My first project: Hohner Verdi II

[Jose EB5AGV]

Well, I think this one is indeed a good one to begin my accordion refurbishing career











I know some keys seem stuck. But the price is good (220€ plus shipping and insurance, total 249€), it is sold by the daughter of the first owner, who carried it from Germany to Spain, and I have been talking with her. A wonderful person, who has called by video call, so I have seen the accordion, and we have been commenting about its history. It was played by her mother. She was glad for the care I would give to it.

So, well, probably next week I will receive it!

I am really happy to work on such a nice looking instrument

Jose

 

[Tom]

Well, I think this one is indeed a good one to begin my accordion refurbishing career











I know some keys seem stuck. But the price is good (220€ plus shipping and insurance, total 249€), it is sold by the daughter of the first owner, who carried it from Germany to Spain, and I have been talking with her. A wonderful person, who has called by video call, so I have seen the accordion, and we have been commenting about its history. It was played by her mother. She was glad for the care I would give to it.

So, well, probably next week I will receive it!

I am really happy to work on such a nice looking instrument

Jose

Looks like a really good project Jose. Good luck!

 

[Rosie C]

Best of luck with the project! Post progress photos!

 

[Jose EB5AGV]

Thanks for your messages, I am really eager to begin this project!

BTW, I have noticed a curious thing... Look at the pictures and let me know where the locking mechanism for the bellow is supposed to be. I can see just a kind of pin on both sides, but no sign of the other support!. I have looked lots of pictures of a similar accordion and all look like this:



But on mine, there are some missing attaching points and no holes I can see. Any idea of what could happen?. It is not a big deal, I am genuinely curious!

 

[Ventura]

this one you chose is a very old model

the photo of the back/bellows you can see on the left
next to the bass strap adjustor wheel, there is a round brass nub
sticking up.. the bellows strap is just a piece of leather with a hole
in it that slips over the nub.. the leather piece may be missing

you can replace it with the more modern type with snap or
leave it original and use any old piece of a thin belt that is handy

look for photo's of those pre-war grey hohners, they mostly all
had that type of strap

 

[Jose EB5AGV]

this one you chose is a very old model

the photo of the back/bellows you can see on the left
next to the bass strap adjustor wheel, there is a round brass nub
sticking up.. the bellows strap is just a piece of leather with a hole
in it that slips over the nub.. the leather piece may be missing

you can replace it with the more modern type with snap or
leave it original and use any old piece of a thin belt that is handy

look for photo's of those pre-war grey hohners, they mostly all
had that type of strap

Oh, I see... Well, this model was manufactured from 1953 to 1961, according to the document elsewhere on this site (thanks!). I guess then it is closer to 1953 than anything else...

I think this bellows strap system is less intrusive physically than the newer model. It is cleaner, so to say. I like it

 

[Jose EB5AGV]

Well, it finally arrived yesterday but until this morning had not been able to open the box...

Then the World has fallen over my head at first sight , because there were some unexpected things:

-The left hand belt adjuster is frozen
-There are some oxide spots
-The bass buttons are mostly non working
-The bellows pins seemed stuck
-The bellows locking straps were just missing and there were holes were they had been installed (I thought it was an older unit that used other simpler straps)
-There were some loose parts inside!

Here you have some pictures:





At least it is a legit one!





Oh well, I was too optimistic about it!

Then, after some thinking about returning it... I have decided to give another go to open it. And I have succeeded!

The pins had some oxide on them, that was the reason to be so hard to remove.

And the I have found what was loose!. Just some wood parts which in turn had let the reeds assemblies to move a bit



But nothing was broken!

And the reeds look really fine. Here you have some pictures:





All the treble reeds look similar

Everything seems well preserved on this side:

 

[Jose EB5AGV]

Next I have looked to the bass reeds:



Here you can see some valves needing work and also some slight rust:



The mechanism works, but needs some cleaning:





All in all, it seems untouched, which is a good thing!



Now I need to unlock the bass strap wheel... I have protected the wood with tape and have put some drops of oil on the belt so they move to the point were the screw should be locked. I hope this works. If not, any hint besides cutting the strap?



To be continued...

 

[keysfox]

Best of luck with this project! Looks like quite the undertaking, I've done some refurbs on smaller accordions and found them manageable, but when scaled up to 120 bass I can imagine this will take a while! But definitely well worth the effort.

One tip I've found about stuck bellow pins is to heat the pin up a tiny bit with a soldiering iron, not too much but just enough to get it moving freely. Managed to open some very rusty pins with this technique when all else has failed - and definitely a last ditch effort!

 

[Tom]

Actually looks pretty good Jose! I’ve experienced a lot worse. I think you’ll have a nice playing accordion before you know it! Congrats!

 

[PhiliGol]

Good old Hohner Verdi - nice to see it.
Good luck for this touch-up project.

 

[Jose EB5AGV]

Good old Hohner Verdi - nice to see it.
Good luck for this touch-up project.

Well, more than a toch-up, it seems like a repair project... So far I have found that most bass keys are stuck and some trebble keys are not moving freely, as they are wooden and somewhat deformed. Also, the bass strap wheel is frozen, so I can't yet access to the bass mechanism. A work in progress!

All in all, seems well preserved and untouched, so I hope to get it working!

 

[Jose EB5AGV]

I have done some more work on the Verdi II

As I was unable to remove the bass strap and so could not open the bass cover, I have checked the keyboard side.

The cover and grille are in good shape:



It looks fine inside:



After removing the register switches:



I have marked the keys which have some problems, some touch between them, some are a bit twisted...



And they are not even:



So there is work to do on this area!

 

[Jose EB5AGV]

But then, after trying unsuccessfully to rotate the bass strap wheel (I had oiled it hours ago and have tried lots of times to move it), I have decided to drill holes on the strap to remove the screws below it and gain access to the bass mechanics. Not an easy thing, as the strap was almost at minimum length:







So I have done the same on both sides and, finally, after some struggle, have got the cover out:





And then I have seen why the wheel was frozen. The screw (and all the assembly) is completely oxidized. The part not seen here is even worse!



So the bass mechanism is also damaged by oxide:



I have taken out part of it:



This part is the worst. I need to carefully work on it, and also on all the bass mechanism, as it is damaged by humidity. But, well, all is there so it can be done!