Preparing for sale?

[Ninecows]

Hi all

I found this at a flea market for nearly nothing. I have never been playing an accordion before. It sounds fine to me, but since I have very little idea on what to check for it might still be worthless. It sounds to be in tune and all the keys and buttons work. And the belly seems airtight.

There is however a crack in it. See pictures.
Not knowing anything about accordions nor how to play it (I do play the piano), what would you recommend?

1) Try to sell it as is? Any idea what price range it’s in? Not trying to rob anyone. Myself included ;-)
2) get it repaired and checked? What would that cost - roughly?
3) try to repair it myself before selling it? I am usually not bad at fixing stuff, but I have no clue how to fix this. Is it easy?
4) It’s not worth the effort - just keep it for what it is and have fun with it.

I am a little squeezed on space and could use the money, so (4) is the least attractive.

 

[mtj]

There are others on this site who know a lot more but given I don’t see any responses I’ll tell you what I think. A standard accordion is 41 keys and 120 buttons, and four reeds on the treble side. This having 34 keys, 48 buttons and three reads on the treble indicates it’s probably a student model. Ottavianelli is a well known brand but not high end enough to have unique appeal. There are so many old accordions out there that I can’t see being worth much. Sadly it’s probably worth what you paid for it. I don’t think fixing it is likely to increase its value in a significant way.

 

[32251]

The separation in the celluloid…is that a result of a crack in the wood? If the key section is flexing right there at that separation, then you have a big issue. Address that first.

 

[Tom]

Omg I love it!!! I want to know who Emme is/was. I have that same accordion, only probably 35 years younger. I would buy it from you in a second for more than you paid for it if I lived in Denmark.

Anyway, I agree with 32251 in that the nature of the issue is key.

If you have no desire to play it, I would advise to sell it as is because the repair will probably be more than you want to do (unless you are super handy), and the cost of a repairer doing it will probably be prohibitive.

Good luck to you!!! Maybe list it for sale on here so one of our fine members can play this beauty. Oh you made my day.

 

[debra]

Clearly this accordion made a tumble (like from a table) and landed on the corner of the keyboard, which caused the crack in the wood and celluloid. If you look at the keyboard you will see that the keys sit higher on the end of the low notes than on the end of the high notes.
The crack needs to be glued (and brought back into position so the keyboard is level at both ends), and when that is fixed (and completely dried and solid) you can turn your attention to the celluloid. Plain black celluloid can be repaired "invisibly" but the blue celluloid with a marbled pattern is a lot harder to do. There is a reason you found the accordion at a flea market...

 

[Tom]

I would do it and would love to have a backup to the one I play every day. How much would it cost to ship to US I wonder…..

 

[niels]

Welcome Ninecows.
If you like messing about with / repairing stuff this could be a rewarding one. But not in hopes of making much money out of it.

 

[32251]

Good eye debra with the keys being uneven. I have fixed that problem on several accordions with glue and sometimes a screw on the inside going down in the area beside the keys. It can be done and the unit will be strong again.

 

[Jmcgsd]

It’s a 72 bass box. 120 bass are a dime a dozen here in the U.S. and I believe in Europe. 72 bass are much harder to find, so if that accordion were repaired I would think it would bring good money. Even in that condition, since it is repairable it probably can be sold for more than you paid for it.

 

[Tom]

I think we lost the OP. Maybe they sold it already?

 

[Ninecows]

Sorry… you didn’t lose me. I checked in for a couple days and nothing happened. And I thought the forum would notify me with an email if someone replied. Just got back. Digesting the replies. Thanks for all of them.

Yes. It seems like there’s a crack in the wood it self.

 

[Whasanike]

Hi all

I found this at a flea market for nearly nothing. I have never been playing an accordion before. It sounds fine to me, but since I have very little idea on what to check for it might still be worthless. It sounds to be in tune and all the keys and buttons work. And the belly seems airtight.

There is however a crack in it. See pictures.
Not knowing anything about accordions nor how to play it (I do play the piano), what would you recommend?

1) Try to sell it as is? Any idea what price range it’s in? Not trying to rob anyone. Myself included ;-)
2) get it repaired and checked? What would that cost - roughly?
3) try to repair it myself before selling it? I am usually not bad at fixing stuff, but I have no clue how to fix this. Is it easy?
4) It’s not worth the effort - just keep it for what it is and have fun with it.

I am a little squeezed on space and could use the money, so (4) is the least attractive.

Don't pay anybody. If the crack leaks air you can fix it with carpenter's s glue and a band clamp. If the crack means the keyboard is loose and wobbles, that is a hard repair. I think it never pays to pay somebody to fix it. If the crack is just in the finish and not structural it should not affect the value much

 

[32251]

Yes. It seems like there’s a crack in the wood it self.

It’s a result of the accordion body being stressed as a result of several possibilities….usually from being dropped. That is a tricky crack to fix…just gluing will not be enough. I always take a long drill bit and remove the Reed blocks on the key side and find the right place to drill into the side of the keyboard where the crack is,. Then make an angled block of wood that will allow the screw you put in to pull the side of the keyboard against the frame holding the Reed blocks. The glue and the screw make for a strong repair. You will need to do this yourself as the cost of the repair from a pro repair shop could approach what the unit would sell for.