Castagnari Tommy
I bought my D/G Tommy from Hobgoblin in 1992. It was the first Castagnari melodeon I ever owned. Over the years it gave me stirling service, having been used in sessions and gigs, but has been used particularly for playing outdoors for dance teams. I had it re-tuned once by Paul Flannery at the Music Room.
The open, stepped, keyboard is slightly smaller than a standard melodeon - the buttons are just fractionally closer together, but this doesn't give rise to any problems switching to and from standard sized instruments. There is one stop on the treble end to bring in the lower-octave third voice.
Plus points:
1. Good strong sound on the treble, both with the 2 voice and with the lower third voice added. Great for playing outdoors.
2. Very responsive, quick to speak. Punchy sound when required, but easy to play quietly too.
3. Very even response and sound from the lowest notes to the highest.
4. A nice lightweight box, easily portable.
5. Great workmanship and attention to detail, as you would expect from Castagnari. Mechanically, it is excellent. The action is quiet and I never had any trouble with it. Although I have since sold my Tommy on to another player, I still see it occasionally and it is still going strong after 15 years. Both myself and its subsequent owner take great care of their instruments and this one looks pretty much like new, despite its age and amount of use.
Negative points: (not many at all!)
1. To keep the weight and size down, the LH basses have only 2 reeds instead of the more usual 3 (see below**), hence sound is not as rich as could be obtained on a larger box. However, it is perfectly adequate for most purposes.
2. There is no stop to remove the 3rds from the chords. (This is a failing on many Castagnaris except the very expensive instruments. Saltarelle seem to be able to do it, so why not Castagnari?)
3. On the early Tommys there was no adjustment facility on the left hand wrist strap, but modern instruments have a velcro adjuster.
Overall, I would recommend a Tommy to anyone as a good general purpose instrument. Someone with very large hands just might have some trouble with the slightly smaller keyboard, but I doubt it.
Originally posted on the old Melodeon.net website in 2003.
Updated here by Steve_freereeder 18th November 2007.
and again 2nd August 2010
Anybody want to add anything.....?
** The basses on the Tommy are now three reeds per button, not two.