Borsini Factory

Vincenzo is the eldest of the three remaining Borsini brothers.  Every day he is working in the factory and supervising the production of the accordions. Vincenzo is an extremely skilled tuner and he touches every single reed that passes through the factory.  Vincenzo's beautiful wife Alberta has recently passed away.  Despite his deep sorrow, he continues to work at the factory every day and gives of himself to others.  Vincenzo has a deep history in the accordion world and here is his published story.

Vincenzo is the son of Elio Borsini who founded the Borsini factory in 1922. Vincenzo was born in an apartment above the factory and today he lives right next door.  He finished technical school in 1944 and at the age of 10 years old he began to study the accordion with Giovanni Marcosignori, the father of the world famous Gervasio Marcosignori.  In 1946, Vincenzo started working in the mechanical department of the Borsini factory making bass mechanisms. Having the gift of "perfect pitch", Vincenzo also studied the acoustics of the accordion which led to making many improvements to the Borsini range of instruments.  By 1949, Vincenzo was employed full-time working with the reeds and tuning which is his specialty today.

Vincenzo is one of the most experienced technicians in Castelfidardo.  He is an amiable man who is endeavoring to pass on his vast knowledge to younger employees of Borsini in order to encourage the continuing development and improvement of the accordion.  He also readily cooperates with his competitors by giving them the benefit of his advice by playing their accordions and giving his opinion on potential improvements.

In 1950, Vincenzo moved to the USA in order to work as a repairman for one of the biggest accordion importers on the West Coast.  After 8 months, he moved to New York to work at the Excelsior factory which was owned by his uncle Egisto Pancotti.  During his time in New York, Vincenzo was acquanted with many world famous accordionists of the time such as Gallarini, Russ Messina, Carmen Carozza, John Molinari, Dick Contino, and Frank Gaviani.  He also became a close friend of Pietro Deiro.

After acquiring a great wealth of knowledge and experience in the USA, Vincenzo returned to Italy in 1957 to work with his family.  This of course contributed to the "Borsini boom" when the factory was exporting 6000 accordions per year.  The good times continued for Borsini until 1963 when the popularity of the guitar caused a worldwide slump in accordion sales.  Vincenzo though was undaunted by the decline in the popularity of the accordion and suggested to his brothers that they should specialize in producing only the top quality instruments. After adopting this policy, Vincenzo introduced major manufacturing improvements resulting in super accordions, one being a cassotto model with 2 sets of reeds weighing only 8 kilos (as played by Nick Ariondo).  Also during this time Vincenzo desired to improve his ability to play the accordion and studied with the famous Adamo Volpi.

In 1964, Vincenzo returned to the USA in order to work with Joseph Romagnoli, the owner of the Italo-American Accordion Company in Chicago.  Here he was tuning and servicing accordions for the famous American department store Montgomery Wards.  In was during this time that Vincenzo became a personal friend of Leon Sachs and Tony Dannon which led Vincenzo to develop a real jazz sound on the accordion.  Tony Dannon was the founder and director of the Modern Accordion School of Champions and he personally taught the great Peter Soave using accordions produced and tuned by Vincenzo Borsini.

In 1981, in a joint project with Lars EK of Sweden, the nostalgic accordion was produced.  This was a lightweight 4-voice accordion suited to the music of Frosini and Deiro.  Hohner Trossingen approached Vincenzo in 1985 to create a top quality free bass convertor line and it was during this time that Vincenzo became friends with Franz Lindemeir, the quality control manager at Hohner.  It was by the suggestion of Franz that Vincenzo produce an accordion for Hugo Noth, the musical director of the accordion department at the Trossingen Conservatory of Music.  When Hugo played Vincenzo's accordion, he was so impressed by it that he embraced Vincenzo and refused to play any other accordion.  When Hohner heard of Hugo Noth's accolade, they offered Vincenzo the job of senior technical manager with a fabulous salary.  Vincenzo respectfully denied and preferred to use his talent to benefit his family.

Further advances were made to the bass mechanism of the free bass convertor models in 1988 when Vincenzo instructed the Gamma factory in Castelfidardo on the design of what became the system for the free bass convertor.  During the 1990's, Vincenzo continued to improve the accordion by enlisting the cooperation of many accordion professors, mainly Lech Puchnowsky, and the Finnish accordionist Mikko Luoma who was one of the best students of Hugo Noth.  The Borsini factory realized that musicians were looking for lighter and more compact accordions and the Vienna range of models was born.  These accordions were much lighter than previous models while retaining the ultimate quality and sound.  This made Borsini the first company in 20 years to develop a completely new line of lightweight models.

Vincenzo Borsini is a skilled accordion builder, tuner, musician, mentor, teacher, and father.  He also enjoys watching soccer and playing a solid game of tennis.  He is without a doubt a legend in the accordion world.

Giancarlo is the middle of the three remaining Borsini brothers. Giancarlo is a very astute and business minded individual and speaks a variety of languages.  Due to his marketing expertise, Giancarlo supervises the business side of the operation and runs the World Heaquarters office at the Borsini factory.  He directly oversees the finances and expenses of the operation, monitors supply and demand, and works directly with their International Distributors around the world.  Giancarlo has also taken the lead in opening up new markets around the world.  He is a follower of the Blue Ocean Strategy of business development and has directly supervised the growth of the Borsini brand throughout the globe.  With all of these responsibilities, Giancarlo carries the most stressful job at the factory.  Unfortunately his beautiful wife Norma has recently passed away which has crushed his spirits but he continues to come to work and to do what he can to keep the operation going smoothly.

Amerigo is the youngest of the three remaining Borsini brothers. Amerigo directly supervises the wood department at the Borsini factory.  He is a master of woodworking and building to project sound from the accordion.  He lives just below the factory and he is usually the first person to open the doors in the morning.  His ongoing mission is to build the best wooden accordion body possible. His deep passion to create the best sounding instruments is evident the second you play a Borsini accordion.

Carlo is the son of Giancarlo Borsini and the 3rd generation of family to work at the Borsini factory.  Along with his uncle Vincenzo, Carlo is one of the key accordion tuners at the factory.  He also manages the quality control and heads up the marketing efforts around the world.  If there is an accordion event where Borsini is present, most likely Carlo will be there to head up the effort.  Carlo has a very progressive view of the future of the accordion and is helping in the design of new models at Borsini.  Like his father, Carlo speaks a multitude of languages.

Carlo's wife Cathrine also works in the factory office as an assistant to his father Giancarlo.  Carlo has three children and his son Samuel is active in the accordion and spends his summers working in the factory with his father.  Carlo's mother Norma has recently passed away but he has remained strong despite these difficult times.  Carlo is an avid surfer and his open minded vision will prove to be a wave of the future for Borsini and for the accordion in general.