A few years ago I bought a full-size Paolo Soprani CBA that was is very poor shape, the seller did not know what to do with it as it was not playable, and he posted an ad asking for advice. It belonged to his late father who enjoyed it a lot for many years, but many of the bass buttons turned into crumbs... I never saw anything like that before. I bought it for very little money with the intention of fixing it, but it is a C-system and I usually play B, so it stayed in its case for a few more years. Last week I decided to replace the bass buttons. It is a heck of a job! But however complicated the bass side seems, it is feasible if you take your time and take notes as you go. The original buttons are 19mm long, and the few places that sell 19x7mm buttons were asking for a lot of money for them, like £125.00 plus shipping. This is more than what I paid for the accordion! I found a set of common 15x7mm buttons for a reasonable price, and decided to simply extend all the pushrods using 3/32-inch brass tubing and fit the shorter buttons. I completed the root notes and the major 3rd rows already, it looks promising. It was interesting to discover how the pushrods and cams work to actuate the pallets of the 5 voices. This particular accordion has 2 sets of cams, one for the root and 3rd notes, and one for the chords. Once completed I will have (yet) another CBA to enjoy, this one is from 1968 and is LMMM with 46 treble notes.
