Melodeon.net Forums

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

Welcome to the new melodeon.net forum

Pages: [1] 2   Go Down

Author Topic: Castagnari website  (Read 7293 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

rees

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4734
  • Windjammer
    • Wesson Accordions
Castagnari website
« on: March 25, 2009, 11:04:25 PM »

Castagnari now have their new website up and running. There are some great photos.
Go to http://www.castagnari.it/
Logged
Rees Wesson (accordion builder and mechanic)
Gungrog, Welshpool, Wales, UK
www.melodeons.com

EeeJay

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 642
  • Old Grey Paolo
Re: Castagnari website
« Reply #1 on: March 26, 2009, 03:29:19 PM »

Yes - the full screen mode allows you to get up close and personal fairly effectively. A good shop window on their wares, now it's sorted... Odd to see the 60 bass Magica chromatic model seems to have been dropped, yet the 96 bass monster trucks remain. Oh well, if people want such a big box that's their call I guess...

I also notice they have abandoned the treble stop on the Hascy/Alain/Fazzy, in favour of a dual flip-flop mechanism mounted on the front grille. Just thought it pertinent to take note that Tania Rutkowski has already been building accordions using this arrangement for a few years now...

Not such a bad place for stop mechanisms either - neither in the way (where it might be inadvertently caught), nor too out of the way...  Only slight criticism of Castagnari is it seems to look a bit of an afterthought - like as if the grille pattern was cut already, and then switches added.

Only a minor niggle... but the devil is in the detail. >:E

On that note... I still think they should ditch cutting the logo into a button... ::)

Ed J
Logged

melodeon

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1732
Re: Castagnari website
« Reply #2 on: March 26, 2009, 05:24:56 PM »

Mighty Slick... must have hired a publicist.

Seems to me that the trend for Castagnari seems to be the way of the yuppie;
more image than substance......and this has been a slow trend until recently

I see design "affectations" rather than design for function'.

Agreed
the button logo is .. shall I be polite... naw...
 hideous.. silly  , weird, self aggrandizing.  gilding the  Lilly, cheezy,over the top...

Anopther observation.. while I think it is "cute" and provincial to seee the logos being hand cut with a jewellers saw...
note that the particular logo is no longer used  and the new script badges, and  I think the grilles are laser cut
Considering I have been told Castagnari has gone to CNC  recently.. seems plausible
I don't find CNC a menace, but those logos simply are no longer hand cut

I see that the French Castagnari distributor has already ammended his web site... and shows the Hascy 18 models as having true hand made reeds... unlike the others with have "like hand made"  reeds

The future is here.

I still think that Castagnaris are fine boxes, but they are losing me with their gimmickery/slickness.
 I have done a bit of analysis and it is my opinion that they grossly increased their prices in the smoke and haze of the dollar/Euro pound occilations

They are inviting competition.. in the quality/price arena......

A Beltuna 3 row, top of the line, is $1000 US less than a Hascy

Stelvios top of the line 2 1/2 and 3 rows have hand made Bincis  for less than similar Castagnaris

Thanks Rees
« Last Edit: March 26, 2009, 08:25:38 PM by melodeon »
Logged

rees

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4734
  • Windjammer
    • Wesson Accordions
Re: Castagnari website
« Reply #3 on: March 26, 2009, 05:41:16 PM »

Anyone noticed the photo of Victor Meldrew glueing a bellows?

(sorry this will only make sense to UK members).  :D
Logged
Rees Wesson (accordion builder and mechanic)
Gungrog, Welshpool, Wales, UK
www.melodeons.com

Owen Woods

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3894
  • melodeonmusic.com
    • The website and blog of Owen Woods
Re: Castagnari website
« Reply #4 on: March 26, 2009, 07:26:09 PM »

I doubt I will EVER be able to afford a new costalotti, probably won't bother even getting a second hand one.
Logged
Bergflodt D/G 4 voice, Saltarelle Bouebe D/G, Super Preciosa D/Em, Hohner Impiliput B/C+C#

Latest blog post: In Any Weather

http://melodeonmusic.com/blog

Morrisbox

  • Good talker
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 85
Re: Castagnari website
« Reply #5 on: March 26, 2009, 09:37:15 PM »

Quote
Anyone noticed the photo of Victor Meldrew glueing a bellows?

I don't believe it!  Seriously good likeness though.  The revised site is certainly a major improvement on the previous offering

Trevor
Logged

upmine3

  • Regular debater
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 135
    • Facebook
Re: Castagnari website
« Reply #6 on: March 26, 2009, 09:57:52 PM »

Quote
Anyone noticed the photo of Victor Meldrew glueing a bellows?

Ha Ha yeah and what about that first picture is that guy wearing a paper hat or a paper boat on his head?
I see they've totally dropped the Kriss model now i'm sad to say first the heavy Kriss IV went due to weight issues now the Kriss III seems to be gone. There is only 3 models left in the Irish range now strangely.
All that new look and layout and i bet they still don't reply to an e-mail until a Thursday ha ha.
Logged
Castagnari Kriss III B/C -  Hohner Double Ray De-Lux B/C Pokerwork (presswood) Pokerwork (Brown)

Martin J

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 902
  • Poole, Dorset
Re: Castagnari website
« Reply #7 on: March 26, 2009, 10:26:43 PM »

All that new look and layout and i bet they still don't reply to an e-mail until a Thursday ha ha.
Now you're being really silly - you know that the lady who speaks English comes in every second Tuesday   ::)
Logged
Castagnari, Weltmeister, Giustozzi, Streb, too many Hohners.  No Strings Attached ceilidh band

ganderbox

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 734
  • Melodeons from Brittany, Italy, Germany* and Leeds
    • www.choughedtobits.co.uk
Re: Castagnari website
« Reply #8 on: March 27, 2009, 12:44:38 PM »

I notice they haven't given the weight or dimensions of the Mory or the various Handrys....is that to avoid frightening people?
Logged
Pauline from Cornwall

*  including a customised Hohner Club from Cornwall (and very nice it is too!).

BruceHenderson

  • Respected Sage
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 262
Re: Castagnari website
« Reply #9 on: March 27, 2009, 01:10:24 PM »

  I notice they haven't given the weight or dimensions of the Mory or the various Handrys....is that to avoid frightening people? 

   I looked at the weights of different boxes quite carefully but the more I looked the more baffled that I became.  I actually thought of tranferring weights, # of voices, etc. to a spreadsheet to try to get some sense.  I was intrigued by the MontMartre and similar boxes - 4-voice two-rows but the things weigh as much as a door step, some over 12 pounds.  But then I thought, "why bother" ... I don't have any intention of buying one.
Logged
I love one-rows!  Four reeds kick butt!!!!

melodyman

  • Good talker
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 81
  • Handry 12,Evo
Re: Castagnari website
« Reply #10 on: March 27, 2009, 03:09:27 PM »

Am I the only one here who likes Castagnari's ?
Logged
,Handry 12,Evo.

Martin J

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 902
  • Poole, Dorset
Re: Castagnari website
« Reply #11 on: March 27, 2009, 03:14:22 PM »

Am I the only one here who likes Castagnari's ?
No, I love them.  The company is just ....  ?  well, Italian   ???
Logged
Castagnari, Weltmeister, Giustozzi, Streb, too many Hohners.  No Strings Attached ceilidh band

melodeon

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1732
Re: Castagnari website
« Reply #12 on: March 27, 2009, 09:44:49 PM »

I have owned 6 Castagnaris

the older,  the better

the "new age" , I'm afraid , has had an influence on an otherwise provincial company
Logged

BruceHenderson

  • Respected Sage
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 262
Re: Castagnari website
« Reply #13 on: March 28, 2009, 04:53:07 AM »

  Am I the only one here who likes Castagnari's ? 

   I can't imagine liking an instrument more than I like my Hascy.  It's lived through a lot of hard work and has always come through.  After 17 years, I had it tuned and it took very little to bring it up to perfection.  The woodwork, mechanical parts, and especially the reeds have been perfect.  I love the octave stop (on the treble but I wish that I'd bought the optional "thirds stop" for the bass.  On top of it all, it rode through being rearended by a drunk in my car which crushed the trunk ("boot") of the car, broke the carrying case, dented the woodwork but there's no damage to any working part of the instrument. 

   My Benny I'm not so crazy about but that's because it's two-reeds and that's just not enoungh "ooomph" for me but there's nothing wrong with the instrument -- in fact, the mechanics and the reeds are just about perfect.

   The one-row hasn't impressed me but I've never tried one for long enough to form a complete, valid opinion.

   I've never seen anything but very high quality and good tuning.  It's just that I don't ever anticipate having enough $$$ to ever buy another one.
Logged
I love one-rows!  Four reeds kick butt!!!!

EeeJay

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 642
  • Old Grey Paolo
Re: Castagnari website
« Reply #14 on: March 28, 2009, 11:43:12 PM »

Am I the only one here who likes Castagnari's ?

Depends on the model - some folks like the little 'uns, some folks the "wardrobes" ;)... I tend to think the cream of the crop is their core range... everything around 4kg - Hascy (and variants), Rik, Evo, Dony, Illary, Borgo, Kriss, Cortina, etc... The Lillium would be about the best Castagnari one could wish for... might have kept mine if it wasn't G/C... ::)

Ed J
Logged

Robin Harrison

  • Good talker
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 94
Re: Castagnari website
« Reply #15 on: April 03, 2009, 04:30:33 PM »

I've always liked Castagnaris too but this web does seem like image over substance.
      If you are seriously looking for information about a particular box, the photos are great but there seems to be NO information...............you just have to guess.
          Looking at the Handrys, no differences are immediately apparent between the Handry 18 ~c and the handry 18 ~n . ..............or am I missing something from the web site where there is more info.
          There is a new Handry also , the Handry 44...........is the extra row accidentals or another key. No information.
          Finally, am I right in thinking that for one of the most expensive diatonic accordions out there, they don't have the most expensive reeds ? The reeds are the soul of the instrument so there should at least be the choice, I would have thought.
         Really, why buy an accordion that looks like a great accordion.
                  Robin
Logged

HallelujahAl

  • Guest
Re: Castagnari website
« Reply #16 on: April 03, 2009, 04:54:44 PM »

I love the 'final testing' shot when the lights go out on the two guys who are obviously having a whale of a time not working and posing for the camera. I'm afraid the hand-made and homely look of the factory just doesn't add up - especially when you consider how many of those things they're shifting each year.

However, I don't think I'll ever be able to own one - so knocking the pics does make me feel better!

AL ;D
Logged

rees

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4734
  • Windjammer
    • Wesson Accordions
Re: Castagnari website
« Reply #17 on: April 03, 2009, 06:52:52 PM »

You should visit the factory. It's exactly as shown in the photographs. No production lines, no conveyor belts, no industrial estate, just a rabbit warren of little buildings in the back garden of an old terraced house. It's more like a cottage industry than an accordion factory.
The two men in the "final testing" photo are Massimo and Sandro Castagnari who run the company.
There are only twelve people involved in the whole operation.
Believe me, these photos are for real.
Logged
Rees Wesson (accordion builder and mechanic)
Gungrog, Welshpool, Wales, UK
www.melodeons.com

Andy Simpson

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 938
Re: Castagnari website
« Reply #18 on: April 03, 2009, 07:53:16 PM »

Logged

HallelujahAl

  • Guest
Re: Castagnari website
« Reply #19 on: April 03, 2009, 07:54:21 PM »

Quote
You should visit the factory. It's exactly as shown in the photographs. No production lines, no conveyor belts, no industrial estate, just a rabbit warren of little buildings in the back garden of an old terraced house. It's more like a cottage industry than an accordion factory.
The two men in the "final testing" photo are Massimo and Sandro Castagnari who run the company.
There are only twelve people involved in the whole operation.
Believe me, these photos are for real.

Why don't we have a foot-in-mouth emote just for me? Fancy me not recognising Massimo & Sandro! Must have been the bad light.
AL :D
Logged
Pages: [1] 2   Go Up
 


Melodeon.net - (c) Theo Gibb; Clive Williams 2010. The access and use of this website and forum featuring these terms and conditions constitutes your acceptance of these terms and conditions.
SimplePortal 2.3.5 © 2008-2012, SimplePortal