Salut à tous,
I managed to visit the Cavagnolo factory yesterday during my short stay in Lyon.
I took a train from Port Dieu station in Lyon and got off at La Valbonne. The trip took about 25 minutes and 6,60 euros one-way.
It was then a nice 20-minute walk to the factory.
Once I have entered the factory, I was greeted by the boss of the company, Mr Guy Fressenon. The factory itself isnt very big. The display room at the main entrance has several interesting vintage models, the modern models, as well as many Fisart models. The only model that I did not get to see was the new Vedette 10 SK.
At the factory, it did not appear to me that there were many workers (Maybe less than 5). On the left, you can see boxes some old boxes to be repaired and housings made of different materials. The accordion parts are at the further back. There is a mixture of Italian made and French made parts as expected. The right-hand side has the accordions ready to be sent to different stores in France. The digital accordions are upstairs.
Carbon fibre. You can certainly feel the weight difference. It is available for 3 of their models
New accordions
This is one the most interesting part of the visit. Guy showed me that the bass part in the new accordions will be very easy to repair in the future. You can take the interior off by removing 4 screws.
Then I went to try their digital models. Does the bellow feel better than the Roland models? Certainly yes. Does it feel 100% like an acoustic instrument? Maybe not. These models are definitely very versatile. The expander (~1.5kg) and the digital accordion (~6kg) give you a significant weight advantage. The adjustment options on the tablet were impressive. I think they will be quite successful if they build an international model.
It was my first time playing the 3+3 basses. I hardly needed time to get used to it (without playing the diminished chords), but I personally prefer 2+4 basses. You can order a new Cava with 2+4 basses though. I did see accordions tuned between 440-445Hz. They made some of the finest musette accordions too (of course). One of their musette accordions had a unique, mellow sound that I like, and I have never heard of that on an Italian box with similar tunings.
Everyone at the factory was very nice to me. You really get to see the things you asked for. It can be challenging to communicate with them if you dont speak French. I dont speak good French but google translate helped a bit. Also, Matthieu is very knowledgeable about all Cava products and he speaks English.
Video demostrations:
An acoustic vedette 5
A digital accordion:
I have just got down to Nice. Maybe I will bump into Richard Galliano on the street
. À bientôt!
I managed to visit the Cavagnolo factory yesterday during my short stay in Lyon.
I took a train from Port Dieu station in Lyon and got off at La Valbonne. The trip took about 25 minutes and 6,60 euros one-way.
It was then a nice 20-minute walk to the factory.
Once I have entered the factory, I was greeted by the boss of the company, Mr Guy Fressenon. The factory itself isnt very big. The display room at the main entrance has several interesting vintage models, the modern models, as well as many Fisart models. The only model that I did not get to see was the new Vedette 10 SK.
At the factory, it did not appear to me that there were many workers (Maybe less than 5). On the left, you can see boxes some old boxes to be repaired and housings made of different materials. The accordion parts are at the further back. There is a mixture of Italian made and French made parts as expected. The right-hand side has the accordions ready to be sent to different stores in France. The digital accordions are upstairs.
Carbon fibre. You can certainly feel the weight difference. It is available for 3 of their models
New accordions
This is one the most interesting part of the visit. Guy showed me that the bass part in the new accordions will be very easy to repair in the future. You can take the interior off by removing 4 screws.
Then I went to try their digital models. Does the bellow feel better than the Roland models? Certainly yes. Does it feel 100% like an acoustic instrument? Maybe not. These models are definitely very versatile. The expander (~1.5kg) and the digital accordion (~6kg) give you a significant weight advantage. The adjustment options on the tablet were impressive. I think they will be quite successful if they build an international model.
It was my first time playing the 3+3 basses. I hardly needed time to get used to it (without playing the diminished chords), but I personally prefer 2+4 basses. You can order a new Cava with 2+4 basses though. I did see accordions tuned between 440-445Hz. They made some of the finest musette accordions too (of course). One of their musette accordions had a unique, mellow sound that I like, and I have never heard of that on an Italian box with similar tunings.
Everyone at the factory was very nice to me. You really get to see the things you asked for. It can be challenging to communicate with them if you dont speak French. I dont speak good French but google translate helped a bit. Also, Matthieu is very knowledgeable about all Cava products and he speaks English.
Video demostrations:
An acoustic vedette 5
A digital accordion:
I have just got down to Nice. Maybe I will bump into Richard Galliano on the street
. À bientôt!
