MoreorlessMusic
Member
I recently acquired an 80 bass Scandalli 666/181. It was bought as an unplayable “project”, but I am hopeful that after a considerable amount of work through the winter months, it will be a lovely accordion. There had been two spelling mistakes the first time the accordion was advertised, and the headline read “Scandalous Accordian”. Naturally I could not resist something scandalous!
Most notes on the keyboard played, a few did not, and some did not sound all that happy, but most were reasonably in tune. The bass buttons all worked, although the register selector was jammed. Buttons and keys had a nice action, the keyboard was level and the bellows had good compression.
Opening it up was very interesting. The case was nicely made from mahogany. The reeds looked in good condition with very little sign of rust. As would be expected, all the valves need replacing and the reed plates need re-waxing.
The reason for some treble notes not sounding was immediately obvious, as three reeds were missing! I later found two of them locked in a passionate embrace in a fold of the bellows. The other missing one is currently lost without trace, fortunately it is the highest note on one of the reed blocks, so I can probably do without it for a while.
There was damage to the reed block that had lost two of the reeds, it had suffered an impact at one end that had cracked it and left gaps so some basic wood work will be required to sort that out once I have removed the reeds.
Unfortunately the damaged reed block had become firmly stuck to the gasket that was under it, probably someone had smeared glue around, and I will have to repair or replace the gasket. I assume that some very thin felt would be the right material to use for that, or would you use leather?
The accordion may have been dropped at some point as there are a few cracks to mend, one in the corner of the case not far from the damaged reed block, and also on the front corners near the keyboard.
The biggest problem area that I can see concerns the treble pallets and their felts. Thirteen of the pallets have some damage, and some have had the felt eaten away, possibly by insects? When I first opened the accordion it really was a filthy mess around the pallets and the back of the keyboard, but I took the instrument outside and, after carefully removing the treble reed blocks, I cleaned out most of the debris with compressed air.
The damage to the pallets looks strange to me, maybe others have seen something like it, but it appears like some have partly melted and distorted, either by heat or chemical reaction. On some, but not all, the felt is really discoloured.
I have been searching online for replacement pallets, but have not had much luck so far. These ones measure 48 x 12 mm and appear to be made out of some sort of black plastic. The felt in most of them is about 4mm thick, but four of the pallets have felt that is only about 1.5 thick.
I have seen wooden pallets online, and some Hohner aluminium pallets that are slightly larger at 49 x 13mm. Do you think that the Hohner ones could be adapted to work?Having seen Italian wooden pallets online, I do wonder if I could make some out of bass wood that can be purchased for model making.
Do any of you know the age of this accordion, my guess is 60 – 70 years, but someone might know?
Thank you!
Most notes on the keyboard played, a few did not, and some did not sound all that happy, but most were reasonably in tune. The bass buttons all worked, although the register selector was jammed. Buttons and keys had a nice action, the keyboard was level and the bellows had good compression.
Opening it up was very interesting. The case was nicely made from mahogany. The reeds looked in good condition with very little sign of rust. As would be expected, all the valves need replacing and the reed plates need re-waxing.
The reason for some treble notes not sounding was immediately obvious, as three reeds were missing! I later found two of them locked in a passionate embrace in a fold of the bellows. The other missing one is currently lost without trace, fortunately it is the highest note on one of the reed blocks, so I can probably do without it for a while.
There was damage to the reed block that had lost two of the reeds, it had suffered an impact at one end that had cracked it and left gaps so some basic wood work will be required to sort that out once I have removed the reeds.
Unfortunately the damaged reed block had become firmly stuck to the gasket that was under it, probably someone had smeared glue around, and I will have to repair or replace the gasket. I assume that some very thin felt would be the right material to use for that, or would you use leather?
The accordion may have been dropped at some point as there are a few cracks to mend, one in the corner of the case not far from the damaged reed block, and also on the front corners near the keyboard.
The biggest problem area that I can see concerns the treble pallets and their felts. Thirteen of the pallets have some damage, and some have had the felt eaten away, possibly by insects? When I first opened the accordion it really was a filthy mess around the pallets and the back of the keyboard, but I took the instrument outside and, after carefully removing the treble reed blocks, I cleaned out most of the debris with compressed air.
The damage to the pallets looks strange to me, maybe others have seen something like it, but it appears like some have partly melted and distorted, either by heat or chemical reaction. On some, but not all, the felt is really discoloured.
I have been searching online for replacement pallets, but have not had much luck so far. These ones measure 48 x 12 mm and appear to be made out of some sort of black plastic. The felt in most of them is about 4mm thick, but four of the pallets have felt that is only about 1.5 thick.
I have seen wooden pallets online, and some Hohner aluminium pallets that are slightly larger at 49 x 13mm. Do you think that the Hohner ones could be adapted to work?Having seen Italian wooden pallets online, I do wonder if I could make some out of bass wood that can be purchased for model making.
Do any of you know the age of this accordion, my guess is 60 – 70 years, but someone might know?
Thank you!
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