Ikesaccordions
Active member
Was the Continental the last full-size model Excelsior produced in NY? The one I have was owned since the 1960s by someone whose parents bought it for him in the 1960s. The valve pallet pads in both treble and bass were about 5mm -- I presume the idea for thick pads in the bass was to mitigate noise where the 2 mics were put at the ends of the mechanism cavity. The stereo mics were factory installed.
The valve pads were sticking down so all had to be changed. They ooked like waxed on the treble rods, but you would need a 500 watt iron to get them off so I had to dismantle they keyboard to change them.
Some electronic tyro had put 2 tiny banana plugs on the treble circuit board so the grille wouldn't fit down, and I eventually figured how the wires were suppoed to be soldered in and then re-purposed a connector from Micro Center to be able to disconnect the grill.
There was a spiral connector going to the bass side along the bottom of the bellows that had oxidized so I made a new new one from a guitar cord.
But my question is basically do people know about this model; were many made; presuming they all had the best Bugari reeds, etc.?
No cassotto BTW but the sliding wood mute, which the electronic guy damaged trying to get the bass connector wire to fit, but I sort of repaired for sonority reasons, assuming the tone cavity wa there for a reason.
Any thoughts?
It's on eBay because I sold this 33 lb behemoth to a nonagenarian guy who found it a chore to handle, and I'd like to get him his money back because he needs a Roland.
The valve pads were sticking down so all had to be changed. They ooked like waxed on the treble rods, but you would need a 500 watt iron to get them off so I had to dismantle they keyboard to change them.
Some electronic tyro had put 2 tiny banana plugs on the treble circuit board so the grille wouldn't fit down, and I eventually figured how the wires were suppoed to be soldered in and then re-purposed a connector from Micro Center to be able to disconnect the grill.
There was a spiral connector going to the bass side along the bottom of the bellows that had oxidized so I made a new new one from a guitar cord.
But my question is basically do people know about this model; were many made; presuming they all had the best Bugari reeds, etc.?
No cassotto BTW but the sliding wood mute, which the electronic guy damaged trying to get the bass connector wire to fit, but I sort of repaired for sonority reasons, assuming the tone cavity wa there for a reason.
Any thoughts?
It's on eBay because I sold this 33 lb behemoth to a nonagenarian guy who found it a chore to handle, and I'd like to get him his money back because he needs a Roland.
