New guy with grandad‘s accordion

[Snoopz]

Hi everyone,
I’m the new guy I live in southern Germany, working in Munich.

My grandad passed away more than 25 years ago and I inherited his accordion a couple of years ago via my mum, who’s thankfully still alive but moved house and wanted to get rid of a lot of things. It has been sitting in my own basement for quite some time now. I got it out over the holidays and started practicing from a children’s accordion book I got from one of my son’s classmates. It's a lot of fun and I practice almost daily.

Attached is an image of the accordion. It is in rather bad shape. It is quite out of tune and a little beat up. The valves are mostly toast and the tremolo is all over the place. Thankfully, all the notes do sound, and only those that I want to play I don’t have any recollection of my grandad ever playing the instrument himself, though to be fair, I haven’t been visiting often due to distance.

If anyone has a clue as to make and model as well as building dates of the box, I’d be very grateful!

I am aware that the instrument is rather limited, having only 12 basses, so I'm in the market for a bigger one. I still plan on keeping my grandad’s and even working on it a little bit to make it more presentable and maybe even give it a tune, but I’ll have to fix some personal issues first.

Best regards,
Arne

 

[David A]

Hi Arne ( @Snoopz ). Can't help you with details of your "box" but welcome to the forum. Great that you've caught the accordion "bug" and are looking for an uograde already. You'll find lots of useful information and well-informed people here.

 

[debra]

Cosmetically the old accordion is not too bad, so it can be made into a decoration piece. Economically it makes no sense to try to restore it, but it all depends on how attached you are to it and how determined to make it playable.
There are some legendary vintage accordions that are worth a lot of money 60 to 70 years after they were made. This however is not one of them...

 

[Squeezebox Of Delights]

Hello!
I think I can help at least a little bit with your box. It's an old one, probably pre-WWII, and it was built in Klingenthal, a historic hub of instrument building. I'm guessing that the treble reeds are brass on long, zinc plates, and the chord reeds have six per plate. I doubt that researching "Minerva" accordions will be very fruitful, as this was probably a name used by a music shop that bought instruments straight from the factory and had them rebranded. I don't know the specific manufacturer, but most of these 1930s Saxonian piano accordions look very similar and, despite the vast number of different names, I imagine they were all built in the same factory. If I were you I would have a dig around on the internet for old catalogues, similar instruments etc., you might find some useful information.
I wouldn't put too much work or money into getting it restored to play, not because it has a low value, but simply because from my experience these aren't the nicest instruments to play! They're usually rather pretty though, and yours is no exception. Of course, a mediocre accordion is better than no accordion at all, and if you can get it playing again then that's always a good thing! Obviously I can't see it in person but it doesn't look too bad in the photos, although you probably want to do something about that delaminating plywood. I imagine you can just glue it up and clamp it flat. They keys look a little wonky too, but this can usually be fixed by removing the grille and carefully bending the key rods so the keys sit at the right height.
Best of luck!

 

[Snoopz]

Cosmetically the old accordion is not too bad,

Well… the celluloid is broken or even missing in flakes in places. You could probably hide that on display though. The bellows don’t look good at all, although they don’t lose air.

There are some legendary vintage accordions that are worth a lot of money 60 to 70 years after they were made. This however is not one of them...

No, definitely not. I will probably try to fix it up myself some time. I mean, how much worse can it get? Grandad would probably have tried himself if he were still around.

I'm not at all sure what new (probably used) box to get. I’m not even sure I want to stay with a PA since I don't have a background in piano. My budget is rather tight at the moment, but I also don't want to buy a ruin just to shell out for massive repairs afterward. I'll try to visit one or two stores in Munich to find out.

 

[Snoopz]

I'm guessing that the treble reeds are brass on long, zinc plates, and the chord reeds have six per plate.

I'll have a look at the weekend when I have a little time. I had it open two or three weeks ago, that’s how I know the valves are shot. But I didn’t take pictures (stupid!).

I doubt that researching "Minerva" accordions will be very fruitful,

You can find some instruments under that name, but mostly younger 80 bass models iirc. I’ll see if I can find something with the additional info you provided.

if you can get it playing again then that's always a good thing!

It does play and doesn’t sound too bad for a beginner like me. That’s how I got into playing at all. But it’s clear that only two octaves treble and only major chords in bass won’t get me all that far.

 

[Dingo40]

If anyone has a clue as to make and model as well as building dates of the box, I’d be very grateful!

Welcome Snoopz!
All I can tell you is it is most likely from the 1930's and is named after Minerva (the Roman goddess responsible for music among many other things).
This is a 12 bass 25 treble instrument quite popular among folk musicians. buskers, circus performers and vaudevillians (check out "The Cambridge Buskers on YouTube).
See here regarding Minerva:

Minerva - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Cambridge Buskers:

Also, check out "How to play 12 bass accordion?" on YouTube: there's much there!
Good luck!

 

[Rodney]

Welcome to the forum Arne/Snoopz, I hope you enjoy it … the members have a wealth of knowledge and experience and seem very willing to help.

 

[Dingo40]

Arne
I just wanted to draw your attention to this recent thread as being relevant !

Grenville Morris on a 90-Year-Old 12 Bass

I put videos on YouTube fairly often, but I have never posted them here before, so I thought I'd show you people my most recent upload. A few days ago I was browsing eBay as one does, and I came across a 1930s Hohner 12 bass, for a buy-it-now price of £25. I don't need a 12 bass obviously as I...

www.accordionists.info

 

[Squeezebox Of Delights]

Oh yes, I probably should have mentioned that I've recently bought a 25/12 box and that I'm having an awful lot of fun with it. Yes, only having a tenth of the standard number of buttons is limiting, but you've essentially got the same range on the left hand side as a normal 8 bass melodeon, albeit with a greater number of combinations because the stradella system is unisonoric. Once you've taped off the thirds in the chords you end up with a really useable instrument that's compact and simple to learn, but has enough notes to be used pretty properly!

 

[Snoopz]

Thank you both for your encouragement! I do plan on playing my box for a while yet and seeing and hearing you play gives me a little more peace of mind. No need to buy the next best thing that comes along.

 

[dak]

Well… the celluloid is broken or even missing in flakes in places. You could probably hide that on display though. The bellows don’t look good at all, although they don’t lose air.

No, definitely not. I will probably try to fix it up myself some time. I mean, how much worse can it get? Grandad would probably have tried himself if he were still around.

I'm not at all sure what new (probably used) box to get. I’m not even sure I want to stay with a PA since I don't have a background in piano. My budget is rather tight at the moment, but I also don't want to buy a ruin just to shell out for massive repairs afterward. I'll try to visit one or two stores in Munich to find out.

I'll try recording an Amati IIIM tomorrow, 34 notes in 3 rows, 48 basses. It's for sale (in Germany), is surprisingly in tune with an even tremolo (octaves in the high range are not perfect but it's not apparent in scales) and can probably be resold without significant loss. Good enough for trying out the system, though a bit heavy action if you are playing polyphonically a lot. Doesn't make sense to tune better than it is (if you want to do recordings, you want a different instrument), with regard to repairs one'd likely want better straps: the original ones broke and the current not much better ones were taken from a 96-bass instrument that deserved newer ones. The action is kind of clacky; a piece of felt unter the buttons would likely fix that.

It's a somewhat better CBA than what your grandpa's PA was originally, though not a whole lot. If you want to hear what a good CBA sounds or feels like, this is probably not terribly relevant, but it's relevant for C system and "screechboxes".

P.S.: see here

 

[Snoopz]

To give a little update: I bought @dak 's Amati and I am very, very happy about it. The "attack" is so much faster, the sound fuller in both bass and treble. And of course it's CBA, which I find very intriguing. I was surprised how well I got into it already.

I will definitely keep the Minerva and rework the valves, because I think that's the cause for the slow attack and meagre sound. I even plan to play a couple of my grandma's favourite songs on it when I visit her this summer for her 87th birthday. But since I now have the Amati, I can take my time with the repairs without being "sine".

 

[Tom]

To give a little update: I bought @dak 's Amati and I am very, very happy about it. The "attack" is so much faster, the sound fuller in both bass and treble. And of course it's CBA, which I find very intriguing. I was surprised how well I got into it already.

I will definitely keep the Minerva and rework the valves, because I think that's the cause for the slow attack and meagre sound. I even plan to play a couple of my grandma's favourite songs on it when I visit her this summer for her 87th birthday. But since I now have the Amati, I can take my time with the repairs without being "sine".

Good to hear, hope you love it and it brings you great joy. Kudos to @dak for honesty and clarity in describing the accordion.