Seventy brand guides to organ builders, accordion and harmonica makers, Italian keyboard electronics, concertina makers and harpsichord workshops.
The instruments in this hub share a family history. The accordion was patented in Vienna in 1829 by Cyrill Demian and his sons; Charles Wheatstone’s patents of 1829 and 1844 defined the English concertina; and harmonica makers such as Seydel, which calls itself the world’s oldest harmonica factory, have worked since the 1840s. Organs and harpsichords are older still, and their makers face their own questions about tradition and technology.
Organs: pipes and samples
In December 2017 UNESCO added “Organ craftsmanship and music” in Germany to its list of intangible cultural heritage, and the same autumn the EU took pipe organs out of its hazardous-substances directive because their pipes use “a specific type of lead-based alloy, for which no alternative has been found so far.” Digital makers such as Allen, Rodgers and Johannus reproduce the sound of pipes instead.
Accordions: a town’s industry
Castelfidardo in Italy calls itself the home of the Italian accordion. At its height the district turned out 240,000 accordions a year, Il Sole 24 Ore reported in 2012, adding that by then it made no more than 30,000. Our accordion guides cover the makers that remain.
Harpsichords: two revivals
The harpsichord was reinvented twice in the twentieth century — first by Pleyel in Paris, with a 16-foot model built to Wanda Landowska’s suggestions in 1912, then by Frank Hubbard and William Dowd in Boston from 1949, building on historical principles. Several of the workshops in this hub have since closed, and we say so.
How to use these guides
Each guide covers who owns the name today, where the products are made — by the maker’s own account and, where it differs, by other sources — and the brand’s visual identity. A company’s description of itself is attributed to the company, and where a business has closed we say so plainly. The table at the end gathers the essentials.
Organ builders
Pipe and digital organ makers.
- Rieger Orgelbau — The pipe-organ builder that dates itself to 1843 in Jägerndorf, Silesia, was re-established in Schwarzach, Austria, in 1946, and built the organs of Vienna’s Musikverein and the Philharmonie de Paris.
- Orgelbau Klais — The Bonn pipe-organ builder founded by Johannes Klais in 1882, run by four generations of his family from the same street since 1896, and builder of the organs of the Elbphilharmonie and Singapore’s Esplanade.
- Casavant Frères — The Saint-Hyacinthe pipe-organ builder founded by Claver and Samuel Casavant in 1879, builder of Montréal’s Notre-Dame Basilica organ, publicly traded from 1963 to 1976 and in private hands since.
- Johannus — The Dutch digital-organ maker founded by Hans Versteegt in 1968, owned since 1987 by the van de Weerd family, built in a neoclassical headquarters in Ede, and the centre of a group that includes Rodgers.
- Allen Organ — The Macungie, Pennsylvania organ maker founded by Jerome Markowitz, whose 1971 digital organ the Smithsonian calls one of the first to use digital sampling, and whose tagline is a claim of precedence.
- Rodgers Instruments — The Oregon organ maker founded in 1958 by two Tektronix engineers, owned in turn by CBS, Roland and, since January 2016, the Dutch van de Weerd family, which still sells its organs as The American Series.
- Viscount — The digital-organ maker founded in Mondaino, Italy, in 1969 by Marcello Galanti of the Galanti accordion family, known for its Physis physical-modelling technology.
Accordions
Accordion makers of Castelfidardo and the Marche.
- Paolo Soprani — The accordion name that Castelfidardo credits with founding Italy’s accordion industry in 1863, now owned by Pasco Italia and entered on Italy’s register of historic trademarks in 2025.
- Scandalli — The accordion maker from Camerano that merged into Farfisa in 1946, passed through Lear Siegler and Bontempi, now makes accordions in Castelfidardo, and whose cursive wordmark was among the first entries on Italy’s historic-trademark register.
- Excelsior — The accordion name born in New York in 1924, moved to Castelfidardo after the war, and today a division of the Pigini family’s company, under a golden oval and the line “Shining like stars in the universe of sounds.”
- Bugari Armando — The Castelfidardo accordion maker whose workshop sold instruments under other people’s names until Armando Bugari created his own mark in 1961, and which announced a partnership with China’s Tianjin Huayun in 2018.
- Castagnari — The Recanati maker of organetti, small diatonic button accordions, run by four generations of one family since 1914, which says it helped bring the instrument back in the late 1970s.
- Beltuna — The Castelfidardo accordion maker founded in 1982 by Arnaldo Mengascini and Elio Baldoni, named for a ‘beautiful tune’, run by the Mengascini family, and builder of a software-programmable acoustic accordion.
- Fisitalia — The Castelfidardo accordion brand launched in 1995 by a reed tuner and a mechanic, owned by Ci. & Emme. srl, which patented a reed-tuning system and issues its own certificate of Italian origin with every instrument.
Accordions beyond Castelfidardo
Accordion makers in Italy, France and the United States.
- Dallapè — The Stradella accordion house founded by Mariano Dallapè, whose prototype dates to 1871 and factory to 1876, which closed at the end of 2010 after the family sold the name to Roland.
- Maugein — The Tulle accordion maker founded in 1919, France’s oldest, which went into liquidation in 2024 and was revived in 2025 by a former employee, Christophe Sirgues.
- Cavagnolo — The accordion brand that Domenico Cavagnolo of Vercelli brought to Lyon in the 1920s, now made in Béligneux, in the Ain, by Cava France, which says digital instruments saved it.
- Saltarelle — The Burgundy accordion brand, near Dijon, that calls itself an “accordion model creator since 1984,” designing diatonic accordions for French and Irish music that are built in Italy.
- Petosa Accordions — The Seattle family firm founded in 1922 by Carlo Petosa, now in its fourth and fifth generations, whose instruments are built in Castelfidardo and customised and inspected in Washington State.
- Gabbanelli — The Houston accordion house founded by John Gabbanelli of Castelfidardo, whose “wildly colorful, heavily ornamental” instruments for Tejano and norteño players are protected by trade-dress rulings.
- Serenellini — The family accordion maker of Loreto, in the Marche, which Luciano Serenellini started in 1978 as a parts supplier before launching his own brand at the Frankfurt fair in 1982.
Behind the Castelfidardo names
Castelfidardo makers, reed suppliers and the companies behind historic names.
- Zero Sette — The Castelfidardo accordion factory founded in 1945 by seven partners, which built instruments for Giulietti and Petosa, made 1960s electric guitars for Goya and Hohner, and has belonged to Bugari Armando since 2007.
- Dino Baffetti — The Castelfidardo family firm founded by Dino Baffetti in 1977 to make diatonic accordions, which built for Paolo Soprani and builds Saltarelle’s diatonics, and restarted after a 2024 factory fire.
- Giulietti — The accordion company Luigi Giulietti founded in New York in 1923, run by his son Julio, whose instruments were built in Italy and whose name passed with Zero Sette to Bugari Armando in 2007.
- Voci Armoniche — The Osimo reed maker formed in 2002 from Antonelli (1935) and Salpa (1946), whose reeds sound inside accordions from Castagnari to Maugein, and whose blued BlueStar reed launched in 2021.
- Cagnoni — The Osimo reed maker founded in 1946 by Muzio Cagnoni, a Stradella-born accordion craftsman, whose reeds are one division of a family precision-metal company.
- Farfisa — The 1946 merger of Marche accordion makers that became a maker of combo organs played by Pink Floyd’s Richard Wright, whose name now lives on in Osimo intercoms and in Bontempi keyboards.
- Settimio Soprani — The Castelfidardo accordion firm Paolo Soprani’s brother founded in 1885, which led the town by 1910, merged into Farfisa in 1946 and was re-registered as a brand in 2006.
From accordions to electronics
Marche and Romagna firms that moved from accordions to guitars, organs and electronics.
- Galanti — The accordion house of the Galanti family of Mondaino, with a New York arm and a 1932 factory that now houses Viscount, which closed in 1968 after its descendants had moved into electronic organs.
- Generalmusic — The GEM brand, “Galanti Egidio Mondaino,” founded in 1959 by Egidio Galanti’s sons, maker of organs, arrangers and digital pianos, bankrupt in 2011 and revived by Italian owners in 2026.
- Elka — The electronic-organ and synthesizer maker founded in 1965 in Castelfidardo by members of the Crucianelli accordion family, maker of the Synthex used by Jean-Michel Jarre, sold to Generalmusic in 1989.
- Crucianelli — The Castelfidardo accordion name that traces its roots to 1888, made electric guitars in the 1960s, spun off Elka and Crumar, and since 2009 belongs to Maxim’s Group.
- EKO — The guitar maker conceived in 1959 by Oliviero Pigini, which turned accordion know-how into sparkle-finish electric guitars, failed in the 1980s and since 2020 belongs to Algam Eko.
- Bontempi — The Marche firm founded as an accordion workshop in 1937, which became a large maker of toy and children’s keyboards, bought Farfisa in 1984, and whose trademark was sold to iCom in 2015.
- Sonola — The Castelfidardo accordion maker founded by the Cupido brothers with partners, dated to 1935 by chronologies, acquired by Guerrini in 1973 and by Maxim’s Group in 2008, with Mexican-named models.
The keyboard district
Electronic keyboard makers and accordion houses of the Marche.
- Crumar — The electronic keyboard maker founded around 1970–71 in Castelfidardo by Mario Crucianelli, maker of the Multiman, DS-2, Performer and Spirit, which stopped trading in 1986–87 and was revived in 2008.
- Orla — The firm founded in 1965 in Castelfidardo by Nazzareno “Mimmo” Orlandoni to make accordion and reed-organ parts, which became a home-organ and digital-piano maker and whose name is now sold through a Castelfidardo distributor.
- Welson — The Castelfidardo firm founded in 1921 by Orlando Quagliardi as an accordion maker, which built guitars for Dynacord and Wurlitzer, made combo organs, and ceased trading in 1981.
- Frontalini — The accordion maker of Numana, on the Marche coast, founded by Nazzareno Frontalini and his family in the 1920s, briefly a Farfisa founder, closed in the 1960s and revived as a brand by Maxim’s Group in 2009.
- Borsini — The Castelfidardo accordion maker that dates itself to 2 January 1922, insists accordions be built in wood, and sells Super Star, Paris and bayan models.
- Brandoni — Brandoni & Sons, the Castelfidardo accordion maker that dates itself to 1949, sold first to America, passed to a new generation in 1996, and signs its instruments “Italian Accordions since 1949.”
- Ketron — The Ancona maker of arranger keyboards, sound modules and MIDI accordions, which says it was established in 1981 to design and make electronic instruments, and whose EVENT arranger leads its current range.
Italian sound
Italian synthesizer, amplifier, echo and reed makers of the 1960s to the 1980s.
- Siel — S.I.EL., founded in 1976 at Acquaviva Picena in the Marche by the former Farfisa designer Carlo Lucarelli, maker of the Orchestra, Cruise and Opera 6, whose instruments ARP and Sequential sold under their own names.
- Jen Elettronica — The Pescara electronics firm that made wah pedals for Thomas Organ and Vox, used by Jimi Hendrix, and the SX-1000 and SX-2000 synthesizers of 1978–82, later favoured by electronic musicians.
- LEM — The sound-system brand founded in 1969 within the Galanti family’s Generalmusic group at San Giovanni in Marignano, which fell with the group’s 2011 bankruptcy and returned in 2026 as LEM Commercial.
- Logan Electronics — The Ancona-province maker of console organs and the String Melody string synthesizer, designed by Giuliano Costantin and also sold by Hohner, which later built pianos under licence from Baldwin.
- Davoli — Krundaal Davoli, the Parma amplifier and PA maker founded in 1957 by Athos Davoli, which worked with the guitar designer Wandrè, sponsored a 1960s song contest and made the Davolisint used by Caravan.
- Meazzi — The Milan firm founded in 1946 by Enrico Meazzi, joined by his brothers, which sold drums, Hollywood and Framez guitars, amplifiers and the Echomatic tape echo used by Hank Marvin, and wound down in the 1990s.
- Binci — The Castelfidardo family firm founded by Nazareno Binci in the early 1950s that makes accordion reeds by hand, one of four reed makers left in the Marche, now in its third generation.
Harmonicas
Harmonica makers from Klingenthal to Tokyo and Jiangsu.
- Seydel — The 1847 Klingenthal maker that calls itself the world’s oldest harmonica factory, known for steel reeds and revived under NIAMA-Media since 2005.
- Suzuki — The Hamamatsu instrument maker founded by Manji Suzuki in 1953, whose Japanese-made harmonicas are unrelated to Suzuki Motor or the Suzuki violin method.
- Lee Oskar — The harmonica brand founded in 1983 by the band War’s harmonica player, designed in the US and manufactured by Tombo in Japan.
- Tombo — The family-run Tokyo instrument maker, since 1917, that builds its own harmonicas and manufactures the Lee Oskar line for the US brand.
- Easttop — The Jiangsu harmonica maker, founded in 1997, that grew from a budget name into a respected mid-tier alternative to the imports.
- Kongsheng — The Wuxi harmonica maker, incorporated in 2007, whose roots reach back to China’s older Shanghai harmonica industry.
- Hering — The Brazilian harmonica maker from the country’s German-settled south, a heritage name that faded and was later revived under Brazilian ownership.
Concertinas
London’s historic concertina makers and their modern successors.
- Wheatstone — The concertina name of the physicist Charles Wheatstone, whose 1829 and 1844 patents defined the English concertina, which passed through Boosey & Hawkes and has been owned since 1975 by the maker Steve Dickinson.
- Lachenal & Co. — The concertina name of Louis Lachenal, a Swiss craftsman who learned at Wheatstone, began making under his own name in 1858, and whose firm, run by its employees from 1872, closed in the 1930s.
- Jeffries — The London concertina name of Charles Jeffries (1841–1906), a brushmaker turned maker, whose family built Anglo concertinas in Praed Street until around 1930 and repaired them into the 1960s, leaving no price list or advert behind.
- Crabb Concertinas — The Islington concertina family business, H. Crabb & Son, begun by John Crabb after training at Wheatstone, which made concertinas in Liverpool Road from 1891 and closed in 1989.
- Dipper Concertinas — The family concertina workshop of Colin and Rosalie Dipper and their son John, in an attic in Heytesbury, Wiltshire, restoring and making instruments since the mid-1960s and known for its Anglos and the ‘Franglo’.
- Morse Concertinas — R. Morse & Co. concertinas, made from 1999 by The Button Box in Massachusetts, the shop founded by the architect and player Richard Morse; its retail store closed in 2022 and the business by 2023.
- Suttner Concertinas — The German concertina maker Jürgen Suttner of Siegen, who says each instrument has about 1,000 hand-made parts, designs Anglos after Wheatstone and Jeffries models, and has closed his order book again because of demand.
Harpsichords
Harpsichord makers in America and Germany.
- Zuckermann Harpsichords — The kit maker started by Wolfgang Zuckermann in Manhattan, whose ‘Z-Box’ let thousands build their own harpsichord, sold around 1970 to David Jacques Way and now based in Stonington, Connecticut.
- Hubbard Harpsichords — The firm of Frank Hubbard, who co-founded Hubbard & Dowd in Boston in 1949 to build harpsichords on historical principles, wrote Three Centuries of Harpsichord Making, and whose company records are now at the Smithsonian.
- William Dowd Harpsichords — The Boston harpsichord maker who co-founded Hubbard & Dowd in 1949, ran his own Cambridge workshop and a Paris branch, built more than 800 instruments and closed his Massachusetts workshop in 1988.
- J.C. Neupert — The Franconian keyboard maker founded in 1868, which built harpsichords and clavichords from the 1900s, whose historical collection passed to Nuremberg’s Germanisches Nationalmuseum in the late 1960s, and which still works near Bamberg.
- Ammer — The Eisenberg harpsichord workshop founded in 1927 by the brothers Michael and Alois Ammer, nationalised by East Germany in 1972, continued by the family in Leipzig and then West Germany, and closed in 2017 after Jürgen Ammer’s death.
- Wittmayer — The Bavarian harpsichord maker founded in 1949 by Kurt Wittmayer, which grew to nearly 50 staff and about 440 instruments a year in the 1960s, built some 8,430 modern instruments, and closed in 1995.
- Sassmann — The harpsichord workshop founded in 1955 by Martin Sassmann, a former Neupert apprentice, which became Sassmann GmbH in 1987 and entered insolvency in 2008; the company was deleted from the register in 2015.
At a glance: who owns the name and where it is made
Taken from each guide’s fact panel, as of October 2026. Ownership and production change; follow the link for sources and detail.
| Brand | Origin | Owner | Where made |
|---|---|---|---|
| Allen Organ | Allentown area, Pennsylvania (1937 (Allen says)) | Markowitz family (Allen says) | Macungie, Pennsylvania |
| Ammer | Eisenberg, Thuringia (1927) | Closed June 2017 | Eisenberg; later Leipzig, Trendelburg, near Kassel |
| Beltuna | Castelfidardo, Italy (1982) | Mengascini family (family-run) | Castelfidardo, Italy |
| Binci | Castelfidardo, Marche (early 1950s (company)) | Family-run, third generation | See guide |
| Bontempi | Potenza Picena, Marche (1937) | iCom (trademark) since 2015 | See guide |
| Borsini | Castelfidardo, Marche (2 January 1922 (company)) | Borsini family (the company says) | See guide |
| Brandoni | Castelfidardo, Marche (1949 (company)) | Brandoni & Sons Accordions S.R.L. | See guide |
| Bugari Armando | Castelfidardo, Italy (1961) | See guide | Castelfidardo, Italy |
| Cagnoni | Osimo, Marche (1946) | Cagnoni family | Osimo, Italy |
| Casavant Frères | Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec (1879) | Simon Tétreault (Casavant says, 2019) | Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec |
| Castagnari | Recanati, Italy (1914) | Castagnari family (fourth generation) | Recanati, Italy |
| Cavagnolo | Vercelli, Italy (brand dates itself to 1904) | Cava France (since 2010) | Béligneux, Ain, France |
| Crabb Concertinas | Clerkenwell, London (1860 (own business)) | Closed 1989 | Islington, London |
| Crucianelli | Castelfidardo, Marche (traces roots to 1888) | Maxim’s Group since 2009 | See guide |
| Crumar | Castelfidardo, Marche (around 1970–71) | See guide | Revived brand since 2008 |
| Dallapè | Stradella, Lombardy (prototype 1871, factory 1876) | Factory closed end of 2010 | See guide |
| Davoli | Parma, Emilia-Romagna (1957 (family history)) | See guide | See guide |
| Dino Baffetti | Castelfidardo, Marche (1977) | Baffetti family | Castelfidardo, Italy |
| Dipper Concertinas | Heytesbury, Wiltshire (mid-1960s (restoring and making)) | Dipper family (C & R Dipper & Son) | Heytesbury, Wiltshire |
| Easttop | China (1997) | See guide | China |
| EKO | Castelfidardo, Marche (project 1959; company 1960) | Algam Eko srl since 2020 | Montelupone, Marche |
| Elka | Castelfidardo, Marche (1965) | Generalmusic from 1989 | See guide |
| Excelsior | New York, USA (1924) | Pigini srl (a division) | Castelfidardo, Italy |
| Farfisa | Marche, Italy (July 1946) | See guide | Osimo (intercoms) |
| Fisitalia | Castelfidardo, Italy (1995) | Ci. & Emme. srl | Castelfidardo, Italy |
| Frontalini | Numana, Marche (1923 or 1927 (sources differ)) | Maxim’s Group since 2009 | See guide |
| Gabbanelli | Houston, Texas (from 1961) | Gabbanelli family | Italy (Cascabel line: China) |
| Galanti | Mondaino, Romagna (late nineteenth century) | Accordion works closed 1968 | See guide |
| Generalmusic | Romagna, Italy (1959 (as GEM)) | Bankrupt 2011; revived 2026 | San Giovanni in Marignano (former HQ) |
| Giulietti | New York (1923) | See guide | Italy |
| Hering | Brazil | Revived | Brazil |
| Hubbard Harpsichords | Boston, Massachusetts (1949 (Hubbard & Dowd)) | Hubbard Harpsichords, Inc. (Hendrik Broekman, per archived site) | See guide |
| J.C. Neupert | Münchberg, Upper Franconia (1868) | J. C. Neupert GmbH & Co. KG | Hallstadt, near Bamberg |
| Jeffries | London (c.1868) | Making ceased c.1930; repairs into 1960s | London (Praed Street) |
| Jen Elettronica | See guide | Closure date not found | Pescara, Abruzzo |
| Johannus | Netherlands (1968) | Van de Weerd family (since 1987) | Ede, Netherlands |
| Ketron | Ancona, Marche (1981 (company)) | Ketron S.r.l. | See guide |
| Kongsheng | China (2007) | See guide | China |
| Lachenal & Co. | London (1858 (own name)) | Closed in the 1930s | London |
| Lee Oskar | US brand (1983) | See guide | Japan |
| LEM | San Giovanni in Marignano, Romagna (1969) | See guide | See guide |
| Logan Electronics | Ancona province, Marche (late 1960s) | Closure date not found | See guide |
| Maugein | Tulle, Corrèze (1919) | Liquidated 2024; revived 2025 | Tulle, France |
| Meazzi | Milan, Italy (24 July 1946) | Wound down in the 1990s | See guide |
| Morse Concertinas | Massachusetts, USA (1999) | Production ended c.2022; business closed 2023 | Amherst / Sunderland, Massachusetts |
| Orgelbau Klais | Bonn, Germany (1882) | Klais family (fourth generation) | Kölnstraße, Bonn |
| Orla | Castelfidardo, Marche (1965) | See guide | Name sold via 2L Distribuzioni |
| Paolo Soprani | Castelfidardo, Italy (1863–64) | Pasco Italia srl | Castelfidardo, Italy |
| Petosa Accordions | Seattle, Washington (1922) | Petosa family (4th–5th generation) | Castelfidardo, Italy |
| Rieger Orgelbau | Jägerndorf, Austrian Silesia (1843 (Rieger says)) | Wendelin Eberle | Schwarzach, Vorarlberg, Austria |
| Rodgers Instruments | Beaverton, Oregon (1958) | Van de Weerd family / Global Organ Group (2016) | Hillsboro, Oregon |
| Saltarelle | Burgundy, France (brand dates itself to 1984) | Saltarelle SARL, Chenôve | Italy |
| Sassmann | Lennep (Remscheid), Germany (1955) | Insolvency 2008; deleted from register 2015 | Hückeswagen, Germany (from 1966) |
| Scandalli | Camerano, Italy (1900 or 1916) | Scandalli Accordions s.r.l. | Castelfidardo, Italy |
| Serenellini | Loreto, Marche (1978) | Serenellini family (company: Campanari srl) | Loreto, Italy |
| Settimio Soprani | Castelfidardo, Marche (1885 (Treccani)) | See guide | See guide |
| Seydel | Germany (1847) | NIAMA-Media | Germany |
| Siel | Acquaviva Picena, Marche (1976) | See guide | See guide |
| Sonola | Castelfidardo, Marche (1935 (chronologies)) | Maxim’s Group since 2008 | See guide |
| Suttner Concertinas | See guide | Jürgen Suttner (sole maker) | Siegen, Germany |
| Suzuki | Japan (1953) | Independent | Japan |
| Tombo | Japan (1917) | Mano family | Japan |
| Viscount | Mondaino, Italy (1969) | See guide | Mondaino (Rimini), Italy |
| Voci Armoniche | Osimo, Marche (2002 (roots 1935 and 1946)) | See guide | Osimo, Italy |
| Welson | Castelfidardo, Marche (1921) | Ceased trading 1981 | See guide |
| Wheatstone | London (c.1829) | Steve Dickinson (since 1975) | Stowmarket, Suffolk (today) |
| William Dowd Harpsichords | Boston, Massachusetts (1949 (with Hubbard)) | Workshop closed 1988 | Cambridge, MA; Paris branch c.1971–1985 |
| Wittmayer | Bad Reichenhall, Bavaria (1949) | Closed 1995 | Bavaria (Geretsried, later Wolfratshausen) |
| Zero Sette | Castelfidardo, Marche (1945) | Bugari Armando (since 2007) | Castelfidardo, Italy |
| Zuckermann Harpsichords | New York, USA (first instrument 1955; kits c.1960) | Zuckermann Harpsichords International (Richard Auber leads) | Stonington, Connecticut |
Frequently asked questions
Who invented the accordion?
The Viennese instrument maker Cyrill Demian and his sons Guido and Karl were granted a patent for the “Accordion” on 23 May 1829.
Are any of the London concertina makers still trading?
Of the historic London names, only Wheatstone has a working owner today: Steve Dickinson, who bought the name in 1975, according to our guide.
See also our piano brand guidelines.
Part of our Audio & Music brand guidelines. See also all collections.