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Author Topic: Beautiful old Italian box  (Read 4407 times)

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AirTime

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Beautiful old Italian box
« on: June 08, 2012, 03:56:50 PM »

I recently came across this interesting-looking old Italian box listed on Ebay. When I discovered it was located not far from where I live, I decided to pop over & take a look. It was in very nice shape for its age & beautifully decorated with inlaid wood. When I discovered that it had obviously been fairly recently re-waxed, re-valved & re-taped & was in tune ... I couldn't think of any good reason not to buy it!

It has 34 treble buttons GCB, with a 48 button stradella bass. It also has a gleichton in the C row, which I find very confusing. It actually has quite a soft mellow sound.
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1920's BbEb Hohner; 1920's  AD Koch; 1910 (?) One-row Hohner in D,  1910's GCB Maga Ercole; ; AD 1950's Pistelli, CF Sandpiper, CF Preciosa, BbEb Preciosa.

Adam-T

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Re: Beautiful old Italian box
« Reply #1 on: June 08, 2012, 04:05:08 PM »

Looks lovely - having a gleichton on all the rows and stradella bass means it can be easily played like a Steirische for Alpine folk music hence the tuning ? - GCB ? hmmm - maybe it was the predecessor of GCF ? , the fourth row of a Steirische is B in a GCF(B) .
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Owen Woods

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Re: Beautiful old Italian box
« Reply #2 on: June 08, 2012, 04:20:08 PM »

GCB is one of (imo) the nicest systeme mixte types out there. It makes a lot of sense and is one that I am thinking about in my "I have all the money in the world" fantasies.
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Owen Woods

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Re: Beautiful old Italian box
« Reply #3 on: June 08, 2012, 04:22:19 PM »

Although a gleichton on the C row is a tad pointless, given that you have a pull E on the B row.
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pgroff

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Re: Beautiful old Italian box
« Reply #4 on: June 08, 2012, 04:45:09 PM »

Looks lovely - having a gleichton on all the rows and stradella bass means it can be easily played like a Steirische for Alpine folk music hence the tuning ? - GCB ? hmmm - maybe it was the predecessor of GCF ? , the fourth row of a Steirische is B in a GCF(B) .

AirTime,

Congratulations, I thought that looked like an excellent buy and might be G/C/B.  All a matter of personal taste, but I agree with ukebert about the lack of need for gleichtone if playing this box in the usual ways I would tend to play a G/C/B. Did you mean that there is a button on the C row that plays G in both directions?  I don't think I've ever had a Maga Ercole in hand, but the Paolos and Dallapes in G/C/B that I have seen did not have the gleichtone -- can you tell from looking at the reeds for that button whether they have been retuned or swapped in?

Adam-T wrote:

the fourth row of a Steirische is B in a GCF(B) "

Adam-T, in a GCFB the "B" would usually be german notation for our Bb in the english language.  The "B" of an Italian G/C/B is truly our "B" or "Si" (so it could be written Sol/Do/Si).

Paul Groff

« Last Edit: June 08, 2012, 06:19:07 PM by pgroff »
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AirTime

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Re: Beautiful old Italian box
« Reply #5 on: June 08, 2012, 05:11:22 PM »

I'll have a look & see if I can tell about the reeds being swapped. However, given the age of the box it could have happened a very long time ago. I noticed this PS at Liberty Bellows with the same layout but, as far as I can tell, no Gleichton.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1jVjZKa9IZA#!

The Maga Ercole had been bought at auction by a general Ebay re-seller. I'm guessing it must have come from the estate of an old accordion player & must have been played fairly recently given the condition of the  internals.

Seeing a box like this puts the Hohner line in perspective - they are clearly designed as cheap, "players instruments" - mass-produced with cheap materials, whereas the Maga Ercole is a self-consciously elaborate piece of craftsmanship.
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1920's BbEb Hohner; 1920's  AD Koch; 1910 (?) One-row Hohner in D,  1910's GCB Maga Ercole; ; AD 1950's Pistelli, CF Sandpiper, CF Preciosa, BbEb Preciosa.

pgroff

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Re: Beautiful old Italian box
« Reply #6 on: June 08, 2012, 05:26:49 PM »

AirTime,

Yes, these were beautifully made, and can be very playable with an amazing sound.  Of course some later factory-made boxes do handle much better in some respects. 

We discussed the G/C/B system recently in these threads:

http://forum.melodeon.net/index.php/topic,9355.msg116512.html#msg116512

http://forum.melodeon.net/index.php/topic,9353.0.html

And I mentioned there this book that illustrates a couple of Maga Ercole boxes, each unique and beautiful:

http://neonisi.com/it/WR/items/119108-fisarmoniche-le-fisarmoniche


Paul Groff
« Last Edit: June 08, 2012, 06:19:30 PM by pgroff »
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AirTime

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Re: Beautiful old Italian box
« Reply #7 on: June 08, 2012, 05:43:25 PM »

PG - do you, by any chance know who this is/was?

Felice Porcella
Strumenti Musicali
457 Hanover St,
Boston

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1920's BbEb Hohner; 1920's  AD Koch; 1910 (?) One-row Hohner in D,  1910's GCB Maga Ercole; ; AD 1950's Pistelli, CF Sandpiper, CF Preciosa, BbEb Preciosa.

pgroff

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Re: Beautiful old Italian box
« Reply #8 on: June 08, 2012, 05:49:20 PM »

PG - do you, by any chance know who this is/was?

Felice Porcella
Strumenti Musicali
457 Hanover St,
Boston

AirTime:


F. PORCELLA 7

Felice Porcella was born at Genoa, Italy. He saved up his
money as a boy and bought his first accordion, for three lire
(60 cents). He taught himself on this instrument which had just
8 buttons for one scale. After his family moved to Montoggio he
became sexton and bell ringer of the church there for some years.
In 1879 he came to Boston and the next year established at
20 Ferry St. his own business of making, tuning and repairing ac-
cordions. As there were practically no players of accordions in
Boston at that time he played himself and gave lessons for two
years free of charge to help create an interest in that kind of music.
Later he also imported accordions. His later business locations
were 473 Hanover St. from 1899 to about 1905, 469 Hanover St.
to about 1915, 461 Hanover St. for several years, 457 Hanover St.
from about 1920-25, and 441 Hanover St. 1930-32. Beginning with
1933 the Porcella Accordion Shoppe has been located at 193 Han-
over St.

Felice Porcella's sons, Louis F. J. and Peter, have assisted him
in the business. Peter Porcella died soon after the World War
and the founder of the business October 27, 1935. Louis F. J.
Porcella and his son, Frederick, now carry on the business which
consists mostly of tuning and repairing accordions. Instruments
have been sent to this firm for repair from as far away as Cali-
fornia. Billy Williams, the "memory marvel girl," Frank Aviani,

7 All this information supplied by Louis F. J. Porcella.



I pulled the above from the online digitized text of this book, which I have previously consulted in the music library at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, and also seems to be in the Wellesley College library:


Contributions to the Art of Music in America by the Music Industries of Boston 1640 to 1936

By CHRISTINE MERRICK AYARS

Master of Education in Music, Master of Science in
Economic Research

NEW YORK
THE H. W. WILSON COMPANY   19 3 7


Of course, Hanover St. is in Boston's "North End," a historically Italian and Italian-American neighborhood. When I was living there, the long-established accordion shop Tosi Music, also on Hanover St., was in its final years, and I took some interesting stock, parts, and projects off their hands.  I have to go back and check up what relationship if any there was between Porchella and Tosi Music.

Paul Groff


« Last Edit: June 08, 2012, 06:19:58 PM by pgroff »
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Telemorris

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Re: Beautiful old Italian box
« Reply #9 on: June 08, 2012, 06:04:02 PM »

Seeing a box like this puts the Hohner line in perspective - they are clearly designed as cheap, "players instruments" - mass-produced with cheap materials, whereas the Maga Ercole is a self-consciously elaborate piece of craftsmanship.

AirTime,

That's a beautiful box. Please post links to audio files so we can hear what it sounds like. I'm also very interested in seeing more photos of this instrument including the mechanisms both treble and bass. One thing that helps with understanding the construction of an instrument is photos of the instrument with a ruler placed on the instrument and the camera placed so it's square on to the particular side being photographed.

Great find!
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Ed Stevens
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Portland, Oregon, US
Erica D/G, Presswood Pokerwork G/C, Preciosa C/F

AirTime

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Re: Beautiful old Italian box
« Reply #10 on: June 08, 2012, 06:06:16 PM »

Quote

Felice Porcella was born at Genoa, Italy. He saved up his
money as a boy and bought his first accordion, for three lire
(60 cents). He taught himself on this instrument which had just
8 buttons for one scale. After his family moved to Montoggio he
became sexton and bell ringer of the church there for some years.
In 1879 he came to Boston and the next year established at
20 Ferry St. his own business of making, tuning and repairing ac-
cordions. As there were practically no players of accordions in
Boston at that time he played himself and gave lessons for two
years free of charge to help create an interest in that kind of music.
Later he also imported accordions. His later business locations
were 473 Hanover St. from 1899 to about 1905, 469 Hanover St.
to about 1915, 461 Hanover St. for several years, 457 Hanover St.
from about 1920-25, and 441 Hanover St. 1930-32. Beginning with
1933 the Porcella Accordion Shoppe has been located at 193 Han-
over St.

Felice Porcella's sons, Louis F. J. and Peter, have assisted him
in the business. Peter Porcella died soon after the World War
and the founder of the business October 27, 1935. Louis F. J.
Porcella and his son, Frederick, now carry on the business which
consists mostly of tuning and repairing accordions. Instruments
have been sent to this firm for repair from as far away as Cali-
fornia. Billy Williams, the "memory marvel girl," Frank Aviani,

7 All this information supplied by Louis F. J. Porcella.



I pulled the above from the online digitized text of this book, which I have previously consulted in the music library at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, and also seems to be in the Wellesley College library:


Contributions to the Art of Music in America by the Music Industries of Boston 1640 to 1936

By CHRISTINE MERRICK AYARS

Master of Education in Music, Master of Science in
Economic Research

NEW YORK
THE H. W. WILSON COMPANY   19 3 7


Of course, Hanover St. is in Boston's "North End," a historically Italian and Italian-American neighborhood. When I was living there, the long-established accordion shop Tosi Music, also on Hanover St., was in its final years, and I took some interesting stock, parts, and projects off their hands.  I have to go back and check up what relationship if any there was between Porchella and Tosi Music.

PG

No, I mean any detailed information? The name of his maternal Grandmother's cat for instance?  ;)

Thanks for this - impressive!  So it would seem that the stamp is from quite some time ago - the 1920's - probably the first "riparazione" the box saw, or maybe this is when the box was first sold?

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1920's BbEb Hohner; 1920's  AD Koch; 1910 (?) One-row Hohner in D,  1910's GCB Maga Ercole; ; AD 1950's Pistelli, CF Sandpiper, CF Preciosa, BbEb Preciosa.

Adam-T

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Re: Beautiful old Italian box
« Reply #11 on: June 08, 2012, 07:53:30 PM »

Quote
Adam-T, in a GCFB the "B" would usually be german notation for our Bb in the english language.  The "B" of an Italian G/C/B is truly our "B" or "Si" (so it could be written Sol/Do/Si).

Paul Groff

Gotcha , I`ve not yet got my hands on a Steirische so didn`t know about the Bb - makes sense though given their disposition towards Brass accompaniment (they do Eb Bb based ones too)

Paul, your knowledge of old boxes is Mindblowing.. Thanks for sharing your endless resources !!
« Last Edit: June 08, 2012, 07:56:38 PM by Adam-T »
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pgroff

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Re: Beautiful old Italian box
« Reply #12 on: June 08, 2012, 08:05:54 PM »


Paul, [. . .]. Thanks for sharing your endless resources !!


Google is a wonderful thing  ;)

I actually have in mind a photo to add to this thread at a later date that would really seem like magic if only I had it ready now.

Anyway, isn't it great that the proprietors of this site let us have these conversations, I learn a lot here.

Thank you Theo and friends,

PG
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AirTime

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Re: Beautiful old Italian box
« Reply #13 on: June 08, 2012, 10:06:06 PM »

Yes ... thank you Paul! Amazing that you had that information (about what I thought would be a totally obscure reference) at your fingertips!

I'll try & get something posted showing the sound of this lovely old box. Might take me a while to get myself sorted though ... & don't expect anything on the B row - that's a complete mystery to me at this point!   ???

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1920's BbEb Hohner; 1920's  AD Koch; 1910 (?) One-row Hohner in D,  1910's GCB Maga Ercole; ; AD 1950's Pistelli, CF Sandpiper, CF Preciosa, BbEb Preciosa.
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