Retail outlets at Castelfidardo

[maugein96]

Whilst browsing the Italian internet I discovered that various makers in Castelfidardo carry stocks of accordions which have been made for customers, but have remained in stock for various reasons.

I would always recommend that potential buyers visit the makers on a try before you buy basis, but at the prices they are selling these unwanted orders, they offer fantastic value compared with the usual retail prices found in most dealers stores.

Here is a link to one such outlet, and I make no apology for it referring to the Mengascini CBA that should have been destined for a French customer. Even considering UK import duty and taxes, that is one hell of an instrument for the money. If I was single and carefree I reckon it would already be in the post.

http://www.castelfidardomusica.it/e...on-fisarmoniche-fisarmonica-l-artigiana-.html

Anybody ever dealt with this company?

 

[losthobos]

Pretty sure I've been in this shop...there I only one music shop in castelfidardo....and yes accordions were crazy cheap prices....but books were probably treble the price of here...
Work that out...

 

[maugein96]

And you've kept it a secret all this time! Somebody paid extra for the 5th row on that Mengascini. No bass couplers but who cares? I could do with an LMM box with that musette tuning. Carlo Venturi played LMM with 2 voice "musette" to great effect, and if it was good enough for him then I might just consider it. I was actually better than him (at driving buses), but he just pipped me on the accordion!

Just reading up on how to do the wife in and not get caught!

 

[Stephen Hawkins]

Hi John,

I can help you with the first part of your final sentence, but the second part is much more difficult.

It does sound like a good way to get a quality instrument at a reasonable price, but persuading wives that it is a really good and sound investment will meet with considerable resistance.

Good Luck with whichever method you choose.

Kind Regards,

Stephen.

 

[maugein96]

Stephen,

I'll just be looking on in amazement, as £2500 is still a lot of money for something I probably couldn't get the best out of these days. As she who is under threat of being murdered would point out, the cupboards in our house are full of seldom played musical instruments.

Had I known about that outlet when I bought my last accordion it would have been a no brainer, but I reckon I'd have driven there and brought it back in the car, if I did end up buying it.

Even with our import duties it would have been a steal, although you cannot help thinking it will be "B stock" for whatever reason. It used to be possible to buy musical instruments dirt cheap from the US, but it's not worth it these days. My cousin once sent me two baseball caps, a desk clock, and a pocket knife from the US and I ended up having to pay about £48 import duty and VAT for my "gifts". Most of that was to the courier for re-sealing the package, as our Customs officials were opening just about everything from abroad at the time, regardless of what the package contained.

Mind you. we're not the worst. If we send anything to Norway, we mail it to my sister in Crete and she takes it with her when she visits. My wife hand knits Norwegian style jumpers for kids and they absolutely hammer my niece if we send them direct to Norway. Everything that crosses their border is an opportunity for revenue and they certainly know how to take it.

 

[Geronimo]

Mind you. were not the worst. If we send anything to Norway, we mail it to my sister in Crete and she takes it with her when she visits. My wife hand knits Norwegian style jumpers for kids and they absolutely hammer my niece if we send them direct to Norway. Everything that crosses their border is an opportunity for revenue and they certainly know how to take it.

Dont accidentally pour bear over those jumpers or the import duties will go through the roof.

 

[Stephen Hawkins]

Hi John,

When I was younger, I would have thought nothing of driving to Italy. In fact, I have driven around most of Europe. Now, sadly, I limit my driving to the UK.

It appears to be a good way to buy decent accordions at a knock down price, but I wonder if they may be a little less than perfect. They do say: "if something seems too good to be true, it probably is", and Italy is a long way to drive in order to confirm that snippet of wisdom.

I have a reputable dealer about twenty-odd miles away, and they deliver free. You have got me thinking though; I wonder if the Chinese have factory shops. It would be a hell of a drive from the UK, but doable. Fancy a nice Pearl River for very little money?

Kind Regards,

Stephen.

 

[maugein96]

A large beer in Norway is about 80 kronor (roughly 8.25 Euro), which is cheap compared to what it was 40 years ago, when the equivalent price would have been maybe 40 Euros.

The sale of alcohol, except for the weaker beers, is state controlled in all of the Scandinavian countries except Denmark, where it can all be bought in the supermarket. Everywhere else you must buy from state run licensed outlets.

I was in a Danish supermarket and asked a sales assistant where the beer was. She asked me if I wanted Danish or Swedish beer, and I said Danish. She said that Danish beer was on the left and Swedish beer was on the right. Out of curiosity I also decided to have a look at the Swedish beer, to find the shelves full of non-alcoholic fizzy drinks! It's a Danish joke!

You can buy beer in Swedish supermarkets, but it must not be stronger than 3.5% alcohol by volume. They even make a weak version of Pilsner Urquell for the Swedish market and it tastes awful.

Today here in Scotland we have just started to be "Scandinavian" about alcohol, with a minimum pricing system being applied.

They reckon there are too many people dying from alcohol related causes and the health system cannot cope with it. They are targeting young beer and cider drinkers, and the prices are now double or even triple what they were yesterday. The price of spirits will stay about the same due to the way we calculate how many "units" of alcohol are in a bottle.

This weekend the kids will be turning their backs on beer and cider, and emptying the shelves of such things as 63% white rum, and the health service will benefit twofold. Instead of people living a lifetime of drinking beer and cider, those kids with an alcoholic disposition will now all be addicted to hard spirits before they are 20, and will die much younger. Also they'll need to take any street collapses to a rocket fuel dump instead of the hospitals, due to the fire and explosion risks!

I'm lucky enough to live near the English border so I can go over and buy my booze there, but they are threatening to follow our example if it works.

Go to any small village in Sweden and you'll see people drinking alcohol disguised as soft drinks in the streets, and getting on people's nerves, often begging for money at the same time. They'll typically be drinking "moonshine" brennvin (vodka). That's what happens when your country takes a hard line with alcohol.

 

[maugein96]

Stephen,

I drove buses in the UK for 12 years and got sick and tired of driving as a result. My wife hates sitting beside me in the car as I still haven't been able to shake off driving everywhere at "bus speed".

Driving on the continent can be a chore for those of us used to driving on the other side of the road. Only problem I have is narrow gaps where you need to remember the vulnerable (nearside) of your vehicle is on the opposite side.

Scandinavian driving is the easiest with big wide straight roads, a 55mph speed limit, and a "crawler lane" about the width of a car, where you can pull over to let any headcases pass.

I'd need a bigger car to drive to Italy, as my little 1.4 puddle jumper just wouldn't hack it.

However, I wouldn't drive in the far east in any car for all the tea in China!

 

[Stephen Hawkins]

Hi John,

I was in Denmark in about 1976, but not for very long. A cup of coffee, nothing out of the ordinary, cost me about £2. In England at that time, a cup of coffee was probably about 20 pence.

Just like yourself, I drive slowly and gently, not wishing to waste petrol or cause excessive and unnecessary wear on mechanical parts. Somebody has to pay for new tyres and brake discs, and that somebody is me.

No road trip to China then???

Kind Regards,

Stephen.

 

[Geronimo]

Just like yourself, I drive slowly and gently, not wishing to waste petrol or cause excessive and unnecessary wear on mechanical parts. Somebody has to pay for new tyres and brake discs, and that somebody is me.

No road trip to China then???

On the plus side, as a driver used to Western driving style, you only need to accommodate petrol for a one-way trip to China and coffin wood if you have a local tree preference. At least when we are talking about driving in large cities.

 

[maugein96]

Stephen,

I might have considered it when China used to drive on the same side of the road as us, (and so did Sweden, come to think of it). Reckon I'd skip the wood and carry an extra gallon of petrol, so they could just do an instant cremation. A coffin would be waste of a tree (or in my case maybe a forest!)

Retail prices in Denmark are still pretty dire, and Norway is worse, although they'll tell you that it is all relative and their high earnings make up for it, which is true. Accordions are pretty cheap used in both countries and I reckon the UK must be one of the dearest countries in western Europe for musical instruments.

You can buy a 4 bed detached house in Sweden with habitable cellar, double garage, a shed for the tractor you need to cut the grass, and about half an acre, all for £80,000. You can also heat it for about half the price we pay here. Yet, go to the local restaurant for a very ordinary (usually frankly awful) meal for two, and you might need to consider selling that house!

Drive our little Corsa slowly or gently? I bought it for my wife when we needed two cars. It came with semi-lowered suspension, tinted glass, a big chrome exhaust tailpipe, and racing seats as standard, and the best thing about it was we bought it used and had it for over a month before we realised we had a "souped up" version. It just looks like a standard model from the outside apart from the badge. That's how much I pay attention to cars when I buy them. Shame they forgot to match a suitable engine to the rest of the crap they put in it! It drives like a brick on roller skates, but we still bought it!

Crazy world!

 

[debra]

There are stores in Castelfidardo for many accordion brands (in addition to a more general instrument store). These stores are separate from the factories for most. Some just have a showroom at the factory and some require that you make an appointment.
And for parts there is Carini (in Via Enzo Ferrari) which is like a supermarket for anything that is accordion-related.

 

[wirralaccordion]

Have we no Italian members on the forum who might have visited this outlet?

 

[maugein96]

There are one or two Italian members, and hopefully they might pick up on it. From what I can gather from the info Paul has posted, there is one general instrument store separate from the factories where you can try instruments out. It has been suggested that the instruments they have for sale there may be sub-standard in some way, and that's where Italian members would come in handy.

The box I was raving about certainly looked and sounded fine, and I would maybe have been prepared to take a gamble at the price they were selling, but only if I couldn't actually get over there to try it. All it needed were shoulder straps and a case. They offer worldwide shipping if you never fancied driving there, but for so long as there are questions over that "too good to be true" phenomenon, perhaps you'd need a word of mouth recommendation, and I don't know anybody who has bought a box from there.

My obvious suspicions would be "Why are these accordions not for sale in the local factories, and just why are they being sold at about half price?" At a guess the accordions concerned will have been special orders that were declined by the customers concerned, and having tried to sell them unsuccessfully in the factories, they are cutting their losses, but it is only a guess.

I may have been a bit hasty in putting the post on in the first place, but my excitement got the better of me.

 

[debra]

There are one or two Italian members, and hopefully they might pick up on it. From what I can gather from the info Paul has posted, there is one general instrument store separate from the factories where you can try instruments out. It has been suggested that the instruments they have for sale there may be sub-standard in some way, and thats where Italian members would come in handy.
...

There is absolutely no reason to assume the outlet instruments might be sub-standard in any way. They are new instruments that came straight from the factories.
They are certainly nice instruments, but they are what they are: there are no options to choose from. You get whats on the shelf whereas directly from the factories you have many options, and I mean MANY options.

Greetings from Castelfidardo!

 

[colinm]

There are one or two Italian members, and hopefully they might pick up on it. From what I can gather from the info Paul has posted, there is one general instrument store separate from the factories where you can try instruments out. It has been suggested that the instruments they have for sale there may be sub-standard in some way, and thats where Italian members would come in handy.
...

There is absolutely no reason to assume the outlet instruments might be sub-standard in any way. They are new instruments that came straight from the factories.
They are certainly nice instruments, but they are what they are: there are no options to choose from. You get whats on the shelf whereas directly from the factories you have many options, and I mean MANY options.

Greetings from Castelfidardo![/quote]
Yes ,i have purchased from castelfidardomusica, I purchased by email and it was easy, delivered in about 3 days and was new, as described, and in good condition.

I have also purchased from Carini, but you have to jump through a few hoops, they want you to order in quantity., and delivery takes about 6 weeks
Cm


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[maugein96]

There is absolutely no reason to assume the outlet instruments might be sub-standard in any way. They are new instruments that came straight from the factories.
They are certainly nice instruments, but they are what they are: there are no options to choose from. You get whats on the shelf whereas directly from the factories you have many options, and I mean MANY options.

Greetings from Castelfidardo!

Hi Paul,

Are you there on holiday, or have I missed something during another of my absences?

My first inclination was that the instruments would probably have been cancelled orders, and the prices are incredible for new instruments. At my level off the shelf would suffice, even the bottom shelf!

Thanks for that (inside?) knowledge.

 

[maugein96]

Yes ,i have purchased from castelfidardomusica, I purchased by email and it was easy, delivered in about 3 days and was new, as described, and in good condition.

I have also purchased from Carini, but you have to jump through a few hoops, they want you to order in quantity., and delivery takes about 6 weeks
Cm


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Thanks for that Colin. Wish Id known about them two years ago when I bought a mail order Hohner from the US. An £1100 box ended up costing me just under £1500 with all the fancy import duty and VAT. I still saved about £500 on the French retail price, but Id have gladly paid £2500 for that Mengascini instead.

I cannot type the words I want to on here, so %$&^*&&)&))&)))!!!!!!

 

[debra]

...
I have also purchased from Carini, but you have to jump through a few hoops, they want you to order in quantity., and delivery takes about 6 weeks
...

That is not normal. I have ordered from Carini and it took about one week.