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[WestOz]

Not many of these around!
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Hohner-Gaelic-IV-S-Button-Box-Accordion-37-treble-key-96-Bass-German-Made-/322600076210?hash=item4b1c7683b2:g:450AAOSwjqVZLMx9
No connection etc........

[rees]

This one too. An old Serenelli, possibly Casali related. Mr Groff?

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Serenelli-Accordion/172783200727?_trksid=p2047675.c100623.m-1&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D20161027085944%26meid%3D10609962aec44b43a87dfe2ab0c3d58d%26pid%3D100623%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D322600076210

[gettabettabox]

Old serenelli with attitude..."play me and with my button spacing you'll play nothing else!" 

[rees]

Yes, it was the button spacing that made me think of Casali. 

[pgroff]

At least a couple of times, this model of Serenelli has turned up in Australia in the keys of G/G#. Trying to remember whether I've seen these in other keys. Malcolm Clapp might know?

I actually don't know much about the Casali label, triskel would know more.

But yes, button spacing . . .

[rees]

But yes, button spacing . . .

I find them very difficult to play.

[Malcolm Clapp]

Casali treble keys are closer together than those of Serenelli, at least from the photos I have of some that have been through my workshop.

Apart from a couple of Serenelli 3 stop single row boxes in G#, all the Serenellis have been 12 bass models, one of them indeed being G/G#. All the others were originally C/C#, though all but one were repitched to more sought after keys (C#/D or D/G).

The two or three Casalis I've had have all been 8 bass.

I don't know if the two factories had any connection. I believe that Serenelli was in Castelfidardo, while Casali was in Verona, a fair distance away. However, there are certainly some similarities in their appearance.

[pgroff]

Thanks Malcolm - The Serenelli 2-rows like this that I've seen also were 12 bass, forgot to mention that.

So this one on ebay now is a little unusual in being an 8 bass (?)

I'm suspecting it's 2 voices, like the other 2 row Serenellis with similar grille and treble button spacing.

I like the way these sound, button spacing (together with button size) is an issue. Maybe if the keyboard were drilled out to accommodate larger buttons it would be less of a problem (less gap between adjacent buttons) even though the center-center distance as determined by the levers was unchanged.

BTW the levers on the ones I've seen are wooden bars under the buttons (and sometimes those warp . . .) attached to a mostly metal mechanism, not wooden levers in a wooden comb.

PG

[triskel]

At least a couple of times, this model of Serenelli has turned up in Australia in the keys of G/G#. ...

I actually don't know much about the Casali label, triskel would know more.

But yes, button spacing . . .

It may be more the case that you get to see the Serenellis, and I get to see the Casalis Paul...

And I wish I knew a whole lot more about either, or both, brands. 

Casali are an enigma. They aren't even listed in Beniamino Bugiolacchi's CHRONOLOGY OF PRODUCTION OF ITALIAN ACCORDIONS, whilst Verona wasn't exactly a hotbed of accordion making either - with only two firms (both opening in 1921) listed,  but neither was called Casali. Yet many instruments survive from the 1930s, '40s, and '50s - so were they actual makers, or another famous "accordion maker" (like Saltarelle today perhaps?) who didn't actually make accordions, or a merchant/importer's brand? 

Whilst that list says SERENELLI BORDICCHIA & C. (est. 1906), of Castelfidardo, closed down in 1963 - so maybe?

Yes, button spacing . . . In my experience of Casali button boxes, on the older ones (like mine) the buttons are a long stretch apart along the rows, and variable between them, whilst the spacing along the rows is more normal on later ones, though the rows are often too close.

Another thing I've noticed is that the 2-voice boxes are usually 21-key, and the 3-voice ones are 23-key.

[Malcolm Clapp]

The Serenelli 2-rows like this that I've seen also were 12 bass, forgot to mention that.

So this one on ebay now is a little unusual in being an 8 bass (?)

PG

Purely conjecture, but perhaps all the Serenelli and Casali 2 rows I've had were ordered through the same importer/distributor, who deliberately sourced the two different bass configurations from different makers. 

I'm sure I've seen Serenellis with 8 bass before (in photographs), and the one on eBay currently could have come to Australia by another means, e.g. a personal importation. accompanied migrant luggage, or even recently through eBay, from abroad, otherwise I'm sure I would have seen more of them here if they had been imported here in fair numbers.

(Lots of Serenelli piano accordions of similar vintage in Oz too....their unusually lightweight 34 treble key models with almost a full bass range (111 buttons?) is particularly good and sought after by the folk community...but I digress.)

[triskel]

Casali are an enigma. They aren't even listed in Beniamino Bugiolacchi's CHRONOLOGY OF PRODUCTION OF ITALIAN ACCORDIONS, whilst Verona wasn't exactly a hotbed of accordion making either - with only two firms (both opening in 1921) listed,  but neither was called Casali. Yet many instruments survive from the 1930s, '40s, and '50s - so were they actual makers, or another famous "accordion maker" (like Saltarelle today perhaps?) who didn't actually make accordions, or a merchant/importer's brand? 

For that matter, I came across a 1936/7 model Casali PA on eBay, a few months ago, with "Made in Germany" (in small letters) below the name...