Bontempi is an Italian musical instrument manufacturer, best known for manufacturing low-priced, plastic-cased

chord organ Chord organ is a kind of home organ that has a single short keyboard and a set of chord buttons, enabling the musician to play a melody or lead with one hand and accompanying chords with the other, like the accordion with a set of chord button ...

s: small keyboard instruments in which the sound is produced by air being forced over reeds by an

electric fan A fan is a powered machine used to create a flow of air. A fan consists of a rotating arrangement of vanes or blades, generally made of wood, plastic, or metal, which act on the air. The rotating assembly of blades and hub is known as an ''im ...

. Such instruments were popular in the 1970s and early 1980s, and continued to be made until the mid-1980s, when Bontempi moved to manufacturing small, home

electronic keyboard An electronic keyboard, portable keyboard, or digital keyboard is an electronic musical instrument, an electronic derivative of keyboard instruments. Electronic keyboards include synthesizers, digital pianos, stage pianos, electronic organs an ...

s. The company continues to make low-priced musical instruments aimed at the educational and toy market, including

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

drum kit A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player ( drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsti ...

s and various items of

tuned percussion A pitched percussion instrument (also known as a melodic or tuned percussion instrument) is a percussion instrument used to produce note (music), musical notes of one or more pitch (music), pitches, as opposed to an unpitched percussion instrume ...

. Bontempi has been manufacturing musical instruments and toys for over 80 years; some of its fan-blown reed organs were built by

Comus S.p.A. Comus S.p.A. is an Italian musical instrument manufacturer, best known for manufacturing electronic and electric small home organs and chord organ Chord organ is a kind of home organ that has a single short keyboard and a set of chord buttons ...

Some European musicians use the expression "having a Bontempi sound" to describe an electronic instrument that sounds like a young child's toy, as they were children when Bontempi instruments were extremely popular in western Europe.

References

Musical instrument manufacturing companies of Italy Electronic organ manufacturing companies Companies based in le Marche Electronics companies of Italy Manufacturing companies established in 1937 Italian companies established in 1937 Italian brands {{Italy-company-stub

See also

References