Maugein shake up

[maugein96]

Maugeins website has been a bit neglected in recent times. It is well enough known that they have been struggling hard to maintain production since 2009, and went into receivership in 2013. After a well publicised bail-out in 2104, production recommenced, and in an effort to generate income they began to market a small cheap accordion, the Marionito, which appears to have been a resounding failure.

Maugein were perhaps best known for their student models, which were of superb quality with sounds to match, but they were also the most expensive student accordions in France. Several pro players continued to play their student models for some time into their professional careers, such was their quality. The other market they catered for was the folk players in and around Auvergne and Limousin, and manufactured an accordion to the specifications of the local legend, Jean Segurel. Unfortunately that sort of set them back in popularity with some players, as whilst Segurel was a brilliant player, he more or less stuck with the local folk styles. People who did not appreciate Segurels rustic approach to his compositions said that his only real contribution to French accordion was to introduce bassoon reeds into folk music.

As they approach their centenary year of accordion production it would seem that changes are about to be introduced. They have introduced new colours and paint jobs on various models which IMHO will serve to alienate potential buyers rather than attract them. They are also working on developing a range of digital accordions. However, the big change is that they look poised to introduce a new range of accordions aimed at beginners, which will be sold under the brand name My First. The instruments are available in both CBA and PA versions as 2 voice treble with 60 basses.

Whilst they do not reveal the source of the new range it seems obvious that they will be of Asian manufacture. I wish them well with their new venture, but Cavagnolo tried the same with a student model some years ago, then quickly withdrew it, for reasons unknown. The local authority have recently given Maugein a 40,000 Euro grant towards their new venture, which I suppose might keep their coffee machine stocked for a year or so, but I cant see how it will be of much other use.

For anybody who wishes to drool over these new accordions at their unbelievable price, here is the link to the Maugein newsletter concerned. I believe they will be compiling an order book on the rear of a 10 cent postage stamp, once somebody donates one to them. I really am saddened by the way things have turned out for them, but quality costs just too much these days :-

https://www.accordeons-maugein.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/NEWSLETTER-JUIN-2018.pdf

 

[OuijaBoard]

Dont really understand their reasoning here. I dont see prices, but Im sure these Asian accordions are no cheaper and no more playable than the Hohner Nova/Bravo (CBA/PA) lines, not to mention Weltmeisters, none of which are exactly cheap, and all of which are plenty playable, certainly for learning or for that matter gigging proressionally if one plays folk stuff.

If one is going to spend a couple of thousand to get a playable Asian accordion (as opposed to a cheaper but tendon-injuring unplayable Asian-made accordion), who cares whether it has the Cavagnolo name on it as opposed to the Hohner Nova name? Or an East German/Czech name such as Welt or Delicia?

The trend in splashy colors and paint is industry-wide at the moment, particularly so at the premium high end. Beltuna, Pigini, theyre all doing it. One hopes it at least means there is an up-and-coming cadre of young players out there who are presumably the focus of the marketing. Some of the paint/glitter jobs are pretty awful when seen or touched in person. But other designs are beautifully done (and pricey as hell) even if the colors arent your thing.

Cavagnolo is really in a spot. Part of it is that functionally speaking, nobody is playing Parisian bal musette right now, the niche they have historically catered to. The fact that bal musette is currently so neglected perhaps means its due for yet another revival, but how long can a company like C hang on. They tried to get into the Auvergne/folk thing, but other makers are more known and more favored for that music. To top it off, they make an extremely expensive product. Without getting into whether these accordions are worth it in terms of tangible value, there are not a lot of people with the money to buy them at present.

I cant tell if this posting is still current, but the U.S. accordion dealer Liberty Bellows in Pennsylvania has/had a used 2-voice Cavagnolo listed at $1600.00. It weighs a mere 23 pounds. A 100-bass, whatever that signifies:

https://www.libertybellows.com/shop...on-Accordion-C-System-MM-74-100-x32643034.htm

 

[maugein96]

Hi Ouijaboard,

Thanks for that link to the Cava at Liberty Bellows. If I lived in the US the courier would probably have delivered it to me by now, but the additional cost of shipping and import duty to the UK wouldn't make it worthwhile ordering it. It's an absolute steal at that price, depending on the year it was built. Those built in the mid 80s were not so well built (I know I had one). I saw that box advertised before the sound sample was available. It is unusual that the second flute is tuned very sharp, probably up about 20 cents. It would take a good ear to detect there were no flat tuned reeds and it would almost pass as a three voice musette. Most 2 voice Cavagnolos have "americain " tuning at around 7 or 8 cents.

That particular instrument was aimed at the intermediate player. 100 bass was a very popular choice in France and in "international" bass terms is just a 120 bass minus the dim7 row. Most of the French method books I've seen show the standard French 3x3 bass layout, but don't give any instruction how to make use of it. To a French player a 100 bass is just normal without their inside row of single bass notes, so it's no big deal if they never bothered to learn that inside row.

With regard to Cavagnolo they have recently moved to new larger premises and have begun a very aggressive demo and advertising campaign, presumably designed to crush the local competition, i.e. Maugein. A few Italian makers still supply a French range of CBAs, and these are usually far cheaper (typically 25% less) than the French built boxes made by Maugein or Cavagnolo. Cava have actually reduced their prices recently, probably as a temporary measure until they attempt to gain the French monopoly.

As you have identified, the French accordion industry is in dire straits, such as it is. The "big 2" are all that is left (bar one or two very small makers) in France. Was a time when Paolo Soprani, Crucianelli, Fratelli Crosio, Piermaria, Accordiola, Savoia, and one or two others, all had French outlets which assembled French spec accordions. However, they all disappeared rapidly from the 60s onwards, when the accordion became about as cool as a vindaloo curry for anything other than folk music in France.

The issue with Maugein appears to have been that they reached a stage where they simply couldn't make their accordions cheap enough for anybody but pros to be able to afford them. In the days when being an accordionist could have been a lucrative career, people were prepared to invest a lot of money in a decent instrument, even as a beginner. However, in these days of maybe getting paid in pastis and a bowl of bouillabaisse, nobody seems willing to take the chance of paying the price of a decent small car for something their grandfather decreed unfashionable.

The issue with modern French accordionists appears to be the tag "musette". The very utterance of the word often has the same effect as offering a plate of tripe and onions to a vegan. As I live in Scotland I can relate to that, as our own accordion style is older than the Garden of Eden, yet a handful of people still like it, so it still exists. They'll try and tell you that there is a revival ever few years or so, but the accordion shops are disappearing faster than the promising young players can learn the instrument. In Scotland even Galliano would have a hard job creating a "new teuchter" genre, and nobody else would even dare.

French accordions are made to cater for the musette style. The buttons are smaller and closer together to allow for playing the treble keyboard without the thumb. If you want to play like the old guys you need to keep your thumb off the keyboard, or devise a hybridised playing system so that you can do button trills and all the other old fashioned musette techniques. The earliest players only used three fingers of their right hands and developed their own brand of virtuosity that carried them through as top grade musette players. However, they tended to be "one trick ponies" the same as the instruments they played.

In modern days when musette is now considered to be a mere historical era, all the teachers tell us that we need to use all five fingers and that's what is now required. Modern French players learn to cope with five fingers on the smaller buttons, but very few players outside of France, Belgium, or Portugal will even consider a French box, due to their various idiosyncrasies.

That's not the whole story, but as I've said before "Made in France = Played in France." French boxes are a niche market so the writing is sort of on the wall.

 

[OuijaBoard]

I too would have eyed that Pennsylvania Cavagnolo if it were less than "merely" 23 pounds. Yikes, that is one heavy two-voice. Don't like that sharp tuning, but I consider that an easily adjusted point. Never understand when people reject an accordion because the musette degree isn't their liking.

 

[OuijaBoard]

Here is a cool short clip of a Paris musette accordeoniste playing around Montmartre on a Maugein, talking about how musette is no longer played in Paris, but she got her repertoire from her grandparents and plays to keep the tradition alive.

She says people dont care about the classic musette titles, and ask for tunes from Amelie:



I stumbled on this while perusing a cool blog about out-of-the-way Paris, titled Jungles of Paris. It featured a neat post about The Old-School Charms of Musette (noting, unfortuantely, that musette is rarely to be heard in Paris)

https://www.junglesinparis.com/stories/the-old-school-charms-of-musette

 

[losthobos]

Sure....the tunes from Amelie are the haute rigour of requests these days....but remember Yann Tiersen attributes the success of his sound and popularity was due to the sound of the French market Piermaria / SEM accordion and wouldn't play anything other...
You've reminded me to remind myself how to play them....

 

[maugein96]

She says people dont care about the classic musette titles, and ask for tunes from Amelie:

Her instrument is a Maugein Export, one of the student models, and you can see and hear that it passes muster for playing in the street.

Most of my French accordion interest is/was centred on the north of the country and Belgium, where they have their own musette style, which has always existed with a degree of independence from the Parisian scene. As with all local accordion styles it still has a following today, although the Chti (northerners) are also no longer as keen on the accordion as they once were.

The big Paris chanson numbers and most popular musette standards are included in the repertoire, but there is quite a strong leaning towards marches and polkas, often with brass accompaniment.

One of the main themes is family entertainment, and here is a Belgian husband and wife duo (Benny and Marina Hennebel), with their friend Yves Leynaert, who has a Flemish surname, but is actually from Dunkerque in France. Marina flies in the face of the local preference for musette pur tuning with her very powerful (amplified) Piermaria, tuned americain. The Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysees, and Bateau Mouches are nowhere to be seen. To these people its all about the accordion, pure and simple. There is no need to cater for tourists, as there arent any!

Its difficult as a foreigner to be definitive about why the musette style plummeted to the depths. Perhaps it was a French stereotype that the modern generations wanted rid of, Im not sure, but the players in the north dont seem to be so bothered with the glamour aspect of it all. A lot of the tunes (including this one) are probably of the type that caused people to turn their back on the accordion, but they have kept the musette genre going for a very long time, nevertheless.



One of the Chti star turns is Claude Caron, and Ill let you make your own mind up about whether he is really enjoying what hes doing! However, he still fills the local venues. Its part of the local culture, and Im sure youll realise that the romantic airs of Paris have absolutely no bearing on that type of music.



Incidentally, Ive never watched the film or heard the tune Amelie played right through. The tune just isnt my style at all, and I dont really know why.

 

[OuijaBoard]

www.mon-accordeon.com prices the Maugein Export model at 3945---4250€ depending on whether one goes MM or Bando. La Boite a Bretelles lists it at 3623€ That is some student price. For a 2-voice, that would be more what I would view as a pro or semi-pro price. And www.mon-accordeons listing for the Export does note a mano reeds. So she may well be playing a premium-grade Cava MM there.

If thats whats passing for a student model, it may help explain why Cava is introducing a student model from Asia, though I still dont see what a Chinese accordion with Cavagnolo on the grille offers over a Hohner Nova or a Weltmeister Romance.

. . . . Hmmm, taking another look, I see the Cavagnolo Asian actually does not have Cavagnolo on the grille. Its marque is Myfirst. It looks very much like a Baile or SofiMari. Wonder why Cavagn is getting into that particular act given that these are already obtainable independently.

 

[maugein96]

Not sure if that Asian made Cavagnolo is still in production. It disappeared from their catalogue a while back, but you're never sure with accordions these days. 4000 Euros for a beginner instrument is precisely the issue you have identified. They make them to precisely the same standard as their pro grade instruments, so they're not something you'd throw away when you were done with them, and needed more bells and whistles on your box. They can be had in France in almost as new condition used for less than half that money, so they lose more than 50% of their value in the first year or two.

It's the old "Badge engineering". Nobody in France (except Galliano and a few others) wants to be seen playing a box with anything other than a French brand name, although the name "Hohner" is now acceptable, even if the boxes are made in Italy. Mengascini, and others, make excellent ranges of French CBAs which retail at prices about 25% cheaper than their French made equivalents. Yet, they have never really "taken off", as they are made too far from the Seine. In days gone by some of the big Italian makers had small factories in France and they made a "kill", with Crosio and Piermaria even ending up being more popular in France than they were in Italy. When they were made in France it was OK, but when they retreated back to Italy it was "game over."

In the UK we still have "Vauxhall" cars, purely because of that same badge engineering. I had a Vauxhall Corsa that was actually a "German" Opel made in Zaragoza in Spain. I recently traded it in for a "Japanese" Suzuki, which was made in Hungary, and has a Fiat engine! Would people buy them if they were called "Magyar Autó"? They would in Hungary!

 

[maugein96]

. . . . Hmmm, taking another look, I see the Cavagnolo Asian actually does not have Cavagnolo on the grille. Its marque is Myfirst. It looks very much like a Baile or SofiMari. Wonder why Cavagn is getting into that particular act given that these are already obtainable independently.

Hi,

The link in my post is to the Maugein, and not the Cavagnolo site.

 

[Morne]

Whats interesting to me is that they went with a clearly English name (MyFirst). When I look at this list of Maugeins models they all have French, or at least French sounding, names.

Are they perhaps aiming at an international market with this range?

 

[maugein96]

Dont like that sharp tuning, but I consider that an easily adjusted point. Never understand when people reject an accordion because the musette degree isnt their liking.

The big issue with retuning these days is trying to find a tuner who has experience of the type of tuning you specify. The guy who does mine knows Scottish and swing, and thats about it. He undertook to tune my Maugein to 8 cent americain, but had to guess the correct tuning up the octaves. Its passable, but not spot on. He could have worked from a chart if one had been available, but it seems they are like your grannys old secret recipe for vegetable soup.

You would think in this day and age that such tuning charts would be available, but I would imagine they are regularly swallowed by redundant tuners as and when their factory closes down.

 

[maugein96]

Whats interesting to me is that they went with a clearly English name (MyFirst). When I look at this list of Maugeins models they all have French, or at least French sounding, names.

Are they perhaps aiming at an international market with this range?

Hi Morne,

I think we have reached an advanced stage of desperation, and theyre looking to sell to anybody who will buy them. Cavagnolo tried selling Asian made boxes with their logo on them, but nobody was fooled, and I believe they ceased production. One or two French retailers still have them advertised, which may give the impression they are still current, but I dont really know. At a guess the English brand name may well be to attract buyers from North America, and other English speaking countries, but they would need to establish distributors there and reduce the trade price to cover import duties and taxes.

Here in the UK we used to be able to buy musical instruments dirt cheap from the US. The instruments werent made in the UK, but were available in our shops taxed to the hilt. Therefore, our Customs people decided they had become a great source of revenue to help pay off all the military debts we still owe from the time Belgian stonemasons built Hadrians Wall for the Romans. If there is a war the UK has to be in it, or send troops there just to show we can still pay off even more military debt. The upshot is we dont buy cheap instruments from the US any more, and they often have so many surplus instruments they cant get rid of them. The world is a fantastic place, if you dont actually have to live in it!

 

[Geoff de Limousin]

With my musical instrument maker's hat on I do feel very sorry for those who work at Maugein and Cavagnolo. To see their fine skills and products being ignored by a public that no longer feels the pull of personal music making. It is a great shame and those of us who do spend time playing and get so much joy ( and frustration at times) from our attempts might feel sorry for those who have never tried.

However, on the bright side, albeit a short sighted one, here in France it is very easy (my wife would say 'too easy') to find great bargans in secondhand accordeons:

This summer I turned down an LMMH Paolo Soprani with 5 rows 120 bass, completely renovated and tuned to A440hz for the very small sum of 500 euros.... WITH GARANTEE !!... I thought it too tall at 45cm high in the playing position.

There is a 2 years old Beltuna that I am contemplating, seller is asking 1/3rd of the new price... :hb .... oh I could go on and on but the house is full and I've a sticking button on my sunday accordeon. so I'd better go and fix that ... bye bye.

 

[maugein96]

Geoff,

I have noted that France is an Aladdin's Cave for secondhand boxes, and the lack of popularity means brilliant prices.

I'm tempted to take my Hungarian/Japanese/Italian car on the ferry and have a look, but I'd need to murder the wife first, so I might have to wait until the end of a life sentence. Mind you I might get three for 500 Euros then, if I was still alive.

Those big Paolo Sopranis are monster boxes right enough. They're still popular here in Tartan City, but only as LMMM with the usual tuning that "les anglais en jupes" prefer.

Beltuna seems to be edging its way in to the French market, and they sound superb in any variation I've heard. They aren't the cheapest, but you'll know that already.

Maugein currently have between 15 and 20 employees, and I don't know how many Cavagnolo have. I believe Maugein production is somewhere near 300 instruments a year, or even less, a sad state of affairs indeed. I get the feeling that some of their staff must be part-time.

 

[Geoff de Limousin]

Well, the sticky key turned out to be a plastic valve that had come loose from an 'inside reed' and got sucked up under the key pad. Luckily the sunday accordéon has nailed-on reeds and the operation has been completed successfully.

When I visited Maugein's factory , a couple of years ago , I got the impression that I could have walked out with the new model of my choice... on the spot!

With the instrument maker's hat on again; I really do not think it a good idea to cheapen one's name by offering a budget range ,although these are difficult economic times for anyone who makes things in a traditional 'european' manner when almost everything else is being produced either by robotics or in cheap labour countries. My wife went into our town to buy a new strap for her watch... could not get the size and type she wanted, nor could it be ordered said the lady at the jewelers shop.... So, on-line she goes and ordered exactly the desired type, colour and size... direct from China at a cost of 2 euros which included postage and it was real lizard skin , according to the label.

In my own field of work it is the most expensive makers who have the longest waiting lists... perhaps that is because they are the best or perhaps it is just the perception of the market. During my years in 'the outback' our local doctor drove around his extensive practice in his Rolls Royce and was fond of telling how it was the cheapest car he'd ever owned because nothing ever went wrong with it!

Let's hope Maugein and Cavagnolo keep going, if only with a smaller staff and a bespoke clientelle. if needs be.

One Violin maker I know, here in France, flies out to China with several of his own ,hand made instruments and sells them to private buyers.... so the rich chinese want european quality..............

I am serriously contemplating that 'almost new ' Beltuna.... It's a 5 hour drive away and in 442hz. But.....??

 

[maugein96]

Geoff,

Beltunas are very popular in Portugal, as follows:-





And Slovenia:-

 

[Geoff de Limousin]

Oh my word there are some fine sounds there, thanks for posting John... now I just have to try one of these!! {}

 

[JerryPH]

Beltunas are some super fine sounding instruments, and they are typically much lower in cost vs their direct competition. In one case, for example, the very popular Christa Behnke moved from a Hohner Gola to a Beltuna... so they definitely have something going for them!


While at the New England Accordion Museum, I got to play a high end Beltuna, and let me say that it was hard to stop wanting to play, the sound was so sweet!

 

[maugein96]

Geoff,

Hope I dont end up as a witness in divorce proceedings!

Dont know what models they are, but they wont be the cheap ones!

Id never heard of them until relatively recently, although theyve been around for 30 years.

Even my old favourite, Yves Leynaert from Dunkerque, seems to have laid his old Crosio and Cavagnolo down for one.

(not sure about that 3 voice musette. A bit overpowering for me. Like a pretty rough Verchuren copy)

(slightly better sounds on this track, although I preferred his old Crosio)

Ive seen video footage (with horrible sound quality and it looks like an acoustic, even if it doesnt sound like one!)

Best go and try the one you have in mind out. Thought Id post these sound clips, as although Yves is one of my favourite players, that isnt one of my favourite accordions.

Since listened to some more and decided I dont like Beltunas French three voice musette. Shame, as the rest of the sounds are generally excellent.