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Restoring a Very, Very Old Accordion

  • Thread starter Thread starter cmooradian
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cmooradian

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I have begun restoring an early 1930’s (no make or model number) accordion that used to be a hand-painted museum piece at the New England Accordion Museum. It appears there were some repairs done to it before I bought it (especially to the bellows). The only thing I had to do to the bellows was replace the gaskets and replace the tape for a different color, so that was a piece of cake! 

However, when I opened this accordion up, I found some things I was almost surprised by—that’s how bad it was. I’m not even sure wax was used to hold the reeds into the reed blocks. The stuff used was almost black, the color of old shellac. It was very, very hard and brittle. Almost 30 of the reeds were falling out, and 4-5 already had and were jangling around in the reed chamber. The chamber itself was filthy from this wax (?) debris and I had to take all of the reed blocks out and vacuum just to make sure I got everything. Does anyone know what that material could’ve been, or why (if it was wax) it would have been that color and that consistency? This stuff looked nothing like the old wax I’ve seen on other accordions I’ve worked on, and it had a terrible smell when I scraped it off the reed blocks. Yuck.

Anyway, after I took all the reeds out of the blocks and scraped that nasty stuff off them, I soaked the reeds in Evaporust, lightly scrubbed them with a soft bristle toothbrush, let them dry, and then wiped any remaining rust or Evaporust residue off with a Q-tip and some white vinegar. Most of the reeds had little to no oxidation, which was amazing. But before I started cleaning them, I noticed that 4 reed tongues were snapped in half. I’m going to assume that these reeds had vibrated themselves thin and snapped at some point before I acquired this accordion, since I noticed the broken tongues before I cleaned them. My question is, since the reed tongues are apparently old enough that they’re breaking, should I just replace all of them, or should I only replace the reeds that have broken? I plan on taking the accordion to a professional tuner after buying the 4 replacements, but I don’t want to pay for a tuning if I have to replace them all a year later. I would hate to have to replace all of them--they are handmade reeds and have a beautiful timbre, plus I dont have make or model number for this accordion and would have no idea how to order new reeds. They have SO much potential after tuning.

And then we come to the pallets… I thought that the breathy noise and the air loss was coming from the reeds that had fallen out, but now that I’ve waxed them back in I noticed that I’m still losing a LOT of air on this box. I know there are no leaks from the bellows because I’ve carefully inspected them, and replaced the gaskets as I said above. When I opened the grille, though, I found some really old chamois padding the pellets that looked like it was degrading. I have since replaced all of the chamois on the white key pallets (the black keys are on a separate rod and I haven’t gotten to them yet). The keys are still very noisy and I believe they are still losing a lot of air. Should I go ahead and replace the chamois with a felt/chamois pad? I believe I would have to alter the rods though because it would be a new thickness on the pallets. What do you guys think (especially in regards to losing air)?
 
Well, that's very disheartening to hear after I've already put all this work into it. :'(
I would say, honestly, it's gone from about a 2-->6 on a 10 pt scale just after replacing the leathers and wax.
 
I'm not the one to advise on how (or whether) to do this up, but I'm just interested, would you plan to use this in your jazz playing, or is a particularly interesting box, or is it the interest of the restoration itself?
 
Whether it is worth renovating an old instrument is a very personal thing:


 
Should be easy to identify shellac, as it will dissolve in alcohol? It's used in a similar way in saxophones, so it's a fair guess. I suppose that after 80 years it may have oxidized a bit or something, not absolutely confident in that diagnostic, but it's worth a try if you're curious. Any alcohol, I believe.

As for the broken reeds - it will be a lot easier to figure out how to replace all the reeds, than only 4, won't it? If you replace only a few, then the replacements have to sound exactly the same (mutatis mutandi.) You may hope to get something similar in there, but that will be a lot easier than exactly the same.

One could argue that a whole new reed set is kind of like grafting a Packard Deluxe Eight body over a Chevy pickup frame & motor - the result might be better in some ways, but it isn't a restoration of the original. I guess if you're really faithful to the character of the old reeds, that's good enough. That might mean spending some time in Italy, no idea if there's a better way to hear your options. At that point, you'll know better whether you're close enough to make piecemeal replacement work, musically and economically.

You sound like you know how reeds work, which would include strips of leather that close off the reeds when the air would be going through backwards. Or whatever that's about, don't ask me! but my hunch is that proper function of these valves improves performance.
 
dunlustin said:
Whether it is worth renovating an old instrument is a very personal thing:
.be

Indeed, and I find the sound of some of the vintage boxes fascinating (and some look great) while aware of all the downsides (not least from having one). Some have a historical interest as well.
 
Matt, to answer your question, I would say it's a mix of all three.

Yes, I would eventually like to wet tune it, and make this box performance worthy. Especially for playing traditional jazz. I was once told by another musician it had a similar timbre to a banjo, the same kind of punchy tone. And this box is absolutely beautiful. Obviously the old lady who owned it before it went to the museum spent a lot of time making it look great, and so it deserves to sound great and continue to be played! Like I said, the reeds were handmade and I think once it's restored I'll have a quality instrument.

I consider restoration my hobby outside of accordion playing. More and more of these vintage boxes are becoming mantle pieces, which I think is a shame. I've been doing it for about a year and a half at this point, so I'm still new to it, but I've amassed a small collection of 1930's boxes all needing complete overhauls. Like I said, any advice would be greatly appreciated! This one in particular is a labor of love for me!
 
Also, Donn, thank you! The material (maybe it was shellac, I'll never know now) was easily removed by lightly scraping it off the sides of the reed plates with a small blade before I soaked them. I used an actual flat blade scraper to remove it from the reed blocks. But I've never smelled shellac that smelled like that. I have a feeling someone tried to do some "work" to this accordion before--the leather valves didn't look 80 years old, and since they were all replaced whoever it was must've had to "wax" the reeds back in.

Anyway, I *think* have a pretty good idea on how reeds work. I've been consulting Bachich's repair manual--his chapter on reed voicing was magical. Anyway, I think I mentioned in the post that I did put new leather valves on all the reeds before waxing them back in, which also helped a lot.
 
Interesting. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that no one makes a reed that sounds very close to that, especially if it's in part due to age. Are they brass?
 
Well, fair play to you for sticking to your project cmooradian!

Sounds like your reeds had been re-waxed with who knows what! Something organic like beeswax and tallow maybe!

I'll just add a bit of my own experience. Earlier this year I refurbished a 34/48 (12x4) Frontalini dating, I'd guess, from the 1930s. I don't think it had ever been played much but it had been stored in dry conditions. I was lucky that all the reeds were usable, and nice reeds they are, very loud and bright on the tuning table, and the accordion has a "fizzy" sound unlike more modern instruments. (All my others are 1950-60s!)

I wouldn't want to play it all the time, but it is small and light for its spec, and it is enjoyable to play. Although it's pretty air tight it has a slightly "floppy" feel when playing which I put down to its age and design. The biggest playing disadvantage is that the piano keys are very long, so the accordion either has to be far left, or my right arm is a bit cramped.

I think putting modern reeds in yours would be a bit daft, even if the reed plate sizes are compatible. I'd try reeds from a "donor" accordion of decent quality and similar vintage. Sounds like you might already have one! You might even be able to sell the "shell" as an ornament after taking the reeds.

Do learn to tune reeds, it's not hard, it is interesting, and it's a vital skill.

Good luck!
Tom
 
Donn, surprisingly they are not brass, they're steel. I'm not sure what about them makes them have such a tinny tone!
Tom, I had the same idea as you! I honestly do not like the sound of modern reeds, I like the "fuzzy" sound as you have said. Anyway, I've contacted Italo-American accordions and I'm going to go into their shop next weekend to see if they don't have anything in their accordion graveyard that might work for my purposes (like reeds), or if their technician can point me in the right direction.

Also, if any of you are ever in Chicago, definitely DO check out Italo-American's shop! I got the grand tour of the graveyard when I was last there in June, it was amazing.

--Celia
 
I have not seen many piano accordions with brass reeds, and have restored instruments well over a hundred years old.
I would recommend replacing the broken reeds, as opposed to replacing all, as these ere most likely reeds that were the most used (middle c/g) and they won't indicate wear on the other reeds. Try to find reeds with a similar profile/ size/ taper ,or get a e-bay beater of the same era/type to mine for reeds.
God knows what was used to set the reeds, but they may have just used a darker rosin , I have seen some odd things used.
 
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