![]() ![]() "He's the youngest expert in the field."Įven her comment is modest. Quietly intense, Gabbanelli, 40, uses the word "artisan" several times as an understated shorthand for the knowledge and skill required to work with these instruments. Gabbanelli and his wife, Elia, (he's the company's CEO and president, she serves as vice president) took over when he died in 2003 and have tried to balance the tradition of the trade with new developments that can enhance sound or durability. His father began making Gabbanelli brand accordions 50 years ago and started the Gabbanelli Accordions & Imports company in 1991. Gabbanelli juggles repairing the old with designing and producing the new. Gabbanelli quietly fuses these two elements together and passes the instruments along to spirited accordion players like Ramon Ayala and Intocable's Ricky Muñoz, both Gabbanelli enthusiasts, who entertain thousands. ![]() The exterior screams with color and character. The inside is a meticulously constructed matrix of little pieces, precise and functional rather than flashy. He pushes through 15 to 20 repairs each day, the result of being a rarity in his field: a young craftsman attuned to the delicate nature of the instrument.Īn accordion possesses a duality that represents its maker and its player. "Even the worst piece of junk I can make play again," Gabbanelli says. Some appear fine on the surface, others look like they fell from the back of a truck in a rain storm and were left to rust. A long line of accordions needing repairs sits on the floor. The room is impeccably clean and not terribly cluttered.īehind the counter, a door leads to messier confines, with a large workbench and accordion parts everywhere. Walk in the front door, and you're standing in the showroom, which looks like an exploding rainbow, with radiantly colored Gabbanelli accordions of various sorts - diatonic, chromatic and piano - sparkling from the ample sunlight that pours through the front windows. The Gabbanelli store in southwest Houston is divided in half. Even if it's toasted, I'm not going to chunk it away." "I know what it takes to build one of these instruments. He has a warehouse where about 100 decrepit accordions sit. He's a third-generation artisan schooled in the minutiae required to produce one of these instruments. ![]() Mike Gabbanelli lives inside the accordion. ![]()
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