Hohner Concerto III leaking air through the treble register mechanism?

[debra]

A friend of mine (an accordion teacher) has a student who bought an old Hohner Concerto III. Apparently it leaks air through the treble register mechanism. The seller (a store) is telling her that this is normal because it is a construction error in this type of accordion. Has anyone here ever heard of such construction error in the hohner Concerto III? (I think the story is bullocks, but I have no history with that model.)
Maybe people with a longer history of accordion repair know something more about problems with this model? JimD maybe?

 

[JIM D.]

I've run into two older Hohners in the past that a unique shift machine that had a rod that passed thru the treble body.
Half of the shift machine was mounted on the grill and actuated a rod that passed thru the pallet plate and connected
to the interior slides.

This was years ago and I really can't remember the model names. These so called shift rods passed thru a leather
gasket that had dried up & leaked. My solution at the time was to fit 'O' rings to the rod and split a plastic washer that
I then mounted to hold the 'O' rings in place. The fix worked well and to this day have not had a recall.
I found the 'O' rings I needed at a local Plumbing & Hardware Store. I since have stocked an assortment of 'O' rings
in the shop.

 

[JIM D.]

Al DiMarco has posted Pic's of this design in his new post "Hohner leaky shift machine."

 

[OuijaBoard]

Nonsense. After a certain age even boxes as indestructible as the Hohner Concerto III develop issues, and the seller is trying to flim-flam. And if it WAS a chronic construction error in that model, it should have been disclosed up front.

This is why I recommend only the three most recent editions of this classic stroller---going from most recent, final West German model backwards: Concerto III T; Concerto III S; Concerto III N. Stay away from anything earlier unless you are a tech yourself or have easy access to a master tech and are prepared to pay to fix issues.