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Olympus accordions
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Russ
Dec 3, 2011, 5:00:55 PM12/3/11
to
Does anyone have any info on Olympus accordions, especially freebass
CBAs - I believe they are no longer in business and someone told me
they were a Canadian offshoot of Excelcior.
Any help or leads appreciated,
thanks
russ
CBAs - I believe they are no longer in business and someone told me
they were a Canadian offshoot of Excelcior.
Any help or leads appreciated,
thanks
russ
radi...@earthlink.net
Dec 10, 2011, 2:52:00 PM12/10/11
to
I recently purchased an Olympus C-System accordion with converter
bass. I was told the Olympus accordions were made for the Canadian
market by Pigini, and that it is a Pigini accordion.
I was also told this was confirmed with Massimo Pigini himself.
Ventura
Dec 15, 2011, 11:05:06 AM12/15/11
to
when musing over origins, you have to bear in mind the time periods
and that MOST brand names in the Americas and Canada are
TRADE NAMES hung on accordions sourced from ASSORTED
manufacturers (over decades) and therefore cannot be firmly
identified in many cases without direct knowledge or comparison
to other specific identical physical models under a principle name.
Excelsior/Cemex - SEM - and Zero-Sette were, i believe the
three most prolific and long-lived factories contracting to
jobbers and private labels as well as their own prime brands
For example, Monarch was for decades contracting with
Excelsior for product, though their earlier models were
federfisa and associates - PanCordion sourced with Crucianelli
most Cordovox units were SEM, though a very, very few were Excelsior
(far far fewer than later claimed by various sellers on Craigslist...
lol)
neither physical factory exists today
Pigini "bought out" Cemex/Excelsior and moved the operations
and some equipment into their own factory, they retained many
jobber and distribution contracts from Excelsior's customer base
(you indicate Pigini verifies sourcing Olympus) and lost others
(Monarch is no longer sourced from Pigini) and picked others up
(Pan for instance)
so as you can see, it is not possible to say who built something
10, 20, or 50 years ago based only upon who builds it now
it is also important to bear in mind, the absolute BEST finished
product nearly always bears the FACTORY name, unless the
Factory policy is NOT to compete in most markets directly
(as was Zero-Sette) for obvious reasons - and also that the
number of "middlemen" is typically increased with Jobber
brands, thereby increasing markup/margins/retail pricing
also, some "brands" who were once Factories in their own right
often retain certain Patents and other trade protected specifics
which actually DO set their product apart from others, even from
the same factory/production line. This is why many serious
Free Bass artists still consider Titano the top brand in
the concert-level-instrument category
however, in almost all other cases, today, there is no
truly unique design or engineering difference between
"sister" brands. The cosmetics and "cachet" of the "artisan"
finishing houses being really just a lot of high-priced
window dressing which does seem to be finding a lot of
suckers nowadays (tip - if they embellish a simple
Tone Chamber into a "Double" with their double-talk,
you are about to get hosed)
good luck with your Olympus - i take it you are
considering buying a used one? simply take it on
it's own own merits and determine it's quality directly.
ciao
Ventura
and that MOST brand names in the Americas and Canada are
TRADE NAMES hung on accordions sourced from ASSORTED
manufacturers (over decades) and therefore cannot be firmly
identified in many cases without direct knowledge or comparison
to other specific identical physical models under a principle name.
Excelsior/Cemex - SEM - and Zero-Sette were, i believe the
three most prolific and long-lived factories contracting to
jobbers and private labels as well as their own prime brands
For example, Monarch was for decades contracting with
Excelsior for product, though their earlier models were
federfisa and associates - PanCordion sourced with Crucianelli
most Cordovox units were SEM, though a very, very few were Excelsior
(far far fewer than later claimed by various sellers on Craigslist...
lol)
neither physical factory exists today
Pigini "bought out" Cemex/Excelsior and moved the operations
and some equipment into their own factory, they retained many
jobber and distribution contracts from Excelsior's customer base
(you indicate Pigini verifies sourcing Olympus) and lost others
(Monarch is no longer sourced from Pigini) and picked others up
(Pan for instance)
so as you can see, it is not possible to say who built something
10, 20, or 50 years ago based only upon who builds it now
it is also important to bear in mind, the absolute BEST finished
product nearly always bears the FACTORY name, unless the
Factory policy is NOT to compete in most markets directly
(as was Zero-Sette) for obvious reasons - and also that the
number of "middlemen" is typically increased with Jobber
brands, thereby increasing markup/margins/retail pricing
also, some "brands" who were once Factories in their own right
often retain certain Patents and other trade protected specifics
which actually DO set their product apart from others, even from
the same factory/production line. This is why many serious
Free Bass artists still consider Titano the top brand in
the concert-level-instrument category
however, in almost all other cases, today, there is no
truly unique design or engineering difference between
"sister" brands. The cosmetics and "cachet" of the "artisan"
finishing houses being really just a lot of high-priced
window dressing which does seem to be finding a lot of
suckers nowadays (tip - if they embellish a simple
Tone Chamber into a "Double" with their double-talk,
you are about to get hosed)
good luck with your Olympus - i take it you are
considering buying a used one? simply take it on
it's own own merits and determine it's quality directly.
ciao
Ventura
Russ
Dec 16, 2011, 4:07:17 PM12/16/11
to
Thank you Linda and Ventura.
Russ
Russ
radi...@earthlink.net
Dec 17, 2011, 4:13:21 AM12/17/11
to
>
> - Show quoted text -
You're welcome Russ. :-)
Ventura, thank you for the very informative post. Do accordion
manufacturers, such as Pigini, keep records of the sister brands they
build by maybe serial numbers?? I'm thinking of contacting Pigini
myself and ask if they have a record of my Olympus. Regardless what I
find out, it will not change the fact that I'm very pleased with this
accordion. This is one of the nicest accordions I own. It has a big,
powerful sound and can produce rich tones. While it is not in the same
league as a concert quality instrument, I would think it is probably
in a class below that level, which is still very, very good. It
certainly is a heavy accordion, it weighs 30 pounds.
Linda
Ventura
Dec 18, 2011, 1:04:27 PM12/18/11
to
On Dec 17, 4:13 am, radiog...@earthlink.net wrote:
hmmmm is that our radiogal Linda?
long time no see - and another heavyweight Accordion?
lol
you are the toughest strongest lil' Gal I know!
yep, you have had some fine accordions and should know
when you have something good or great in hand just
based on your experience - if you want to have a controlled
look inside it too, bring it over to the Studio sometime this Winter
and we'll put it on the workbench - and bring a camera
you might like to get a hand on this convertor I picked up over the
Summer
(it's a PA) just for fun too - from the 60's and it is a concert
level box
with the trade name "SARTORI" which i assume was the house
brand for "Shelia's music" Store or teaching studio - wherever that
was
as far as the records in italy go, unfortunately it's the mind-set
that kept so
much of the info in obscurity - it's a smoke-and-mirrors kind of life
over there in the Accordion biz, so the less they let you/me/us
know the better they "think" it is for them - the concept
of "an educated consumer is our best customer" is truly
foreign and essentially a joke to them.
not to mention that, of course, 99 out of 100 that
are out of bizness the records went to the
burn-pile as just like the big Elka, SEM, or Farfisa
factories in the castleFi area, they were gone and given
over to the weeds and birds before anyone came along
to "buy" their intellectual or trade-name assets... the
old machines left for Rust or sold for scrap or snuck away
in the night
having said that, Pigini is certainly a power player, and in
a relatively strong position. It is probably the closest thing we have
left
in a manufacturer that can go "soup to nuts" - though at this point
there
is not one factory left that can do it all on site. Did they bring all
those reams
of paper records and files with them when they moved Excelsior in? i
really
doubt it as the stuff from New York was still stashed in
the rafters at Cemex! and a lot of that had never gotten un-packed
or re-furbed. - could Pigini have found room for the old machinery
that
was in mothballs? can you imagine the mountain of stuff they had
to sort through and make decisions over? and in a limited
time-frame
we're probably lucky if they got all the body forms, templates, and of
course Marco (lol) and no doubt they kept the precious stores
and sheets of original cellulose (from the Diero model days) as
well as existing parts
and which incidentally anyone wanting to re-furb a pre-WW2 Excelsior
really should contact Pigini if any original parts will be needed.
i'm afraid there will never be a reference like the "blue-books" here
in the USA for even such as the Piano business - where you can
look up nearly any serial number and brand ever built - or the guitars
which are so lovingly revered and pedigreed...
so do you still have your 960 and FR-7? if you make it to
castleFi perhaps make a tour of Pigini your first stop... i'm
sure they'd like you and really they are said to be nice people... i
guess
Francesca is more the public face of the company
ciao
Ventura
hmmmm is that our radiogal Linda?
long time no see - and another heavyweight Accordion?
lol
you are the toughest strongest lil' Gal I know!
yep, you have had some fine accordions and should know
when you have something good or great in hand just
based on your experience - if you want to have a controlled
look inside it too, bring it over to the Studio sometime this Winter
and we'll put it on the workbench - and bring a camera
you might like to get a hand on this convertor I picked up over the
Summer
(it's a PA) just for fun too - from the 60's and it is a concert
level box
with the trade name "SARTORI" which i assume was the house
brand for "Shelia's music" Store or teaching studio - wherever that
was
as far as the records in italy go, unfortunately it's the mind-set
that kept so
much of the info in obscurity - it's a smoke-and-mirrors kind of life
over there in the Accordion biz, so the less they let you/me/us
know the better they "think" it is for them - the concept
of "an educated consumer is our best customer" is truly
foreign and essentially a joke to them.
not to mention that, of course, 99 out of 100 that
are out of bizness the records went to the
burn-pile as just like the big Elka, SEM, or Farfisa
factories in the castleFi area, they were gone and given
over to the weeds and birds before anyone came along
to "buy" their intellectual or trade-name assets... the
old machines left for Rust or sold for scrap or snuck away
in the night
having said that, Pigini is certainly a power player, and in
a relatively strong position. It is probably the closest thing we have
left
in a manufacturer that can go "soup to nuts" - though at this point
there
is not one factory left that can do it all on site. Did they bring all
those reams
of paper records and files with them when they moved Excelsior in? i
really
doubt it as the stuff from New York was still stashed in
the rafters at Cemex! and a lot of that had never gotten un-packed
or re-furbed. - could Pigini have found room for the old machinery
that
was in mothballs? can you imagine the mountain of stuff they had
to sort through and make decisions over? and in a limited
time-frame
we're probably lucky if they got all the body forms, templates, and of
course Marco (lol) and no doubt they kept the precious stores
and sheets of original cellulose (from the Diero model days) as
well as existing parts
and which incidentally anyone wanting to re-furb a pre-WW2 Excelsior
really should contact Pigini if any original parts will be needed.
i'm afraid there will never be a reference like the "blue-books" here
in the USA for even such as the Piano business - where you can
look up nearly any serial number and brand ever built - or the guitars
which are so lovingly revered and pedigreed...
so do you still have your 960 and FR-7? if you make it to
castleFi perhaps make a tour of Pigini your first stop... i'm
sure they'd like you and really they are said to be nice people... i
guess
Francesca is more the public face of the company
ciao
Ventura
mmel...@aim.com
Jul 25, 2014, 5:56:06 AM7/25/14
to
Olympus was a "studio" brand of Ernest and Boris Borgstrom from St. Catharines Ontario Canada. As a student of their renowned studio (Master Conservatory) during the 70 & 80's my parents purchased 3 Olympus accordions ... 2 being Borsini off-brands (both stradellas early 70's) and the other as noted in other notes a Pigini Free Bass Converter in the mid 70's. The Olympus/Borsini in my humble opinion is a far superior accordion from a reed and treble keyboard (action & feel) perspective, although the Olympus/Pigini does have a monster free bass (and stradella when converted) sound!
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