Excelsior Mano Reeds

[TonyChicago]

Hi,

My question is regarding the New York made Excelsiors with hand made reeds. Who generally made the reeds or were there various vendors?

Thank you

 

[Ventura]

excelsior made their own reeds to an enormous extent

during the Italian/CEMEX era they continued to make their own reeds
using the equipment brought over from the New York factory, then
eventually graduaklly modernized their in house reedmaking with huge and precise
cutters and electromagnets and robotics.. nevertheless
when the "market" got insistent over brand name reeds,
Excelsior (quietly, privately) bought out a brand name reedmaker
and to the public it looked as if they were using some other famous reed
while they simply over time folded them into the main company

and anyways, an Excelsior sounds like an Excelsior sounds like an Excelsior
and that is what everyone ACTUALLY wanted when they bought an Excelsior

so why mess with success by getting cute about telling them how to do reedwork ?
or even thinking an Excelsior would sound better with some boutique reed ?

do you want it to sound like an Excelsior or not ?

 

[TonyChicago]

excelsior made their own reeds to an enormous extent

during the Italian/CEMEX era they continued to make their own reeds
using the equipment brought over from the New York factory, then
eventually graduaklly modernized their in house reedmaking with huge and precise
cutters and electromagnets and robotics.. nevertheless
when the "market" got insistent over brand name reeds,
Excelsior (quietly, privately) bought out a brand name reedmaker
and to the public it looked as if they were using some other famous reed
while they simply over time folded them into the main company

and anyways, an Excelsior sounds like an Excelsior sounds like an Excelsior
and that is what everyone ACTUALLY wanted when they bought an Excelsior

so why mess with success by getting cute about telling them how to do reedwork ?
or even thinking an Excelsior would sound better with some boutique reed ?

do you want it to sound like an Excelsior or not ?

Thanks for the great answer. I appreciate it.

Edit: BTW, I think you and I may know someone in common.

 

[Ventura]

Edit: BTW, I think you and I may know someone in common.

kewl..

but i only got to ChiTown once, when Bob and I took our Tube Cordovox's
back to CMI for repairs

 

[TonyChicago]

kewl..

but i only got to ChiTown once, when Bob and I took our Tube Cordovox's
back to CMI for repairs

He's not from Chi. Last I heard he lived outside Cleveland but I thought he told me he was going to move. I lost touch with him. He worked on two of my accordions. Steve Navoyosky.

 

[Ventura]

he was certainly one of the most skilled techs the old American system
ever produced.. i mean the guy could make his own set of reeds !

i believe he retired to Florida, but have not heard of him in a long long time

 

[TonyChicago]

he was certainly one of the most skilled techs the old American system
ever produced.. i mean the guy could make his own set of reeds !

i believe he retired to Florida, but have not heard of him in a long long time

I heard he was a helluva player as well! I started to study the Spud Murphy Equal Interval System with Steve but like you said, he retired.

 

[snavoyosky]

he was certainly one of the most skilled techs the old American system
ever produced.. i mean the guy could make his own set of reeds !

i believe he retired to Florida, but have not heard of him in a long long time

I thank you for that comment, Ventura. Yes it's me after all these many years. I left Ohio the last day of 2006 and after 11 years left Florida and came back to my home in Ohio permanently. Knowing of this website was gained by placing my name etc. in search mode and seeing what appeared and viola!...up came this thread about Excelsior Mano Reeds and surprisingly I witnessed my name included in that discussion between you and a TonyChicago. So that piqued my interest and I looked for you address on RMMS and realized that you left it. So I just had join if just to say 'hello' and offer any help with the Excelsior questions since I gained some training there when times were better. I noticed other questions regarding Excelsior pertaining to model, serial numbers, and other inquiries.
Anyhow I'll close by using an age-old ending I saw many times.........ciao!

 

[Ventura]

hello Mr. Navoysky !

glad to hear you are still around..

back to Ohio you say ? something about that place..

well it will be nice to have you here on the Forum.. there are many
Guilietti aficionado's here, and sometimes there are questions
about Universal models as well as the tech questions in general..

so much has changed in the last 20 years of course, so your
knowledge of the old times and old ways will be invaluable.

oh, this forum has the nicest mix of International members too,
so the discussions really come from all angles at times..

ciao

Ventura

 

[snavoyosky]

I was quite settled here with music performances and music assignments, teaching, sales, and of course the accordion store and shop. Wife wanted snow-free Florida. I worked the shop/store/teaching by appointment only which enabled me to take all the music shows as they called in....like Mantovani & Strings on tour....Broadway shows on tour, Summer Stock, Fairs, jazz shows, etc. ....you know, the lucrative work. I can freely send you a couple of mp3 if you like to hear some things I've done that are strictly away from a recording studio......Jazz with the US Army Jazz Orchestra on tour ....and a three accordion plus bass & drums concert with Tony Rolando and Mickey Bisilia. (If anyone else is interested, just let me know)

Yes, I've been flipping through this forum to get acquainted and noticed the higher caliber members than what the WWW produced before. It will be a joy to help you and others in whatever music fields they desire. My many years were spent as a professional musician but when the music culture declined in the 80s and I found myself working the animal clubs (Moose, Elks, Eagles, etc,) I decided to bring on the store and shop and teaching to offset things. I left the road before that and decided to keep active in a four-state territory as a session musician.

When I saw that you were here in this forum and not anywhere else, I knew this had to be the haven.

Steve

 

[Vladimir M.]

Hello!

I warmly greet everyone on the forum and especially Mr. Navoyosky, whom I would like to publicly thank for the consultations and advice I asked him last year´s autumn. The problem at the time was the purchase of a beautiful instrument, but with the reeds processed in a way that brought tears to my eyes. Mr. Navoyosky explained everything to me in broader contexts. I processed and understood the situation, and the box serves me perfectly and without malfunctions. I also think that Mr. Navoyosky can comment on the topic of this thread (the quality of reeds) as thoroughly as few others.

OT-comment: I was quite amused by the standard label "Newbie" under his icon. If we were to judge it according to the facts of the matter, it would be, for example: a "Legend in the branch".

Best regards, Vladimir

 

[Ventura]

ahh... then my condolences on her passing...