The Excelsior Saga (+Pigini, + Morino) question

[tcabot]

Hi All,

I am trying to understand a bit more about the history of the Exscelsior brand and its transformations over the years.
Perhaps, someone can share a link to an article about the history of the company? Or just help with your knowledgeable comments?

I understand that the original Excelsiors were the SAABs of the accordion world - so good and completely resistant to any idea of quality reduction via cost cutting, that they just had to go bust. From what I've gathered by reading various internet forum posts, there were two big changes:
(1) Pigini have acquired the company at some point in 1980s and moved the assembly into Europe from the US (?), but kept operating it as a separate subsidiary (?) integrated into Pigini raw materials chain, and
(2) Pigini have completely dissolved the company and fully merged the Excelsior production into their mainstream some time around 2000, effectively snapping "Excelsior" badges onto almost standard Pigini boxes(?).
In regard to the Pigini acquisition, in what year did it happen? As far as I understand, Pigini were far from being the underdog in the accordion production, had little to no outsourcing at the time, and, if they kept the Excelsior line manufacturing separately, how bad could the impact of the acquisition have been? Is it just the case of hurt national pride, as an all-American Excelsior (about as American, as driving a chevy to the levy that turns out to be dry) became "yet another Italian box", and the accordions therefore were not nearly as good as "in the good old days"?
Or were there significant changes, e.g. completely different voices, complete box design change, with wide use of Pigini elements for internals, abysmal deterioration of assembly quality?
I couldn't find much info on 1980s-2000s accordions made under Pigini-Excelsior at all.

The Morino story is also a bit unclear: At some point Hohner have outsourced the Morino manufacturing to Excelsior, but was it before or after the Pigini acquisition? There seem to be similar notes of hurt national pride, as an all-German Hohner (about as German as weissbier spilled on lederhosen at Oktoberfest) has suddenly become "yet another Italian box", and the accordions therefore were not nearly as good as "in the good old days".
If the outsourcing happened before Pigini, then the manufacturing would have been carried out by the "true" world-leading Excelsior company, which makes the various quality reduction claims highly suspicious.
Even if the manufacturing was moved over after Pigini acquisition, it appears that they were top of the line, as Excelsior's flagship 980 model seems to be a twin brother of the Morino, according to, for example, this old ad, describing it as "Morino is Excelsior jacket":

Excelsior Mod. 980 Black 45 Keys + Freebass | Reverb UK

Excelsior Mod. 980Worldwide deliveryIn very good condition for demanding classical players. The Hohner Morino VI in a jacket of Excelsior during the time when the Morino was build by Excelsior. Although it's not a lightweight, it's a heavyweigt in producing sound.All our used accordions have had ...

reverb.com

Here, the article suggests year 1983 as the first one for 980 manufacturing: Pre or post Pigini?

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note.com

I remember reading debra's comments that when compared side by side, the Morino and the 9** Excelsior felt like two completely different instruments, despite being, supposedly, clones of each other, but even if made by Pigini, they would have been close to the top of the line model of a premium range made by one of the world leading manufacturers? Could they objectively have been worse than a pre-war Hohner with a wooden keyboard?..

Is there any information on what voices were used originally, under Pigini, and in Morino models?

Thank you for any input.

 

[debra]

Hi All,

I am trying to understand a bit more about the history of the Exscelsior brand and its transformations over the years.
Perhaps, someone can share a link to an article about the history of the company? Or just help with your knowledgeable comments?

...

I remember reading debra's comments that when compared side by side, the Morino and the 9** Excelsior felt like two completely different instruments, despite being, supposedly, clones of each other, but even if made by Pigini, they would have been close to the top of the line model of a premium range made by one of the world leading manufacturers? Could they objectively have been worse than a pre-war Hohner with a wooden keyboard?..

Is there any information on what voices were used originally, under Pigini, and in Morino models?

Thank you for any input.

Excelsior made both the Morino N and S series. N was until around 1980 and S was since 1980. What I read is that the S series has better mechanics (maybe thanks for more Pigini input). What I know not just from sources but from my own experience is that the N series had Bugari tipo-a mano reeds and the S series had Cagnoni tipo a mano reeds. When I tried the Morino and Excelsior equivalent (in 1999 I believe) I think the Excelsior may have had a mano reeds. I don't know which parts of the construction were different. The accordions looked and felt virtually identical. When Pigini completely took over from Excelsior they started the Morino series with black register switches (the N and S all had the well-known oval white switches). These Pigini Morinos have a very different sound from the ones before.
What I understood is that because of Hohner needing to make money on what Excelsior produced you could essentially get a Morino with better reeds and an Excelsior badge for the same price as a Hohner Morino. The top-end Excelsior accordions could also come with a sordino, which the Morino never had.
Another thing I read was that Hohner may have also done something with the registers (post-processing what Excelsior produced). I never saw an Excelsior with the register sliders under the keyboard, as in the 45-key 185 bass Morino series and the Artiste X. These sliders not only change the reed-bank-selection but also "push" the register switches themselves. I even saw a few Morino and Artiste accordions with chin switches and there too the chin switches "pushed" the register switches, so presumably they had the same internal mechanism as the ones with the register sliders under the keyboard. (I modified my own Artiste X S from sliders under the keyboard to chin switches and my chin switches work just like the ones on the Hohners that came with chin switches, meaning not as easily as Italian chin switches that only operate the register sliders inside and not the regular switches as well.)

 

[tcabot]

Thank you.
So it looks like Excelsior was making N-series Morinos pre Pigini acquisition and then continued making S series after?

 

[Ventura]

Pigini did not have any involvement with them in the 1980's

after the original excelsior company, it became CEMEX
Compagnia Electtro Mechanica EXcelsior
operations continued as before in the original Italy factory
down the hill from Castlefidardo's old town area

Beniamino Bugiolacchi was the factory master during this period of time,
and continued all aspects of Excelsior as they had always been including
their relationship with Art Van Damme. All components of their professional
models were crafted from raw material on premises including the
design and manufacture of electronics and MIDI circuitboards

when Pigini bought out CEMEX the factory was closed, Some
of the equipment and supplies were moved to the Pigini factory
and the line was continued. The young fella that had headed up
the electronics department at Cemex, was retained and promoted to VP
in charge of Excelsior under the Pigini umbrella (can't remember his name)

i personally believe the CEMEX era models were every bit as good in
quality and craftsmanship as the original Excelsiors, and that
Beniamino Bugiolacchi was faithful to the legacy of Pancotti and
Excelsior in every way. His stewardship of the Excelsior brand
was every bit as dedicated as was Marcosigniore's stewardship
over the Scandalli/Farfisa brand, and significantly advanced the
technology of accordion craftsmanship into the late 20'th century
after almost every other major factory had collapsed

 

[tcabot]

Thank you very much.
I find this accordion history quite interesting.

When did Pigini come into play then? As late as 2000?
And what led to the change from original Excelsior to CEMEX? Going by the name, CEMEX was a new company and not an existing player on the market?

 

[Scuromondo]

1) Pigini have acquired the company at some point in 1980s and moved the assembly into Europe from the US (?), but kept operating it as a separate subsidiary (?) integrated into Pigini raw materials chain

Excelsior production moved from the US in 1948, decades before Pigini acquired the company.

 

[debra]

Thank you.
So it looks like Excelsior was making N-series Morinos pre Pigini acquisition and then continued making S series after?

Excelsior was indeed making both the N-series and the S-series, PA and CBA (with the CBA accordions being named Artiste). I don't know whether Pigini was involved in anything Excelsior did until they took over completely around the year 2000. Supposedly Hohner did some work on these Morinos between getting them from Excelsior and shipping them to dealers and customers but I don't know exactly what it was they did.

 

[JerryPH]

I may have some bragging rights in that I well might have the only Trossingen built Morino in existence (even if parts came from Excelsior!)...

In 1973 when my parents went to pick up my Gola and it wasn't built because of someone's screw-up, Hohner had 3 days (more like 2-1/2 days or even less) to get one together for my parents. After the error found, the solution was to offer them the Morino VI N. They were told (and shown!) the parts and that It had to be assembled and tested there and to return back to the plant in 3 days. It would have taken longer than 3 days to have the parts shipped and then assembled if Excelsior had done the work (10-12 hour drive each way from Trossingen to Castelfidardo alone).

When they got there, the techs were still working on it, in the final acts of installing 2 microphones one each in to the bass and treble sides.

 

[debra]

I may have some bragging rights in that I well might have the only Trossingen built Morino in existence (even if parts came from Excelsior!)...

In 1973 when my parents went to pick up my Gola and it wasn't built because of someone's screw-up, Hohner had 3 days (more like 2-1/2 days or even less) to get one together for my parents. After the error found, the solution was to offer them the Morino VI N. They were told (and shown!) the parts and that It had to be assembled and tested there and to return back to the plant in 3 days. It would have taken longer than 3 days to have the parts shipped and then assembled if Excelsior had done the work (10-12 hour drive each way from Trossingen to Castelfidardo alone).

When they got there, the techs were still working on it, in the final acts of installing 2 microphones one each in to the bass and treble sides.

I can easily believe that Excelsior shipped parts (subassemblies) all the time and had Hohner do some level of assembly in Trossingen. In order to assemble a Morino VI N in three days they must have large subassemblies, like treble and bass case with keyboard and bass mechanics already in place, sets of reed blocks, grills. Not sure what they did, but from much smaller parts you simply cannot assemble an accordion, check mechanical functionality and perform final tuning in just three days. There is simply a lot of labour involved in making an accordion.
I for instance would need more than three days just to do the tuning to a level of perfection that I find acceptable. (It's not more than three days of work but it takes more than three days real-time for repeated rounds of tuning, especially for the high notes as they tend to "resist" tuning efforts.)

 

[JerryPH]

Not sure what they did, but from much smaller parts you simply cannot assemble an accordion, check mechanical functionality and perform final tuning in just three days. There is simply a lot of labour involved in making an accordion.

Oh I know, but they were indeed shown "parts", which I assume would be the main sub-assemblies.

I've had past chats with my mother about it several times, since she was there with my father (too bad he has passed, he would have been able to give even more info), but I tend to believe what they were told, because there was talk about shipping, but that was in the search for a Gola, they had all they needed on site likely on the bench already in house, so likely most was already done.

I know tuning alone (done right) can be a process and more than a week, just that alone. I'm pretty sure they had what they needed on site as they said and showed my parents. It was very likely not BUILT in Trossingen, but it was definitely assembled there. Final things to do are to test and check the tune... and it was in excellent tune, per my teachers before and during the years I spent at the conservatory.

 

[tcabot]

It's nice when your family supports your accordion playing.
I am still trying to figure out how to smuggle a new accordion past the Mrs without her noticing.

 

[JerryPH]

It's nice when your family supports your accordion playing.
I am still trying to figure out how to smuggle a new accordion past the Mrs without her noticing.

It helps when they have a passion too, then one can get away with almost anything... LOL.
Kidding aside, it is incredible. Have you ever sat down and discussed how important the accordion and music is for you with your Mrs? (hint-hint)

 

[tcabot]

Oh, the Mrs is the most patient and tolerant person in the world as she hasn't left me yet.

One thing to add to Excelsior-Pigini story, it looks like Pigini have adopted the Excelsior melody-bass left hand side.
I.e. The insides of the LHS of an old Excelsior MIII box (reedblocks & arrangement) seem to be pretty much the same as photos of more recent converter Piginis. The bass machine mechanisms are, obviously, different.

Just something I've noticed while drooling over ebay listings.

 

[debra]

...
One thing to add to Excelsior-Pigini story, it looks like Pigini have adopted the Excelsior melody-bass left hand side.
I.e. The insides of the LHS of an old Excelsior MIII box (reedblocks & arrangement) seem to be pretty much the same as photos of more recent converter Piginis. The bass machine mechanisms are, obviously, different.
...

Pigini mechanics are different from virtually all the others. Convertor bass mechanics tend to come from one or just a few manufacturers who produce them for many different brands. Pigini has their own mechanics, not all the same, and some work very well and some are not so good. The mechanics for MIII are incomparable to a convertor.
Regarding the reed block arrangements there are many different ones, from all manufacturers. I have seen very different reed block arrangements from Excelsior, different ones from Pigini, Bugari, Victoria... and that's not just because of the differences in bass keyboard layout (C system, B system, Russian B system, Quint convertor... New accordions with convertor come in two variations: with "side-loaded" extra reeds on the largest block (design copied from Russian bayans) or extra reeds taken from higher octaves, using octave couplers. But generally there is a large block with the lowest 13 to 15 notes and then two long blocks containing alternating notes, going up..
In older accordions you sometimes see register switches for the convertor instead of one long convertor switch. You may then find reed blocks with double holes for single notes, so that register sliders can enable or disable the reeds. Similarly such double holes and register sliders are used in accordions with a quint convertor.

 

[tcabot]

I didn't save the pic (I should have!) but the bass reed block arrangement was on a stepped soundboard, so that the longest reed blocks were sitting in a "trench", a lot lower than the higher pitched blocks. Quite an unusual arrangement.

In fact, this might be it on ebay right now:
The lowest reed block is about an inch lower than the others & the lowest row of reeds have extra-long reed chambers.

 

[debra]

The block for the lowest octave being "in a trench" is actually not uncommon. I have seen it on a number of accordions (including Hohner Morino with MIII, built by Excelsior).

 

[JerryPH]

Even if the manufacturing was moved over after Pigini acquisition, it appears that they were top of the line, as Excelsior's flagship 980 model seems to be a twin brother of the Morino, according to, for example, this old ad, describing it as "Morino is Excelsior jacket"

Not that I can say much about the similarities, but the Free Bass look-a-like to a Morino is a bit further away than a real VI N... its a 4/5 where as the Morino VI N was a 5/5. I do love the chin switches, though!

the FB side of my accordion also looks way different:

 

[Ikesaccordions]

Maybe don't get me started about Pigini Excelsior shaped object.