I'm making this officially day #1 of the restoration of my 1930s Settimio Soprani 120-bass. It started with a photo of my grandfather back in the 1940s. He played accordion in a dance band. With the help of the good folks here we worked out it was a "Cardinal" model, and I managed to track one down at the end of last year at the Birmingham Accordion Centre.

With gorgeous tiger-pattern black keys, covered in jewels, it's quite a thing:

Today I fitted straps to it, but it needs new bellows straps and the bellows themselves blow much of the air into my face when playing, it seems many of the corners are leaking. I might just stick some paper on for now, I'll probably buy new bellows later in the restoration.

But it is going to need a bit of work. As something to look back on a couple of years, here is a video of its current playability...

With gorgeous tiger-pattern black keys, covered in jewels, it's quite a thing:



Today I fitted straps to it, but it needs new bellows straps and the bellows themselves blow much of the air into my face when playing, it seems many of the corners are leaking. I might just stick some paper on for now, I'll probably buy new bellows later in the restoration.



But it is going to need a bit of work. As something to look back on a couple of years, here is a video of its current playability...