Hi, I am writing this to collect as much info as possible on Italian-made musical instruments. electric guitars, amps, electronic organs and whatever.

I want to see if the topic is worth a research. I mean, economic research.
I have been studying the topic of industrial districts for more than one dissertation, and I see most Italian-made musical instruments came and come from the Industrial district of Recanati, in the Marche. That's my field of interest.
(It's there that there was also the largest guitar factory in Europe, run by Eko, to name one. Now things have changed, they have reopened in China... Still send world-class luthiers there to teach the job of course.)

But I am not here to hype anything. Please hype and bash anything at your convenience.


So... Here someone once posted a link to a site containing a catalog of weird-looking vintage electric guitars, many of them Italian-made. Then someone else's written something about Italian-made electronic organs and amps... Maybe this is the right place to ask.

What was the general opinion on them in the '60s '70s?
What is the general opinion on those vintage instruments nowadays?

The brands are too many to list, but maybe because I just know too many of them.
Please share about brands and/or products you feel they were or still are worth a mention and why (quality, popularity, whatever).


Any modern production Italian-made stuff that is really distributed worldwide that comes to your mind?
I can think about Schertler amps, Brunetti amps, reissue Jensen speakers, thunderguts strings and few others.

Please share.


Thanks a lot!

Interesting subject check out this site Combo Organ Heaven. 60's and 70's was before my time unfortunately but you can hear combo organs all over modern bands like the black angels, black keys etc. looking forward to this thread hopefully turning into a useful resource.

As the Höfner Bass came from the violin industry, those Italian pearloid guitars seem to be derived from the accordeon building. They looked like 'solutions', heavy inspired by American guitars. A lot of switches instead of knobs.

Great point man. The industrial district of Recanati "started" from accordions.

My first band back in the '60s had a Farfisa Combo Compact purchased, IIRC, on the recommendation of Barry Curtis, the organist of The Kingsmen (of "Louie, Louie" fame), who said it was more versatile than the Vox. (He, himself played a chopped Hammond B-3 in a Sunn case.)

In the seminal New York psychedelic band The Blues Project, Al Kooper, later to become a legendary producer and founder of Blood, Sweat, and Tears, played a Farfisa Duo compact.

If I'm not mistaken, The Blues Magoos, Geoff Daking's band, also used the Farfisa.

Lots of bands in the '60s and early '70s used them.

There were a bunch of Farfisa keyboards stacked in a pile in my father's shop.

They often inspired my father to speak in terms of compound expletives.

Well, the original Farfisa organs used germanium transistors - a LOT of them - and when they'd start getting old they'd drift and go off pitch. In some cases they'd start off pitch and drift on as they warmed up, in other cases vice-versa. There were also a very large number of electrolytic capacitors and we all know what happens when those get old...

Thanks for the feedbacks. So I guess Farfisa was the most well-known Italian brand.

What about them weird guitars?

Eko guitars were amazing. But allso there were many great and not so great ones among them. Italia allso was the far east of it's time. So they allso did jobs they were not proud of but paid the bills. But once it said EKO it usually was SOMETHING to be proud of. Lots of funky plastics were used. Wich is now so old and brittle it can't be handled on stage....

I'm not sure about the other brands you mentioned, but the importance of Farfisa keyboards in the international market hasn't been studied as much as it should have been. While Hammond and Wurlitzer of course were especially well known in the US, to Africa and the Middle East far more Farfisas were exported. It's central to Fela Kuti's afrobeat sound (Nigeria), to Bar?? Manço's Anadolu rock sound (Turkey), and I believe was used quite a bit for abd al-Halim Hafiz's later albums and film soundtracks (Egyptian pop). I've definitely heard some Javanese pop music with Farfisas too (might have been kroncong, I can't remember now as it was a while ago).

There's also the Crumar and Siel synthesizers. I'm not sure how many really were made or where they were exported, but they were an interesting alternative in the late 1970s-early 1980s to the Korgs, Arps, and Moogs. The Crumar DS-2, if it's working, has quite a nice sound, but that's a big "if"!

Interesting research, let us know what else you find!

These days, I think you'd be better off with a more modern synth or VST sound library that can deliver Farfisa, Moog, B-3, Arp, all kinds of sounds without the difficult and expensive to maintain Farfisa hardware.

Indeed it is. I have a friend whom they refused to repair his sooo beautiful '78 Davoli liturgical organ because they "don't repair them anymore since a year or so, cause the board will give another problem in the span of six months"

There were many german italian collaborations too. Hohner, Framus and many other german manufacturers were using italian factories.

In general, European wood working skills have always been stunning.

From musical instruments, to cabinetry, fine trim and sculpture skills.

Electronics was a total crap shoot on quality, style, materials.

Still, in fine musical instruments how can you argue with the true masters
of the finest musical instruments in the world.

The problem is today, that level of artistry and craftsmanship would put the cost out of reach for the average poor working musician.

$11,000.00 for a fine, hand carved professional jazz guitar is still nothing compared to the cost of a fine violin, cello, etc. and some woodwinds.

For synthetic keyboard sounds, horns, strings, to techno crunch & FX, a modern keyboard controller through the better virtual instruments either D/I or mic'd through an amp can deliver amazing results.

Be very glad you aren't hauling a 400 pound Hammond B-3

.

Vox and Thomas were linked up with the Eko group. I can't tell exactly to which extent. The Eko site speaks of some kind of joint venture. Some Vox continental organs (super continental or whatever?) were made in Italy if I remember well.
Yes.

European woods. Maples and spruces.


This does not surprise me at all. And partly, I just wanted to hear this. Because electronics were not part of the heritage of the district.
Accordions, pipe organs, mandolins, etc didn't need electronics for centuries.

Somehow, they have learnt to produce also good amps and speakers in that very district. The "reissue" Jensen speaker factory and the swiss-owned Schertler factory are a stone throw from each other.
The Jensen factory, the Schertler, Farfisa, Eko, Davoli and others are all in the range of 20kms maybe.

Two producers outside that industrial district of Recanati-Castelfidardo are Brunetti and Montarbo. They produce good stuff. I dig the 35W Brunetti Singleman and the Montarbo vintage leslies.

How come they still find the electronics they need and still can make stuff in Italy? because they are based in Modena and Bologna. Thanks to the industrial district there, even if it is NOT a music industrial district like Recanati, it is very easy for them to find the suppliers for the electronic components they need: they are a stone throw from the Ferrari, Piaggio (Vespa) and Ducati plants.

Thanks for this feedback

I am sure a lot of crap has been produced in Italy as well.

but I don't think Italy has ever been anyone's "far east"

tens of foreign firms - American, Japanese, etc - have been investing in Italy in the past and in the present, but not always for getting "cheap labour". On the contrary, they invested in many districts for getting skilled labour you don't find anywhere else. They invested in those districts for getting the superior know-how.

Centuries of local know-how cannot simply be moved or copied... Finding tens of people knowing how to manufacture an organ keyboard or a pair of comfortable boots in the same hamlet is not a joke. And these people have been learning from each other for generations.

[Edit: that is why I think what I think about, say, Asian-made archtops.
My whole point was that the average Asian worker starts to work on guitars or shoes by chance.
The foreign-employed Italian keyboard-maker has been doing keyboards for generations anyway.
There lies a huge difference.]

This is a replica of the first accordion we know of: handbuilt in Castelfidardo, on a design by Leonardo da Vinci himself. Leonardo's project was discovered in a Spanish library in the '70s

As you see, it's more of a "portable organ". The huge intuition was the vertical keyboard.

OK guys, I messed up the quotes and someone must have read things twice. Now I'm done editing, everything should be more readable. Apologies!

I remember when I first saw my German Hofner, the richness and depth of the lacquer finish reminded me a whole lot of my aunt's antique Grundig radio which was stunning in a burl walnut cabinet.

In spite of the Plastic knobs, plastic control plate, plastic logo, plastic pick guard, and undersized tuning posts, it was a work of art for $99.00

I have a Yamaha YC20 combo organ.

IIRC wood key Vox Continentals were made in the UK, plastic key Continentals in Italy, and some of the other, cheesier Voxes like the Panther were made by Thomas Organ in the USA. The USA ones were by far the least desirable, the UK ones the rarest and most sought after. All the Continentals had drawbar tone stops like a Hammond (but not as many of them) whereas the US made Panther had simple flip buttons (as did the Farfisas). The Thomas/Vox Panther didn't sound like a real Vox organ.

I don't know if Thomas had any direct involvement with the Italian factory or not, given the obvious design differences I suspect not except perhaps financial.

Generally speaking, any time Thomas got directly involved in the electronics side of Vox it was a disaster.

Great thread! I suppose you know the brilliant website Fetish guitars? Vintage and bizarre Guitars of the Sixties | FetishGuitars

Tons of info there. I think that more research is needed into Italian amps, as there are many weird and little known brands.

In general, Italian guitars remind me of German guitars of the same time. Both countries had a skilled workforce that had made mandolins, guitars and violins for a long time. They could make good cheap instruments quite easily (it's interesting to compare those guitars to Japanese ones from the 60s, which were far worse in luthierie terms, as Japan did not have that sort of tradition. Eventually Japanese makers caught up and made wonderful stuff, but if you compare an early Teisco guitar with an EKO or Framus, the differences are huge).

Thanks a lot! Main goal is to see how and if Italian instruments were and are known abroad...

My research is in the field of industrial districts. So it's about the "music" industrial district of Recanati-Castelfidardo. The bigger (and better) amp makers I can think of are based outside of that district for said reasons, so I will not look into that at the moment

See, nearly all the brands listed on fetishguitars were or are based in that very district. That's the phenomenon that interests me most.

and keyboards man!

I have to investigate this. I have the same impression, I would like to know who-copied-what-and-when. And who made-what. "Original" Italian ideas seem not to have got any major spread. No-one wants an half accordion manual on their pickguard. For obvious reasons.

Unlike other districts, it doesn't look like Recanati revolutionized anything in the market in which it worked, though performing quite well for a certain period.


Extremely useful, thanks!

Interesting too: who did endorsements in the golden period?
Italian artists?
Were those american inspired artists?
People call those instruments often weird. Is the weirdness integral part of design, as if Italians are 'playful' and 'easy' with form?
Was it a push or pull market?

Cool, happy to have helped.

Really interested in your research as I'm an economist by trade and find these industrial districts really interesting. Markneukirchen in Germany (East Germany for a while) is a very good example of a similar district to Recanati. So many makers are concentrated within a very small area.

Some years ago in London I met Mr Allodi, an accordion repairer, whose father was the representative of some Italian brands in the UK. He may have some information on the external perception of Italian instruments in the 50s and 60s.

The Allodi Accordions Website Home Page

GREEEEEAT!

Do you know any example of industrial district in Spain? the guitar makers there seem to be much more "spread" on the map, as for the US, they look more like "individually-driven" firms to me.

The new Musican amps will be made there.... By the DVMark plant... Italia I mean....

This will be a non argument very soon.... Even now. The current plants will use automatic body sculpting lines, PLEK machines, and many automatic systems. Even 3D printers for all sorts of customisation. Like knobs with YOUR NAME on them....

Poland, Russia, East Germany and many countries there still have vast forests wich will last them forever at the right pricepoint and with the correct management in place....

DVmark / Markbass is based in Chieti, that's far outside both the districts I have mentioned.

In fact, this firm could not afford the costs of a "traditional" supply chain outside any district and had to outsource in Indonesia. That's more or less what they stated.
Anyway, they claim each single unit is re-opened and re-tested by their quality control team in Italy.

My guess is that these amps will be built in the DVmark / Markbass in Indonesia and then reopened and retested in Italy...???

Unless the contracting firm is importing the components for them!