who make the Marrazza Accordion???

[Zvon]

Very attractive!
Possibly, late 1940s?
Could that case be Bakelite?

Thank you!
I don't think it's Bakelite.

 

[Mtlmemories]

Hello All. What an interesting forum. I bought my Marrazza accordion in 1977. I think (I can’t be sure what I actually remember or only think I remember.) I remember the store street sign when I purchased it. Does anyone remember the layout of the store? Was it upstairs? In any case, I bought a black 120 bass five register Marrazza. I still have it and took it in for the servicing for the first (and only!) time in 47 years a couple weeks ago. Other than a little bit of rust inside (I shamefully stored it in a very wet basement one year) it was able to be cleaned up inside, and I changed a few timeworn straps and it still sounds (at least to me) like the day I bought it. I think it’s a wonderful instrument and has stood the test of time.

 

[Riccardo]

Try some of the other contributions over the past several months. A few had close connections with Pat Marrazza and family. I met him in Hamilton many years ago (yep-- 1940's and still around), when purchasing my first Excelsior Symphony Grand along with my teacher Al Viola. Jack Wright took over the Excelsior franchise shortly after and operated from a warehouse either on or near Atwater just south of the old Montreal Forum.. Just wish to add that Pat purchased his accordions from several different companies in Castelfidardo and had his name placed on them--- as many many others did and still do over the past 100 years or so... almost impossible to determine who actually built any of the accordions... there were over 400 over the last couple of centuries!! Some very small and some enormous as we know. Good luck.. Enjoy the instrument with lots of history..

 

[Zvon]

Does anyone remember the layout of the store? Was it upstairs?

The store was on the ground floor and the school was on the second floor. Entrance was on the right of the store.

 

[Mtlmemories]

Right. Thanks!

 

[idonthavebroadband]

Pat Marrazza was my great grandfather. His parents were itinerant musicians, and his mother played accordion back in England, but I don't think Pat had any formal training in their manufacture. He and his uncle started dealing in them in Montreal in the 1920s; I think his uncle may have taught him the necessary skills for repairing and manufacturing them (or re-badging, if that is what they did).