Regoletta History?

[sourdoh]

Hello all,

I am doing some repairs on a friend's concertina (at least as little as I am comfortable with) and trying to find out some information for her. It is a 20 button anglo labeled "Regoletta". A search of the postings brought up information on how to repair the rubber sleeves for the buttons, which is definitely needed. It also brought up a comment that Regolettas are Bastaris.

 

Searching through Google didn't get any additional information, other than Bastari being bought by Stagi (Brunner Musica) in 1992. So did Bastari acquire Regoletta? If so when? Or was Regoletta a model or brand name used by Bastari? Is there any way to estimate the age of this concertina?

 

So far I've only opened one end, but saw no maker's marks or numbers. (It looks just like the pictures I've seen of Hohner's D40.)

 

Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.

 

- Keith

[Stephen Chambers]

Keith,

 

You will probably find that "Regoletta" is an importer's brand name. Many manufacturers will put whatever name you want onto instruments, as long as you buy enough of them. The business that started life as "Bastari", became "Stagi" and then "Brunner", still makes concertinas under all those names, plus "Gremlin", "Hohner", "Saltarelle", "Boorinwood" etc., etc., etc. for different markets.