Castiglione 415C Gold (Hohner Morino V) MIDI Amplified Accordion
Dear
Accordion
Friends,
When two of the most reputable accordion manufacturers join forces we can expect a great product. The instrument I am presenting to you here is a result of a collaboration between Hohner and Excelsior. It was custom made in Italy for John Castiglione. This was the top of the line 415C Gold model, enhanced with Sennheiser microphones and MusicTech King Major MIDI. You can think of it as a Hohner Morino V with some special upgrades only available on the Gola model and the elegance and harmonic richness of the best Excelsiors. I can tell you a lot about this fascinating accordion but the words would not do justice to its charm and power. Compared to the 50s and 60s Morino models this instrument has more elegant and slim body design, typical for Italian accordions and most likely influenced by Excelsior. At the same time we see some of the distinct ergonomic features of the Morino. The bass plate is specially designed to keep the bass buttons closer to the body of the player. This is a classic Morino feature now implemented by Beltuna and few others. Hohner engineers have been stubborn in refusing to change the position for the strap holders for decades. Now they have provided an optional hook for the shoulder straps so the player could select either the traditional location on the back of the instrument or one on the top side (as on all Italian accordions).
This accordion will offer you enormous variety of sounds with 5 sets of treble reeds and 5 sets of bass reeds, all hand-made. The reed configuration is LMMMH. You have LMH with concert tuning and 2 additional sets of clarinet reeds (M2 and M3) with musette tuning allowing for concert (dry) sounds like bassoon, clarinet, bandoneon, organ, harmonium as well as a rich selection of musette sounds when adding M2 and M3.
The bass buttons, key tops and treble switches have "ivory" finish and match perfectly well the gold plated metal parts. The instrument has a classic appearance. The key tops and treble switches have longitudinal stripes pattern (see the close-up pictures below) like in the classic Gola models from the 50s. This is very rare feature on a new accordion today.
Stereo
Sennheiser microphones with separate volume control and the
full-featured MIDI with touch sensitive control panel on the grill
complement the acoustic accordion. This feature-packed dream
accordion weighs 29 lb. Yes, this is correct - two accordions in one
plus the electronics package and it feels identical to the famous
Guerrini Superior models with 4/5 sets of reeds.
