Charlie Ortego was born in 1926, in Ville Platte Louisiana. He eventually moved to Lake Charles and made a living as a cabinet maker, who turned his trade into building premium handmade accordions. He made his first one around 1960. He would name his brand “Master”. When Charlie first started building accordions he would send them to the renowned accordion maker from the same city, Sidney Brown, to tune them until he learned about an electronic tuning device. Charlie took his second accordion he ever made to a local artist to create a stencil for a design on it. The artist asked Charlie if he wanted the name Ortego on the face plate and Charlie said no, and the artist replied “Why not”? “This is a masterpiece “. That’s when Charlie came up with the name “Master” for his brand name accordion. His first accordions were black and the buttons were spent .45 ACP bullet hulls. Eventually, Charlie experimented with different shades and colors, as well as different woods such as cedar, maple, zebra wood , etc. He was known to have made a yellow and blue accordion for Boo Zoo Chavis. He was also known for making accordions for artist such as: Boo Zoo Chavis, Bobby Benoit, Phil Menard, Tim Savoy, Chris Miller, Eric O’Blanc, Harrol Duplechin, among others. He had a great passion for making them with detail. Business got so good by word of mouth that he eventually quit building cabinets and solely concentrated on his accordion building. He would sometimes ask one of his clients, accordion player Tim Savoy of the former Cajun band from Lake Charles, the Calcasieu Playboys, to visit him at his shop and test them out by playing them. At one point he, Sidney Brown and Valentine Lopez were the only accordion makers in the Lake Charles area, coming on the heals of Sidney being the first to make hand crafted Cajun accordions in Louisiana which basically were copies of the old pre WWII German model Sterlings, Monarch’s and Eagle brand diatonic accordions. The three men basically paved the way for other prominent accordion builders that lived in the Lake Area to follow, such as: Ervin Lejuene (Professional), Laten Miller (Cajun Classic), Lee Begnaud (Accordions by Lee Begnaud), Cliff Mott (Mott),, Danny Dyson (La Capitaine), and Ken Guillory (La Louisianne), (who still builds them today). I can still remember riding in front of his house on my bike on 18th street on the way to visit my Aunt, seeing him on his front porch with one of his handmade accordions in hand. Wish I would have pulled up and said hello! Charlie passed away in 2005, in Lake Charles, Louisiana where he lived for many years. Though not a musician, Cajun music culture owes a gratitude to Charlie and other trailblazing music instrument builders that helped pave the way. Today, anyone would be considered lucky to possess one of his creations. They are highly sought after by players and collectors. A special thanks to those who contributed heavily to this story, Tim Savoy, Ron Yule, and the Calcasieu Parish Library. Composed by Neal P Granger
