The new manager and his associates want to relaunch this small factory installed in Tulle since 1919 and save his expertise in excellence.
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The Maugein Manufacture, the oldest French manufacturer of accordions installed in Tulle (Corrèze) and placed in compulsory liquidation in September 2024, reopened to the public on Tuesday March 4, after being taken over by one of its former employees, confirmed its buyer to AFP.
“I took three former employees” AND “We kept cabinetmaking, mechanical part, tuning and electronic part”said Christophe Sirgues, new manager of the manufacture, taken up alongside a dozen partners. He himself worked there before as a technical sales representative.
To relaunch this company founded in 1919, it was necessary “resize the structure on a smaller scale“, SO “greatly reduce the payroll“He explained. The investment in compulsory liquidation of the manufacture by the Brive Commercial Court had aroused the stir in instrument factors, but reflected the reality of a market flooded by Asian competition, providing low-cost instruments.
Despite a difficult situation, Maugein, labeled in 2007 living heritage company, then still had ten employees, the oldest of whom had started as an apprentice thirty-nine years ago. The company is now counting on a production of 80 accordions per year, against 120 before liquidation, intended for professional musicians as amateurs. It plans to focus on the French market, according to its buyer.
To distinguish itself from plastic study models from China, the latest French artisanal manufacturer of accordions are placed on higher-end instruments, to the very long lifespan, thanks to its recognized know-how.
After having taken a step aside with the marketing of harmonicas, Maugein New version focuses on the accordions, these suspenders that always appeal to popular festivals or traditional music. The factory retains its premises in Tulle, a city with a city of the accordion and heritage, inaugurated in April 2024.
