The text on the history of the accordion is a translation from http://www.albinhagstrom.se/history.htm Some corrections have been made. No Finnish equivalents have been searched for city names or streets. The text is followed by a list of instruments made by Hagström in Italy. Fact corrections were made to the text after the original source errors were discovered on March 24, 2012. More history can be found at http://www.algonet.se/~barke/historie.htm
Albin Hagström was born in 1905 in Orsa, Dalarna. At the age of 10, he bought his first accordion and this was the subject of his growing interest for years to come. The interest shifted to understanding the structure of the accordion, manufacturing and then selling the accordion.
In 1921 Albin borrowed DEM 5,000 and bought two accordions from Germany. One of the accordions he sold for 175 Swedish kronor and the other he rented for dance venues and other community events in the area. He later ordered two more accordions, which he quickly sold to his home area.
1923 Albin brought 25 accordions to Sweden from a German subcontractor / manufacturer and sold them quickly through sales announcements he published in magazines.
On January 19, 1925, Albin Hagström was registered as a company.
Net sales for the first year were SEK 2,700. During the same year, Hagsröm reached out to an Italian manufacturer to design an accordion model specifically for the Swedish market. This proved to be a success in the growing player market.
In 1928, the first subsidiary was opened in Oslo, Norway under the name A / SA Hagström. The company became a Norwegian retail concentration. At the same time, Hagström opened several retail outlets in Sweden. During 1928, net sales increased to SEK 500,000 – compared to SEK 2,700 three years ago.
1932 was a historic year for the company. The Älvdalen accordion factory had been completed and the first 45 Hagström accordions were manufactured. The name of the model was “Excellent”.
The factory was the resistance of Albin Hagsröm’s company in the beginning. Finding suitable materials, know-how, machining as well as skilled craftsmen proved difficult. Despite this, Albin was constantly developing work productivity, modernization, more effective marketing, more striking advertising, cost savings, and so on. This was his deepest essence, which never subsided – Albin was constantly looking for new goals. This was the right attitude from the very beginning, which set goals and made the company’s progress possible.
The new sister company A / SA Hagström was founded in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1934. It operated as a distribution and manufacturing unit, especially for the Danish market.
In 1938, O / Y Hagsrtöm AB was founded in Helsinki, Finland. The company started as a retail business, but soon expanded into a manufacturing unit. In the same year, the accordion factory “Accordia” in Stockholm was merged with Hagsröm.
In 1939, a branch opened in the United States under the name Hagsrtöm Music Company Inc., located at Time & Life House in Rockefeller Center, New York (NY 9 Rockefeller Plaza). In 1945, a factory was also opened on Jamestown 306 East 2nd Street in New York.
During the 1930s and 1940s, music cabinets were opened in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö, Växjö, Karlstadt and Örebro. As demand increased, more manufacturing facilities were opened in Orsa, Våmhus and Falun. Acoustic guitars were also made in Oslo. In 1946 a new accordion factory was opened under the name Hagsrtöm LTD, located on Avenue C, Darlington, Durham, England. 1952 The company reached the top in accordion manufacturing, producing 15,000 instruments a year.
Hagström suffered a heavy loss when its founder Albin Hagström died at the age of 47 on April 3, 1952
During the 1950s, Hagström Musik was the largest retail chain and expanded with local offices throughout Scandinavia. Local offices and shops were opened in the following cities and municipalities: Stockholm, Malmö, Gothenburg, Norrköping, Örebro, Sundsvall, Skellefteå, Arvika, Edsbyn, Eskilstuna, Falun, Gällivare, Gävle, Halmstad, Helsingborg, Jönköping, Karlstad, Kristianstad, Land Luleå, Oskarshamn, Piteå, Skövde, Sollefteå, Umeå, Uppsala, Visby, Örnsköldsvik and Östersund. During the peak year, there were more than 48 Hagström music stores in the Nordic countries.
In the 1950s, the accordion market began to shrink. In Sweden, musical instruments were becoming increasingly difficult to sell. In the United States, sales were impossible because there was no longer a market for accordions. The company was forced to look for new products for the factories ’production lines to compensate for the dwindling demand for accordion.
Karl Erik Hagström, Albin Hagström ‘s son, took over the export in 1961. Karl Erikin made several trips to the United States in recent years to gain experience and give Hagström a strong foothold in the local market. During Karl Erik’s time, the company received consulting from companies such as Fender, KORG, Pearl, Aulos and Guild.
The last accordions were made in Älvdalen during 1970.
The design of the accordions also made Hagström’s guitars a specialty at the beginning of guitar production. Instead of varnishing, the fluffy celluloid was put on the guitars because it resembled pearl decorations. In American hobby circles, this one became known as the “mother of pearl.” In home circles (Sweden?) It was called “The glitter guitar”.
List of accordions made by Hagström in Italy:
- Hagström Minor
- Hagström Accordia I
- Hagström Accordia II
- Hagström Excellent
- Hagström Victory I Cassotto *
- Hagström Victory II Cassotto *
- Hagström Carina II
- Hagström Carina II
- Hagström Castello *
- Hagström Ambassador *
- Hagström Victory Cassotto *
The instruments are all Hagström’s downstream production. Some, if not all, accordions produced in Italy have been made by Pigini, ie Lasse Pihlajamaa special, known in Finland. The ones marked with an * in the list are similar in appearance and mask to the Universal accordions produced by Pigin. Universal models may have a company logo affixed to the mask. This is a great example of how to produce “own” accordion for the local market for emotional reasons and thus improve sales.