Interesting Similarity

[Chickers]

I'm not sure who was making what in the accordion industry back in the 1960's but I find an awful lot of "similarity" between my Excelsiola Model 612M and my Guerrini & Sons--photos attached
It's very apparent in the grill work of both accordions. Of-couse the internal mechanisms are quite different -; The Excelsiola is a 3-4 reed, whereas the Guerrini is a 4-5 reed. Excelsiola is dry tune, the Guerrini is slightly wet tune. I have not been able to obtain much information on the manufacture of these two accordions, except both made in Italy, and both made somewhere early 1960's. I really like the "playability" of the Excelsiola, but really enjoy the sound of the Guerrini.
I would appreciate any comments and / or history on these two accordions that any of you longtime accordion experts could provide .
CHICKERS

 

[debra]

Something is not right here. The design of the grille is definitely that of Excelsior (also used on Excelsiola) and I have never seen a Guerrini with that grille. Something does not look right about the Guerrini. It is possible that the grille was replaced (maybe after damage?) or it is possible that the grille is original but the Guerrini name is not... I'm sure JimD will know more. He has decades more experience with the accordion industry.

 

[Chickers]

PAUL:
In reviewing the Guerrini, I'm reasonably sure it's original as manufactured. I purchased it from the original owner.
Notice the similarity of not only the grill, but the key and button construction, the placement and design of the registers.
I am also attaching pictures of the name badges.
My understanding is "A. Guerrini & Sons" is not the company as Guerrini of the U.S.---or maybe another Guerrini
The name badge says ---Special Production For North America
Interesting
CHICKERS

 

[JIM D.]

Many Italian brands for a time copied the Excelsior grill designs in the 50's & 60's. The firm MODERN was a good example --

Modern Accordion by Borsini -1960's - Mute - NICE! | Reverb

Modern accordion by Borsini - Very clean and in good used condition. Everything works as is should. Nice quality hand finished reeds on very nice quality spruce/mahogany/walnut reed blocks. Action on the keyboard is very nice and key to key measures 19.25 inches. There are 7 treble switches + mu...

reverb.com

Firms rarely copyrighted their grill designs and because of a makes popularity the designs were frequently copied.
The practice was ignored many times as the saying goes "Imitation is the sincerest form of Flattery".

 

[debra]

PAUL:
In reviewing the Guerrini, I'm reasonably sure it's original as manufactured. I purchased it from the original owner.
Notice the similarity of not only the grill, but the key and button construction, the placement and design of the registers.
I am also attaching pictures of the name badges.
My understanding is "A. Guerrini & Sons" is not the company as Guerrini of the U.S.---or maybe another Guerrini
The name badge says ---Special Production For North America
Interesting
CHICKERS

Accordions are made of many "standard" parts, which makes that many things are similar. Accordion factories buy many mechanical parts, keys, buttons, register mechanisms, etc. What they do make themselves are reed blocks (giving the characteristic sound of each brand), treble and bass case, and the grille. So the grille is often part of the "signature" of a brand. But... there are some grille designs that many brands have copied and still do, like a grille with simple squares (very common in convertor instruments) and recently the "cobweb" design that looks random (but of course isn't). Sadly nowadays some truly unique grille designs (like the one used by Bugari) also get copied by Chinese companies making fakes... There are certainly Chinese fakes with the signature Excelsior grille too (but your accordions are too old to be fakes).

 

[Valski]

Accordions are made of many "standard" parts, which makes that many things are similar. Accordion factories buy many mechanical parts, keys, buttons, register mechanisms, etc. What they do make themselves are reed blocks (giving the characteristic sound of each brand), treble and bass case, and the grille. So the grille is often part of the "signature" of a brand. But... there are some grille designs that many brands have copied and still do, like a grille with simple squares (very common in convertor instruments) and recently the "cobweb" design that looks random (but of course isn't). Sadly nowadays some truly unique grille designs (like the one used by Bugari) also get copied by Chinese companies making fakes... There are certainly Chinese fakes with the signature Excelsior grille too (but your accordions are too old to be fakes).

This is all very interesting and I'm sure that many accordion designs are copies of successful products from other companies. The same applies to other products such as automobiles where one manufacturer releases a popular and successful model and others release their own version with similar styling. There have been many autos produced strikingly similar to the Mercedes.

Like with any product if it meets your requirements and was purchased for a fair price without being represented as being something much more expensive then enjoy it on its own merits.