I started building accordions in 1976, following in my father's footsteps, who at the time was employed by a leading Stradella builder as their head accordion tuner. While training, I worked on each part of all types of accordions, at every stage of production, eventually gaining expertise at the construction of the whole instrument and its respective parts. My particular interest in experimenting with the "soniere" and harmonic cases, was to prove extremely useful later when I decided to start building my own accordions.
Two years later I took on the delicate task of learning to tune, working very closely with my father to learn the secrets of traditional Stradella tuning. After a few years further apprenticeship I went full-time into tuning, and along with my wife Ivana (a particularly talented tuner herself) did tuning for numerous local Stradella firms. Today, I maintain a solid reputation as one of the most experienced and I daresay "sought after" professional accordion tuners in Northern Italy, home to some of Italy's finest performing accordionists.
In 1988 I opened my present laboratory and started building my own brand: Beltrami Accordions - Stradella. Once on the market, my accordions were an immediate success because my accordions are not mass-produced, and instead, are custom built-to-order. I attribute this partially to the philosophy I've held from the beginning: build and fit instruments to the client's exact specifications, to their wants and needs, and to the type of music they play. An increasing demand has come from players of "ethnic" music such as Irish, Scottish, English, Klezmer, Zydeco and Tejano/Norteno, and other.
Lately I've had increased requests for different shades of tuning, from the infinite shades of "musette" tuning to the slower and softer "American" varieties. I pride myself in providing tuning allows for each musician to choose the combination of register tone possibilities in accord with the number of reeds he or she has selected.
Another field of my current research , and in collaboration with one of the Castelfidardo area's larger producers FISART, is to design lighter, more compact models, providing professional artists with the same performance or quality as the traditionally larger, heavier instruments. At present I export to all of Europe, and can count among Beltrami artists, some of the best names in international accordion concert scene.
In 1997 I added on a harmonica repair and tuning service, and work as an authorized Hohner harmonica service center. I serve as a technical assistance for the installation of M.I.D.I. and for microphone assembly and installation for the Castelfidardo firm Musictech.
To sum up, to you the professional or amature accordionist, whatever music you play , I extend a warm welcome to visit my laboratory in Stradella, where I promise you'll find the highest quality of traditional Stradella workmanship along with the innovation and flexibility that you and your playing require.