the MIDIized one. Part of the reason
is that an accordion, like violin, has a live tone responding quite
delicately to pressure, with an unfolding tone quality. Even pressure
sensitive MIDI controllers don't give that kind of acoustical feedback
since the MIDI expanders don't work with a sufficient number of volume
samples. You'd need to synthesize the sound to get a more or less
continous variation of the sound quality (rather than just variation of
naked volume) under pressure.
So why should he fiddle around with that family instrument? His
grandchildren might at one point of time be able to play the acoustic
instrument and keep it in working shape. They won't be able to service
idiosyncratic electronics, however. If the accordion survives the
surgery in the first place.
--
David Kastrup
Ike Milligan
"David Kastrup" <d...@gnu.org> wrote in message
news:87fwlfu...@fencepost.gnu.org...
A 3 treble-reed accordion like this if 17" or less keyboard measured from
the outer edges of white keys, could have been a custom instrument for a
smallish person to play popular music on. But the internal condition is
unknown. They were made in those days with better reeds even student ones,
than most reeds are made now. Bt if the reeds have strange noises, it need
repair, which depending on the extent of how many notes are off, like moire
than a handful, could get expensive to fix. I notice that in the picture it
is lying flat. This and most accordions should be kept vertical to avoid
reed problems that would require repair.
pyromon...@gmail.com
ike milligan
news:69502b6b-7c17-43f9...@googlegroups.com:
>> https://picasaweb.google.com/stephaniewoodley/RomanoAccordian?authuser
>> =0&feat=directlink
Romano might be the name of the importer. The importer could have any name
put on it. Can't tell what factory it was made in.