Loss of V-Accordions

[jarvo]

Interesting comments. Both my Bugaris were made in Italy, with hand-made reeds, and the sound and action have been superb. However, the Italian electronics -- microphones and MIDI -- died years ago despite my efforts to patch it up. Pure crap and a waste of $1700. I think Roland did the right thing, partnering with the Italians to make a great accordion, and now that they have the techniques and training, they can move it to a place where the electronics are top quality for lower cost.

sadly similar to the Italian motorcycles of yesteryear........fantastic frames ,tyres and brakes and engines that were superb when their spaghetti loomed electrics did not let them down ........not on topic , but a fun fact ....and I had a benelli 354....and loved it !!

 

[lasvegascolonel]

As blisterpeanuts said, the electronics are not in Italy. I recently mentioned that some accordionists on Yahoo speculate that the Roland Italy group was holding Roland back---not on quality or assembly, but on electronic technology. Guess they feel Roland Japan could better deal in electronics for Roland products than Italy. That said, the cache' of an Italian-made accordion is and likely will remain quite strong.

 

[JIM D.]

Roland's lost profits came from it's piano - keyboard division not the V-accordion sales. With European workers taking their 5 week paid vacations and their high rate of pay the move was economic. You must realize that Roland accordions are not hand made acoustic accordions and trained crafted acoustic accordion workers are not needed to assemble them. They are assembled the same as a electronic piano or keyboard is. As far as we know so far the production might even might go to it's Japan division. The news might come at the NAMM show this Month. JIM D.

 

[jarvo]

Rolands lost profits came from its piano - keyboard division not the V-accordion sales.

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With European workers taking their 5 week paid vacations and their high rate of pay

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the move was economic. You must realize that Roland accordions are not hand made acoustic accordions and trained crafted acoustic accordion workers are not needed to assemble them. They are assembled the same as a electronic piano or keyboard is. As far as we know so far the production might even might go to its Japan division. The news might come at the NAMM show this Month. JIM D.

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...You sound , so sorry , read as if almost disapproving JIM D ... :lol:

Jarvo

 

[JIM D.]

Not sorry, actually optimistic!! as the change just might result in a better product with a more affordable price. :tup:

 

[Glenn]

Jim should know by now that Brits need the extra holiday and high wages for their visits to the dentist to get their teeth fixed. .
Not sure what excuse the Germans, French etc have. Any feedback welcome.

 

[jarvo]

True , True.......to JIM D I mean ........

 

[lasvegascolonel]

Though Roland Japan might take over the manufacturer of the V accordion, it still might not be made in Japan. People often pay extra for Japanese workmanship in cars, for example, but the costs might be too high, so they might be made in Roland's keyboard plant in Indonesia, or as others have said, China. Like Jim D. says, though, a better product at a lower cost may be the result of all this.

 

[JIM D.]

All corporations for whatever economic and profit reasons shift their manufacturing plants to a different location on this expanding world market.
Even the some of the Toyota auto models made in Japan once shipped here to the US are now made here and shipped back to Japan because of lower labor cost's . Complaining or surmising about the world market that we comment on will not have any effect the result in the products manufactured. We are just small pea's in the pod and will have to sit back and observe what these large Corp's do and hope their decisions are profitable and result in a better product. JIM D.

 

[lasvegascolonel]

Amen to that, Jim. Like you said, hopefully we'll get a better product and maybe a better price too.

 

[dunlustin]

Given how easy it is to upset people just talking accordions, I'm not going to get tangled up in this one.
Except: I do feel a lot of the recent stuff could be placed in another thread. I click in the hope of learning something about Roland and instead get stuff about globalisation.

 

[BobM]

What does anyone make of this:-

Roland V Accordions
You are all aware of the closing of our factory in Italy where the V-Accordions are currently produced.
Production will continue at Roland Europe for the V-Accordion and other instruments until March, 2014. After that time, production of the V-Accordion will be transferred to an appropriate facility within the Roland family.

Apart from the tradional I told you so...?
Its not April yet , is it?

Given how easy it is to upset people just talking accordions, Im not going to get tangled up in this one.
Except: I do feel a lot of the recent stuff could be placed in another thread. I click in the hope of learning something about Roland and instead get stuff about globalisation.

Most of the posts seemed on topic to me, and that the move could be a good one, long term.

BobM

 

[JIM D.]

I agree with your post's Bob & Dunlustin. - Any suggestions on a new thread ??? -- It is and always will be the case of someone jumping in on an informative thread with his or her personal opinions. I once heard a comical statement that if all the cars in the world were lined up in a straight line - there will always be some jerk that pulls out to pass. :lol: --JIM D.

 

[lasvegascolonel]

As Jim says, a new thread that focuses on the Roland accordion only might be good. This year should be an important one for those of us interested in the V-Accordion. Any information on the quality, design, manufacturing process, price, etc. might be more important than the political/economic issues, which we can't control anyway. Already, Jim has helpfully mentioned his observations about the FR8X not having bellows pads and apparently shoulder straps that didn't look like the previous Italian ones. That's the kind of information potential buyers would need. While the supply of Italian-made Roland accordions will be in the supply line for awhile, when the accordions made outside of Italy become available, the real interest will likely develop as it will be a first test of the V-accordions "not made in Italy".

 

[JIM D.]

For those of you interested in the new model FR-8x Visit the Yahoo site -- Roland FR-8x @ yahoo.com . If you go there check out posts from Jan. 21 to date as here you will find pictures of me installing bellows straps on a new 8x and an explanation of the parts and procedure I used. There are also pictures of me correcting the bass machine vibration problem that has been complained about for the past few months. JIM D.