tagged as made in Italy. But ,they are shipped to China for distribution worldwide.
this strongly suggests the PHYSICAL assembly of the higher end models
are still contracted to FATAR, and the proprietary equipment is still located
in Italy, but now the finished assembly is done in this China distribution
center. This could mean not just the boxing and accessories, but the final
check/testing/burn in (if any) as well as loading the current OS and settings
before shipment to dealers/distribution worldwide.
This also supports the slight change upward in pricing due to source related
tariffs and shipping costs
without any insight into Roland's intention and future plan, it is impossible to
know if they are just consolidating to a lower/controlled cost ongoing model
to maintain production or if they are looking to eventually move all aspects of
manufacturing to the new location
the further removed they are from the design team and specific accordion
design/behavior knowledge, the less likely a future product will ever be seen.
the general failure of the EVO as a sustainable version also suggests less
likelihood that Roland has any sub-licensing plans in the works, such as the
short lived Swiss branded version of the old FR3. So long as the Bruti Patents
are at the core of the FR cost models, the chances for Proxima, Musictech,
and other future labs stays viable as the best chance for future product development.
on a side note, i recently looked into Proel and Dexibell again, and noted
that all connections to the original Roland design team members have been
severed, suggesting that PROEL no longer has any interest in the accordion
category, nor a module in the BK or Ketron category to support digital accordions.
Dexibell pushed more strongly into Digital Piano's, and came out with a specific
HAMMOND type keyboard/clone as well.. sales of which have been lacklustre
and the chatter on the Leslie sim underwhelming, though their Hammond type
waterfall keys are welcomed by purists as well done.
