General feelings on reliability of 1960s accordions

[alexandhisaccordion]

I have a Sonola R/20, which different people have suggested different dates of manufacture. The seller thought it might be 1990s. Then a renowned accordion shop who did a full relax/retune etc on it, suggested mid 1980s.

It is in exceptionally good condition. So it does cosmetically look quite modern. However on here and also Facebook people have suggested between 1950s / 1960s.

Looking at the internal parts I'm starting to wonder if it was from this earlier era. I can imagine looking inside a 1980s box and it still looking relatively new. However inside the grill my Sonola, it just looks fairly 'old'. Not bad, but just 'older than 1980s'.

If I took a guess and said it was from 1965, this would mean it's almost 60 years old. Even though it plays well, and has no issues, I'm reluctant to trust such an old mechanical device if I was doing a larger performance. Sometimes I play to a church with a seated audience of up to 100 people. I really don't want to risk anything going wrong.

What do people think?

 

[debra]

There is absolutely no reason why you should distrust the mechanics that have worked flawlessly for so many decades.
But there are a few things you could do to "rejuvenate" your instrument:
1) Remove the register mechanism (under the grille), disassemble and clean. Make sure you do not bend any of the metal strips.
2) Remove the keyboard, and clean everything thoroughly. You may find that a lot of dust and debris has collected under the keyboard.
3) You can fluff up the leather of the pallets with a toothbrush (going against the grain). Replacing the pallet felt+leather is best left for a technician to do, but the toothbrush approach already helps a bit. I have also seen someone poking the felt from the side with a needle to alleviate a bit of the compression that happened over the decades.
4) You can also replace the felt under the keyboard with felt of identical original thickness. The original thickness can be seen at the very end of the keyboard (where nothing has pressed on it).
5) Everything said above can also be done on the bass side (cleaning, brushing the pallet leather...) but it's a lot of delicate work to disassemble and reassemble the bass mechanism so this is also best left to a technician.
6) Check whether the bellows seal (on both sides) is still good. It gets compressed over time. Replacing with new gasket tape (for accordions, not for windows) is not too hard.
7) Check for worn bellows tape and replace if needed.
8) Check whether the leathers/valves on the reed blocks are still "flush" and flexible and still glued on properly and check whether the wax has not hardened to the point that reed plates are about to fall off. These are again repairs for a technician.
I have done all of this on a Crucianelli from the 1960s (not replacing the pallets, only brushing), but all the cleaning, and replacing wax and valves, and it still plays like new.
For the best possible info on how to minor repairs by yourself, always consult the accordionrevival.com website!

 

[JIM D.]

You are fortunate to have a used Italian student model accordion from the 60's. At the time these Italian student models were made of
the same quality & build of a semi-pro or pro model accordion. A perfect candidate for refurbishing or rebuildin as once done, they
will easily perform for another half a century.

 

[alexandhisaccordion]

There is absolutely no reason why you should distrust the mechanics that have worked flawlessly for so many decades.
But there are a few things you could do to "rejuvenate" your instrument:
1) Remove the register mechanism (under the grille), disassemble and clean. Make sure you do not bend any of the metal strips.
2) Remove the keyboard, and clean everything thoroughly. You may find that a lot of dust and debris has collected under the keyboard.
3) You can fluff up the leather of the pallets with a toothbrush (going against the grain). Replacing the pallet felt+leather is best left for a technician to do, but the toothbrush approach already helps a bit. I have also seen someone poking the felt from the side with a needle to alleviate a bit of the compression that happened over the decades.
4) You can also replace the felt under the keyboard with felt of identical original thickness. The original thickness can be seen at the very end of the keyboard (where nothing has pressed on it).
5) Everything said above can also be done on the bass side (cleaning, brushing the pallet leather...) but it's a lot of delicate work to disassemble and reassemble the bass mechanism so this is also best left to a technician.
6) Check whether the bellows seal (on both sides) is still good. It gets compressed over time. Replacing with new gasket tape (for accordions, not for windows) is not too hard.
7) Check for worn bellows tape and replace if needed.
8) Check whether the leathers/valves on the reed blocks are still "flush" and flexible and still glued on properly and check whether the wax has not hardened to the point that reed plates are about to fall off. These are again repairs for a technician.
I have done all of this on a Crucianelli from the 1960s (not replacing the pallets, only brushing), but all the cleaning, and replacing wax and valves, and it still plays like new.
For the best possible info on how to minor repairs by yourself, always consult the accordionrevival.com website!

Hi thanks for all this info, it gives me some confidence with it. I actually really like the accordion in looks/ sound/ form factor, so I would love to make it my 'main instrument'. The leather valves have all been either rejuvenated or replaced, along everything being rewaxed and fully tuned treble and bass. This was done at Allodi, London earlier this month.

I like the idea of fluffing up the felt on the pallets. Do you think this might improve the compression?

There don't seem to be any leaks, but the compression is not 100% like a brand new box. It's more like 95%, so even with no notes played the bellows will eventually close (slowly). Also, would I do this to the pallets with the accordion assembled?

many thanks

 

[alexandhisaccordion]

You are fortunate to have a used Italian student model accordion from the 60's. At the time these Italian student models were made of
the same quality & build of a semi-pro or pro model accordion. A perfect candidate for refurbishing or rebuildin as once done, they
will easily perform for another half a century.

Thankyou, I just wonder when you say student-model would this be a reference to the size of the accordion? Many thanks.

 

[debra]

Hi thanks for all this info, it gives me some confidence with it. I actually really like the accordion in looks/ sound/ form factor, so I would love to make it my 'main instrument'. The leather valves have all been either rejuvenated or replaced, along everything being rewaxed and fully tuned treble and bass. This was done at Allodi, London earlier this month.

I like the idea of fluffing up the felt on the pallets. Do you think this might improve the compression?

There don't seem to be any leaks, but the compression is not 100% like a brand new box. It's more like 95%, so even with no notes played the bellows will eventually close (slowly). Also, would I do this to the pallets with the accordion assembled?

many thanks

Fluffing up the leather under the felt may improve compression. But an air leak also reduces compression and is most likely caused by old bellows gasket tape. However, Allodi may have replaced that as well. You should check.

 

[debra]

Thankyou, I just wonder when you say student-model would this be a reference to the size of the accordion? Many thanks.

Not the size, but the fact that it is a bit of a lower end model, 3 voice LMM, no cassotto. It likely has just standard (machine) reeds too.
Such accordions were typically used by (sufficiently grown up) students starting out with accordion. But they are also great as light-weight travel instruments or for use on stage while standing and/or walking.

 

[alexandhisaccordion]

Not the size, but the fact that it is a bit of a lower end model, 3 voice LMM, no cassotto. It likely has just standard (machine) reeds too.
Such accordions were typically used by (sufficiently grown up) students starting out with accordion. But they are also great as light-weight travel instruments or for use on stage while standing and/or walking.

Very interesting, thankyou

 

[Glug]

You can check the compression yourself using the "drop test":

HOW TO REPAIR ACCORDIONS 1

Check out http://accordionrevival.com! AccordionRevival.com How to repair accordions, make accordion repair tools, find and repair air leaks, change leathers, wax reeds, voice reeds, level keyboards.

accordionrevival.com

Starting at paragraph six:

To find out if your leak is internal or external, measure the amount of time it takes the bellows to close under its own weight from the full open position with all valves closed.

My 1959 Hohner Lucia IV P was around 25 secs when I bought it 3 years back, it's now around 70 secs after a lot of DIY.

 

[alexandhisaccordion]

You can check the compression yourself using the "drop test":

HOW TO REPAIR ACCORDIONS 1

Check out http://accordionrevival.com! AccordionRevival.com How to repair accordions, make accordion repair tools, find and repair air leaks, change leathers, wax reeds, voice reeds, level keyboards.

accordionrevival.com

Starting at paragraph six:

To find out if your leak is internal or external, measure the amount of time it takes the bellows to close under its own weight from the full open position with all valves closed.

My 1959 Hohner Lucia IV P was around 25 secs when I bought it 3 years back, it's now around 70 secs after a lot of DIY.

Thanks, I just tried this. 38 seconds.

But perhaps this is affected somewhat by the size of the accordion too?

 

[alexandhisaccordion]

You can check the compression yourself using the "drop test":

HOW TO REPAIR ACCORDIONS 1

Check out http://accordionrevival.com! AccordionRevival.com How to repair accordions, make accordion repair tools, find and repair air leaks, change leathers, wax reeds, voice reeds, level keyboards.

accordionrevival.com

Starting at paragraph six:

To find out if your leak is internal or external, measure the amount of time it takes the bellows to close under its own weight from the full open position with all valves closed.

My 1959 Hohner Lucia IV P was around 25 secs when I bought it 3 years back, it's now around 70 secs after a lot of DIY.

I had actually seen this website some time ago, but thanks for the reminder. Lots of good info there!

 

[Glug]

38 seconds sounds quite reasonable, apparently "you won't get much better than 50 secs on the finest Italian boxes"
(paraphrased from https://www.accordionists.info/threads/air-leaks-lucia-iv-p.5243/)

 

[alexandhisaccordion]

38 seconds sounds quite reasonable, apparently "you won't get much better than 50 secs on the finest Italian boxes"
(paraphrased from https://www.accordionists.info/threads/air-leaks-lucia-iv-p.5243/)

Yes it certainly doesn't feel like the compression is a big problem on this. Incidentally I tried it on my ageing (although only 12 years old) Hohner Bravo and it was just under 25 seconds. I think it needs a bit of a service.

Thanks for the info anyway, I've been inspired to clean up the Sonola now so it's looking good!