Opinions on Saltarelle Boxes
Mike Tackett
While I'm waiting for a Castagnari Tommy to be constructed (6.5 months and
counting....), my lust for more has led me to contemplate the further
acquisition of a Saltarelle Connemara III, since I'm now in a situation
where those extra 5 buttons will definitely come in handy and the stops
may be fun to play with.
I'd be curious to hear from anyone who has played this instrument (or
comparable Saltarelles) and would care to voice their opinions.
Just for amusement, here's a list of box notables that I'm convinced are
Saltarelle stalwarts:
John Williams (I believe he uses the very same Connamara III)
Jackie Daly (group photo shows him posing with something similar to a Killaloe)
Mary Rafferty (part of the revised line-up of Cherish The Ladies -- could
be playing a Nuage)
Dermot Byrne (???)
Cheers,
Mike Tackett
Han Speek
In article <gecko-15019...@evt-mx100-ip171.halcyon.com>,
ge...@halcyon.com (Mike Tackett) writes:
>While I'm waiting for a Castagnari Tommy to be constructed (6.5 months and
>counting....), my lust for more has led me to contemplate the further
>acquisition of a Saltarelle Connemara III, since I'm now in a situation
>where those extra 5 buttons will definitely come in handy and the stops
>may be fun to play with.
>
>I'd be curious to hear from anyone who has played this instrument (or
>comparable Saltarelles) and would care to voice their opinions.
model, not the customized Super Nuage, which might well be better) and the
(relatively low-end) Irish Bouebe.
I liked the sound and feel of the Bouebe a lot, having owned a Castagnari Nik
for several years, but found the workmanship show too many signs of "low-end"
to consider buying one. And of course, it's only a 2-voice with 8 bass buttons,
so it's rather limited.
The Nuage has a lot more possibilities, but the ones I tried (one belongs to a
friend of mine, the other to Clare concertina player Terry Bingham, whom I met
this summer) were tuned fairly dry, and thus lacked what I can probably best
describe as "guts" - didn't impress me at all. The workmanship on this model
is top class, though, and the contrast of shiny metal grill against dark wood
looks great.
The action, especially on the outside row, could have been better for a box of
that class, but this may be adjustable. I believe (was told, actually, and I've
seen this on more Irish boxes) that contrary to a "normal" box in these boxes
the outside row controls the inner bank of reeds, via an indirect mechanism,
and the inside row controls the bank closest to the from of the instrument,
directly. This difference in feel between the two rows may be unavoidable, but
on these boxes it's a bit annoying.
Their biggest minus-point is of course the price - I know of several custom box
makers that offer better boxes for less.
>
>Just for amusement, here's a list of box notables that I'm convinced are
>Saltarelle stalwarts:
>
>John Williams (I believe he uses the very same Connamara III)
>Jackie Daly (group photo shows him posing with something similar to a Killaloe)
>Mary Rafferty (part of the revised line-up of Cherish The Ladies -- could
>be playing a Nuage)
>Dermot Byrne (???)
Dermot plays a Nuage too.
You could add to that list Billy McComiskey (Connemara III) and Mairtin
O'Connor (at least a Connemara III and a Nuage, maybe more).
>
>Cheers,
>Mike Tackett
Han.
--
H. Speek, B.Sc. E-mail: h...@ice.el.utwente.nl,
Univ. of Twente, Dept. EL, ICE group H.S...@el.utwente.nl
The Netherlands WWW: http://www.ice.el.utwente.nl/~han/
Clive Williams
ge...@halcyon.com (Mike Tackett) wrote:
>I'd be curious to hear from anyone who has played this instrument (or
>comparable Saltarelles) and would care to voice their opinions.
>
>Just for amusement, here's a list of box notables that I'm convinced are
>Saltarelle stalwarts:
>
>John Williams (I believe he uses the very same Connamara III)
>Jackie Daly (group photo shows him posing with something similar to a Killaloe)
>Mary Rafferty (part of the revised line-up of Cherish The Ladies -- could
>be playing a Nuage)
>Dermot Byrne (???)
Yep, I've got the Connamara III - had a D/G one for about 4 years now,
and it's done/is doing pretty well. Treble action is very quick - bass
action is not quite as good, but if it bothers you, you can have it
tweaked. A pretty quick bellows and light-for-a-12-bass bass end means
you can play it on one-row if you wish, or play across the rows - you
have the choice, which you don't with one of the heavier 12-bass
Castagnari's. I've had the half row arrangement swapped around a bit
from the standard layout, but that's really down to personal taste.
Sound quality depends on how you tune it, of course, but oddly it
sounds a lot better to the listener than to the player. If you're
trying one out, get someone *else* to play it, and listen to what that
sounds like. You'll be impressed.
Build quality is variable. Very variable. I would never buy one
sight-unseen. Inspect the instrument very carefully. Check each of the
reeds, both directions, preferably against a chromatic tuner. Anything
that sounds out, get them to retune it. In particular, they are
notorious for getting the F#minor chord on the bass end wrong.
Regularly. A good box-selling outfit (such as Dave Mallinson in the
UK) should do this for you without being asked - but check anyway to
be sure.
As for famous people playing them, bear in mind that this is
Saltarelle's marketing strategy. Dermot Byrne was giving Saltarelle a
*lot* of plugs at St Chartier last year with Altan. "Gee Dermot, why
don't you play that nice new Saltarelle accordion you just got today
from the Saltarelle stall over there, by the big tree ?", etc. Other
professionals have more formal reselling agreements - e.g. Rod
Stradling, Mairtin O'Connor, etc.- master distributors for UK and
Ireland respectively. Not that this is particularly unusual -
Castagnari have been doing it for years, and I notice Oakwood are
starting to too...
Cheers,
Clive.
--
>>> Clive Williams --- AI International Ltd --- +44 (0)1442 873873 <<<
>>> (support) sup...@aiil.co.uk <<>> (personal) cl...@aiil.co.uk <<<
>>> http://www.aiil.co.uk <<>> http://www.aiil.co.uk/~clive <<<
Ian White
Clive Williams wrote:
>
>Build quality is variable. Very variable. I would never buy one
>sight-unseen. Inspect the instrument very carefully. Check each of the
>reeds, both directions, preferably against a chromatic tuner. Anything
>that sounds out, get them to retune it. In particular, they are
>notorious for getting the F#minor chord on the bass end wrong.
>Regularly. A good box-selling outfit (such as Dave Mallinson in the
>UK) should do this for you without being asked - but check anyway to
>be sure.
>
As I was reminded recently by Len Killick, some manufacturers sell quite
different melodeons at various times under the same name, so by all
means get your hands on the actual instrument that you plan to buy.
FWIW the Irish Bouebe that I bought direct from Rod Stradling two years
ago is built using highly automated wood machining methods. Everything
fits together very accurately indeed - far better than a more
conventionally built box at the same price - but it lacks the individual
character of a hand-finished instrument.
The reeds do involve hand-finishing of course, and they are neither
better nor worse than you'd expect in a mid-priced instrument.
At that time - and I emphasize again that it may have changed by now -
the Bouebe and the Irish Bouebe were two quite different models, the IB
being the later version. Rod Stradling was importing the IB tuned in G/D
for the UK market because it was a better-built box for the money.
For the latest information, check with Rod's 'Name Accordions' web pages
at http://members.aol.com/rodstrad/
Ian White
Abingdon, England
Pete McClelland
In article <32de3352...@pub.news.uk.psi.net>, Clive Williams
<cl...@aiil.co.uk> writes
I am reliably informed that Sharon Shannon at least paid for her
Castagnaris. I don't know of any being given away or sold as loss
leaders, and I know of several other top players who paid too.
Castagnaris are a class above Saltarelle in the build and touch
categories. Sound is a very personal thing, so you can never say
categorically which sounds best. Also Castagnari don't offer the
trendiest key configurations, which has given Saltarelle a big boost.
>As for famous people playing them, bear in mind that this is
>Saltarelle's marketing strategy. Dermot Byrne was giving Saltarelle a
>*lot* of plugs at St Chartier last year with Altan. "Gee Dermot, why
>don't you play that nice new Saltarelle accordion you just got today
>from the Saltarelle stall over there, by the big tree ?", etc. Other
>professionals have more formal reselling agreements - e.g. Rod
>Stradling, Mairtin O'Connor, etc.- master distributors for UK and
>Ireland respectively. Not that this is particularly unusual -
>Castagnari have been doing it for years, and I notice Oakwood are
>starting to too...
>
>Cheers,
>
>Clive.
>--
>>>> Clive Williams --- AI International Ltd --- +44 (0)1442 873873 <<<
>>>> (support) sup...@aiil.co.uk <<>> (personal) cl...@aiil.co.uk <<<
>>>> http://www.aiil.co.uk <<>> http://www.aiil.co.uk/~clive <<<
>
--
Pete McClelland
John Turner
In article <R78pXSAi...@ifwtech.demon.co.uk>, Ian White
<i...@ifwtech.demon.co.uk> writes
Or Better still check with the importers through their retail outlet
Sounds Interesting at 8, Ladywood Road, Leeds LS8 2QF 0113 265 0161. You
will get up to the minute details on availability and prices and new
models.
>
>Ian White
>Abingdon, England
>
--
John Turner