removing and glueing on letters

[barkis]

I want to do something about the missing letters on my accordion. I have done a video to show what it looks like and my questions are also in the video, but for clearity I will mention them in writing as well:

Does anyone have the exact same letters?
If not:
How to remove the old letters?
How to smoth and clean the surface?
What kind of glue?

Video:

 

[artelagro]

Hi Barkis.
I cannot help you with the physical sides of your problem but I thank you for posting such an interesting topic both here and on Youtube. The film is crystal clear and I hope some of our members can help.
May I suggest that you include a link to this forum in the description section of your film. I think this could improve your chances of getting a satisfactory answer.
Garth

 

[JIM D.]

Your remaining letters will come off easily. A small hammer and a wooden ruler is all you need. Place one end of the ruler on the edge of a letter and give the other end it a few taps - they should pop off easily. Once the letters are removed you can clean up the finish first with 000 steel wool then follow up with toothpaste and plenty of elbow grease. After cleaning up the finish, try a visit to an auto supply store as most of them have self stick replacement letters as small as 1/2 inch. You can replace the makers name or even your own - be creative it's your box.

 

[barkis]

Thanks artelagro and Jim D. Good tips :tup:

 

[Soulsaver]

I know it's near a year old, but I was looking for something and 'ran over' it.
Probably academic, but I think the task is less than Barkis thinks. I think this only said 'guerrini' as it is central, not Filli Guerrini which would start too far right (in video). So you only need an R and an N?
Beautiful box, I can see it would be nice in the correct script.

 

[barkis]

The letters FLLI (short for 'fratelli') were there originally.

I knocked off the old letters and looked around for some others but found no good ones so I ended up with a box without letters. I don't know if that is better than before but that's the way it turned out. I don't have any regrets.

I used a piece of wood and a hammer to knock them off. Then I cut away a few unevennesses (un-even-ness-es) with a knife and cleaned the surface with benzin. It turned out quite good.

 

[Soulsaver]

Saved on the glue too...

 

[kimric]

In the case of just ONE missing letter I have hand cut one out of aluminum.

 

[MIArmyBand]

I had a broken letter N on a beautiful Borsini Modern accordion that I restored. I knew it would be impossible to match the letters so I had new ones made at a sign and lettering shop. The shop makes name plates for offices and they had a silver colored metal-faced thick material that they used to cut signs. The material was like a hard rubber behind the metal facing and it looked great. I made rubbings of the existing letters and they cut perfect matches. This was easier than a missing letter, since they could use the other side of my capital N as a guide. If your sign shop can find a similar font, they could also make up the letters on their cutter in a different font.