Elka ( acoustic ) accordion

[wirralaccordion]

Does anyone know anything about Elka accordions? I have seen a brand new one for sale on Ebay for £1399. That seems too cheap, especially if it has, as descibed by the seller, been manufactured in Italy.

 

[Ventura]

elka went out of business many many many many decades ago

so whatever else it is, it in NOT new

ELKA, as far as i knew, never had their own acoustic instrument factory,
as they were an electronics based company.. i do not know if they had
an exclusive arrangement with one accordion factory or several over
the decades

 

[losthobos]

Best accordion I ever owned was Elka double cassotto...made by SEM factory
Only sold as tuned to 444hz....such a shame

 

[Ventura]

the old SEM factory was just up the road from ELKA,
but SEM had a closer relationship with ORLA, even sharing
space in each others Showrooms with complimentary products
as well as collaborative instruments

 

[McSqueeze]

Here's a photo of my Elka Classique. Designed by John Huband of Dundee Scotland in the late 1970s and made by SEM.
I don't play it much these days as it's big and heavy but it's still the best accordion I've ever played, and I've played lots.

 

[kimric]

Could be someone selling a NOS instrument (unlikely) or someone is sticking names from old brands on Chinese instruments.
Possible that the seller does not have any idea.
I have a 40 bass model in my shop right now.
It is a odd instrument. The shell is completely molded plastic with a celluloid skin, the blocks are plastic also. The reeds are Italian and it plays well. I am not sure what you would have to do to it to break it, it has the structural integrity of a pelican case.
I would be interested to talk to the person who designed it.
My guess was it was designed for schools or busking so that it would not break the first time it was dropped.
I took it in trade from a professional clown who had played it for 20+ years.

 

[Ben-jammin]

the old SEM factory was just up the road from ELKA,
but SEM had a closer relationship with ORLA, even sharing
space in each others Showrooms with complimentary products
as well as collaborative instruments

I know this is an old thread but I thought Elka was part of the group that made SEM. It seems all the SEM built instruments with electronics from the early 80s to mid 90s had electronics done by elka (elka 83 and elka midi 2). Built with the Elka brand name as well as Iorio, Piermaria, Monarch and I’m sure others.

 

[boxplayer4000]

McSqueeze: The Classiques, despite getting long in the tooth, are still held in high regard; a very good, compact machines with strong musette, holding their price.
The Elka acoustics are very good as well. A possible weakness is that moving parts of the bass mechanism are plastic and plastic does not improve with age. On the very few occasions arising I have managed to locate spares.

 

[Ventura]

I know this is an old thread but I thought Elka was part of the group that made SEM. It seems all the SEM built instruments with electronics from the early 80s to mid 90s had electronics done by elka (elka 83 and elka midi 2). Built with the Elka brand name as well as Iorio, Piermaria, Monarch and I’m sure others.

afaik
Elka was an independant company, they never had an accordion factory, ever.
they were an electronics company. Elka essentially dissapeared just as the
Digital age was dawning, with their audio products still being analog, chips,
op-amps, with EEProms added and interfaces that gave some early measure
of MIDI control in the devices. Some products got MIDI added by third party
providers who whipped up solder-on interfaces that took advantage
of the (key) switching/CMOS systems to add basic "MIDI out" capability @DebraRodgers

the origin of SEM began under the sponsorship (money) of the Gabbanelli family
and the Piermaria (family owned) company from France. SEM was
a late arrival comparatively, but set up a huge and (old fashioned in many ways)
modern factory that did experiment in Plastics even to molding bodies
for small Student model accordions. They eventually added a long term
contract with HOHNER building their "alpine" line and other models

they became a private label provider as well, with limitations, and had contracts
with several organ/electronic/digital brands over the decades.

i have no idea why there seems to be a general perception that
" SEM built instruments with electronics " is even a category as
SEM, particularly, even moreso than many other factories such as
Victoria, Zero7, and Excelsior, would want to keep who they provided
accordions to as private knowledge. There are many internet sources
who claim this factory or that factory made this or that brand or model
when in fact many of these third party designers, like the NOBLE company,
sourced accordions from nearly every factory in Italy over the decades.

it would be like saying " LOWREY built instruments with reeds "
as if they owned an accordion factory in Italy somehow
when CMI in Chicago was the brains behind the synergy of Lowrey Organs
and Acoustic Accordions = cordovox

SEM built accordions.. that was all they did.. MOST of their accordions
were built for the American/Latino/French market and sold by Gabbanelli USA,
or Piermaria. Everything else was gravy and they were glad to have the
extra contracts, but NOTHING they built beyond these 2 major labels
could happen without the tacit approval of the Gabbanelli and Piermaria
management/board members. The most serious piece of electronics
in the SEM factory was probably their FAX machine

in other words, the only Brand Names that always, exclusivly, were built
in the SEM factory were Gabbanelli and Piermaria. period.
any and every other brand name that claims to have been born
in the SEM factory may or may not have actually come from
there, any more than they may have come from somewhere else,
since those "other brand" owners SHOPPED AROUND from time to time
and had no "exclusive" arrangement beyond this years order, the delivery
thereof, and the payment made.

ORLA was also an independant company specialising in Electronics
and private label Organs. They developed their own MIDI systems
and were active long after ELKA went bankrupt. (the dissolution of
ELKA had zero impact on the SEM operations or corporate health)

the only Accordion companies who also had their own Electronics
manufacturing in house, and made products that incorporated both, were

Crumar/Crucianelli
Farfisa/Scandalli
CEMEX/Excelsior

there were electronics companies who also had accordion manufacturing
facilities during a common period of time, but never made combined products
under their own brand name

Bontiempi
Galanti

 

[Ben-jammin]

There’s an awful lot of these floating about with the Elka midi 2 electronics and a sticker on the back claiming to be built by SEM

 

[Ventura]

There’s an awful lot of these floating about with the Elka midi 2 electronics and a sticker on the back claiming to be built by SEM

ok, let's consider that

a paper sticker on the back of the instrument

so OK, what was it for ? i mean there were no SEM dealers in the world,
there was no SEM retail catalog or line of instruments being marketed at retail
prior to the re-emergence of the name with the CIAO under a new owner
and in a different factory a few years after the original company went bankrupt

so does anyone know the inner workings of IORIO ?
they were arguably the second most successful Organ Accordion brand,
and after the mid-period when Cordovox slipped, they may have been
#1 for awhile until the Syntaccordion from Farfisa finished the era

now you and others say (some) IORIO models were identical to other
organ-accordions branded ELKA (as far as the electronics go.. no-one
knows for sure if the underlying accordions were always mirror-images)

so did IORIO design his Organ Accordion (s) or did he just go to Italy
like several other people and ask around if anyone could adapt their
Organ stuff for an Accordion like Cordovox did because they saw a
potentially lucrative opportunity in this new market segment ?

since he was so successful, i tend to think he had a strong influence in
the original design, including rights..

if he designed his own stuff, then contracted ELKA to fulfill his orders,
he would have had full control over exclusivity
(which was a hugely important issue where Italian buisness was concerned)
and any ELKA branded items using the same same would have had to be
only in markets that did not compete with IORIO directly, and ELKA
having a right to market would have been reflected in the pricing
to IORIO (similar to GIULIETTI sold by Zero7 in eastern Europe)

now IORIO needed a body to put the electronics in, you and others say he
chose SEM.. fine.. so accordions would have been made at SEM, perhaps
with some specific accomodations for the circuitry and switching specific
to the proposed IORIO model. Some may have had better reeds,
a tone chamber, some not depending on how broad IORIO intended to
build his line of Organ accordions.

Then they would have been taken to ELKA, obviously, to get the electronics installed
as the original SEM factory had no electronics department whatsoever
( unless you think perhaps IORIO did the electronic assembly in the USA ? )
(there are many BELTUNA MIDI accordions with "factory" MASTER midi
electronics.. i guarantee you they were all driven down the hill to MAX
and his electronics dept. did the rest)

so what part of the thing in the photo you posted seems like anything
other than an IORIO that, for some reason, lost it's IORIO nameplate
or never had it stuck on ? (adding the nameplate, a case, paperwork,
printing an owners manual, testing the units etc. were obviously
the things IORIO did before he made a retail sale in the USA)

do you think that item was ever intended to go out to Retail without
a BRAND name in big bold shiny letters somewhere on the front of it ?
Who would do that ? the advertising ON A GIG was the #1 marketing
method to win new customers. Some guy/teacher telling you
" this brandX organ accordion sounds JUST LIKE A HAMMOND "
was the number 2 marketing method

as time went on, and newer electronics were developed, ELKA
may have gained more "rights" or an upper hand with IORIO,
and i don't know when IORIO started to slow down or cease
pursuing business, or close, but the SynTara ll was the final
model from ELKA, and it was certainly one of the nails in their coffin.

while i know some of you had them and loved them, there were fatal flaws
in the electronics design and manufacture that caused immense failure rates
and recalls (the same electronics were at the heart of the new KIMBALL
organ line) a huge initial order.. a full range of models out to every
KIMBALL dealership in the USA and then a total recall of the product
about 6 months later. Suffering huge financial losses, KIMBALL exited
the Organ segment from that point on.. their Piano line
continued for awhile longer, though shortly they returned exclusively
to their commercial furniture roots.

ELKA abruptly went belly up bankrupt over this recall, and that was that.

again, this had zero affect on SEM.

to answer the question fully, soomeone with inside knowledge
of IORIO would probably need to outline the development of the original product

unless you think ELKA came up with their own Organ Accordion line first and came to
America (a country where they had almost zero retail presence) looking for
a distributor and picked IORIO ?

as far as i see it, the name that was on or intended for the front of that box holds the key
to it's provenace

 

[JerryPH]

Well, I know nothing about nothing, I can only speak about what I saw, and here are my 2 cents (probably not worth more either! ):
- Iorio and Elka often (like more than 3 models that I can recall), had the SAME models under both names with just the name on the front that differentiated them.

- The Syntara was not the last electronic accordion, matter of fact it was one of the earlier ones. Note the more primative electronics setup of this Syntara vs the Elka 83



...but note the identical accordion registers and location.

This tells me that its not unlikely that the electronics were all done by SEM and that the accordions were made by Iorio and Elka was getting their accordions from Iorio and marketing them as Elka and both sold the products under their own banner (not something that was unheard of in the accordion world).

 

[Ventura]

Syntara ll

 

[Ben-jammin]

Sem Accordions

In 2002 the SEM brand was launched and presented for the first time. This was the SEM Accordions' website. Content is from the site's 2002-2005 archived pages as well as other sources.

www.semaccordions.com

 

[Ventura]

that is a helpful date

" In 2002 the SEM brand was launched and presented for the first time. "

the ELKA factory had long since been closed by then

so if that snippet is accurate, then that little backside
sticker means nothing other than the obvious

btw: the ELKA name survived as a Synth line from GEM (GeneralMusic)
best known for their organs

CRUMAR has been brought back too.. there is a Drawbar module out
currently and plans for the orchestrator are hinted at.. though Digital
faithful simulations seem to have taken over much of the nostalgia $$
market for classic keyboards

the rest of Menghini's story for SEM can be taken with a grain of salt,
maybe they were afraid to even breath the Gabbanelli name out loud
so they made up some other stuff.. ELKA and ORLA were bitter rivals..

The SEM meltdown was precipitated by 2 major events that came
unfortunately for them almost at the same time.. the first was a major falling out
between Gabbanelli USA and Gabbanelli Italy (Sem management), then before that dust even began
to settle, Hohner pulled their contract in favor of China.. the nail in the coffin of SEM

they liquidated so fast you'd have thought it was a black hole cosmic event..
it was a monetary bloodbath

the fallout from the very public feud and lawsuits took quite a few
other players and companies down as well.. though as with an earlier BroughHaHa
where Titano USA prevailed, Gabbanelli USA prevailed in the italian courts eventually,
which is very hard to do.

 

[Zevy]

Well, I know nothing about nothing, I can only speak about what I saw, and here are my 2 cents (probably not worth more either! ):
- Iorio and Elka often (like more than 3 models that I can recall), had the SAME models under both names with just the name on the front that differentiated them.

- The Syntara was not the last electronic accordion, matter of fact it was one of the earlier ones. Note the more primative electronics setup of this Syntara vs the Elka 83



...but note the identical accordion registers and location.

This tells me that its not unlikely that the electronics were all done by SEM and that the accordions were made by Iorio and Elka was getting their accordions from Iorio and marketing them as Elka and both sold the products under their own banner (not something that was unheard of in the accordion world).

I owned the model in the uppermost photo - the "Syntara". Ken Iorio, who unfortunately predeceased his father Al, sold it to me. I had it for many years. Iorio was taking these accordions that were manufactured my SEM with electronics installed by Elka and merely slapping their name on it. They may have had an "exclusive" deal with Elka that they were the sole reps in the USA. There might be no one left to tell the full story. This was, of course, before the digital age when one could simply compare the two on the internet. The manual had the Elka name all over it. The name was a combination of synthesizer (a big deal in those days) and the name of Ken's daughter, Tara. If I recall correctly, the Elka/Iorio model in the bottom photo was around way before the Syntara.

 

[JerryPH]

I owned the model in the uppermost photo - the "Syntara". Ken Iorio, who unfortunately predeceased his father Al, sold it to me. I had it for many years. Iorio was taking these accordions that were manufactured my SEM with electronics installed by Elka and merely slapping their name on it. They may have had an "exclusive" deal with Elka that they were the sole reps in the USA. There might be no one left to tell the full story. This was, of course, before the digital age when one could simply compare the two on the internet. The manual had the Elka name all over it. The name was a combination of synthesizer (a big deal in those days) and the name of Ken's daughter, Tara. If I recall correctly, the Elka/Iorio model in the bottom photo was around way before the Syntara.

Zevy, thank-you.
So basically I didn't guess far off that it was an Iorio accordion, the electronics were made by SEM. Elka may have done the installation and so "shared the wealth" by offering the same accordions under the ELKA banner. I still kind of think that the more modern Iorio H3/Elka 83 came out after the Syntara based on the # of sonic options and more modern layout... but again, I have been known to make a mistake once in my life (sometime around 1966 I believe... LOL).

I love the insider info about Tara, thats the kind of info that won't appear anywhere except when shared directly.

 

[Ventura]

thank you Zevy, so by the middle to latter days ELKA was
the lead on design i guess.. great tidbit about daughter Tara !

an led display and lighted push pistons distinguish the final model Syntara ll

 

[Ventura]

once more..

sem had no electronics department, no R&D for it, no facility on the floor
for wiring or soldering.. i was all over that factory.. it was the only factory they had..

if, as you suggest, they designed, created and installed the electronics, then their
model(s) of organ accordions would have out-lived the demise of ELKA

at the time of the first IORIO organ accordion, ELKA was the biggest Italian
based music electronics company in Europe (until Farfisa challenged them)
so think about it.. they had a huge campus, full R&D, fabrication, through manufacturing..
why on earth would they have handed the project off to an accordion factory
that didn't even own a soldering iron ? and entrust it with ther brand name ?

 

[Ben-jammin]

What Iorio called the Syntara 2 (I have one of these) used the Elka electronics called fisa midi 2. The schematics for which have a draft date of 1986. I also have a nearly identical instrument that was sold as a “monarch”. With the same electronics. I’ve seen quite a few of these with different brand names including Piermaria.