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Diamond – Dega Morbidoni

DEGA / MORBIDONI is one of the many accordion makers in Castelfidardo that enlarged in the years 1962/66 they offer by putting their logo on electric guitars they didn’t built themselves

The company was founded in 1946 by Alberto Morbidoni, a former collaborator of the famous Settimio Soprani. His accordions soon gained a high international repute and are still said to be among the finest ever made. The official corporate name was DEGA Srl but for some reason most of the squeezeboxes were branded Morbidoni.

The first solid-bodied guitars were released in 1962-1963 under the name Morbidoni (the logo is a simple ‘M’ in a horseshoe) made by Bartolini.

Then, in 1963-1964, new Morbidoni generations appear with a bolt-on neck, a rosewood fretboard and some distinctive features, especially e Telecaster inspired headstock that is quite surprising (the Tele was absolutely unknown in Europe at that time).

Further cosmetic optimisations lead to the final generation of 1964-1965, now called Dega. Some semi-acoustics archtops were also made under the Dega brand.

The Dega Srl company was still active in accordion at the moment Alberto Morbidoni passed away in December 1999, aged 85 years.

Morbidoni and Dega guitars are impossibly rare in Europe. It seems that virtually the whole production was shipped to USA. That was the same for Dega and Morbidoni accordions too.

There are obvious links with another branch of the Morbidoni family that settled in USA befre WWII and distributed Italian accordions and guitars under the Diamond brand.

Italiano

La ditta venne fondata nel 1946 da Alberto Morbidoni, nell’anteguerra collaboratore del famoso Settimio Soprani. I suoi organetti acquistarono presto una altissima reputazione internazionale, si dice ancora che furono fra i migliori mai fatti. La firma commerciale era ufficialmente DEGA Srl ma comunque la maggioranza di queste fisarmoniche era targata Morbidoni.
Le prime solid-bodies, uscite nel 1962-1963 con il nome Morbidoni (il logo essendo una semplice ‘M’ incorniciata in un ferro di cavallo) erano fatte da Bartolini.

Poi, durante il 1963-1964, si producono strumenti con manico avvitato, tastiere in palissandro e certe caratteristiche più originali, in particolare la sorprendente paletta alla Telecaster (questo modello era totalmente sconosciuto allora in Europa).

Vari miglioramenti estetici conducono alla generazione finale del 1964-65, ormai chiamata Dega. Ci sono state anche semi-acustiche con lo stesso marchio Dega.
La Dega Srl era ancora in attività nel campo della fisarmonica quando Alberto Morbidoni è deceduto nel Dicembre del 1999 all’età di 85 anni.
Le chitarre Morbidoni e Dega sono più uniche che rare in Europa. Pare che quasi tutta la produzione era spedita in USA. Era lo stesso per le fisarmoniche Dega e Morbidoni.
Ci sono ovviamente legami con un altro ramo della famiglia Morbidoni, stabilito già prima della Seconda Guerra Mondiale in USA, che distribuiva fisarmoniche e chitarre italiane sotto il marchio Diamond.

Diamond Ranger

English

Hardware and electronic are absolutely identical to contemporary Morbidoni or Dega guitars, including the Van Ghent tuners with octagonal covers most guitars of this galaxy have.

Note the octave markers with a strikingly narrow spacing, this is a typical feature of the intermediate Morbidoni generation (the one with a Telecaster style headstock and a ‘M’ logo).The lower part of the body with the embryonic third cutaway and the pointy horn reminds the Welson Jazz Vedette or Bartolini Supertone series, but the upper part with an equally pointy horn is absolutely specific. We have never seen anything like that elsewhere in the Bartolini-Gemelli galaxy. The handsome pre-Galanti Art-Deco headstock was also a Diamond exclusivity.The very consistent and very special Ranger series, distributed only in the USA, is also very rare. In four years of research Fetishguitars.com has been able to detect only about ten specimens, which is our experience means that no more than thousand specimens were made.

Italiano

L’hardware e l’elettronica sono assolutamente identici alle Morbidoni o Dega contemporanee, comprese le chiavette Van Ghent con coperchi ottogonali che figurano su quasi tutte le chitarre della presente galassia. Si notano i segnatasti dell’ottava con l’intervallo molto stretto, sono tipici delle Morbidoni della generazione intermedia (quella con paletta alla Telecaster e il logo ‘M’).

La parte inferiore del corpo, con l’insenatura atrofizzata e il corno appuntito, rievoca le Welson Jazz Vedette o la Bartolini della serie Supertone, ma la parte superiore con il corno ugualmente appuntito è assolutamente specifica. Mai si è visto niente di simile altrove nella galassia Bartolini-Gemelli. L’elegante paletta Art-Deco pre-Galantiana era un’altra esclusività di Diamond.

Queste Ranger molto omogenee e molto speciali, distribuite solo in USA, sono rarissime. In quattro anni di ricerca Fetishguitars.com ha potuto rintracciare solo una decina di esempi, il che secondo la nostra esperienza implica che ne siano state costruite al massimo un migliaio.

Dega

Ecco una tipica Dega la cui paletta (non rievoca una turgida Telecaster ?)riporta il logo. Il meccanismo del vibrato, ispirato dal famoso Tremar di Hagström, è fissato a una piastra a mezza-luna più piccola del solito. I coperchi dei pickups sono una versione leggermente modificata del disegno delle prime Crucianelli. La tastiera è assolutamente Crucianelli.

Il corpo è un modello quasi standard nella galassia. Si combina in maniera particolarmente graziosa con la sagoma della mascherina, dando una sensazione di morbidezza femminile e pacifica che fa il fascino di questo modello.

Here a Dega in most Dega-like configuration. The headstock (doesn’t it remind a turgescent Telecaster ?) has the Dega logo. The tremolo device, inspired from the famous Hagström Tremar, is based on a small-than-normal half-circular plate.Pickup covers are like an early Crucianelli design in a slightly modified version. Fretboard is purely Crucianelli.

The body is like a standard commodity in the galaxy. Here it combines in a particularly graceful way with the scratchplate shape, giving a sensation of peaceful feminine softness that makes this model real sweet.

Jack Marchal

Diamond Wildcat

Diamond Ranger

Crown

M (bartolini)

Dega

M

Safari

Dega

Dega

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