Scandalli Reed Fixing Glue.

[boxplayer4000]

Scandalli Reed Glue.
I have a Scandalli Vibrante 1V on my repair bench. It’s been dropped and apart from the bass mechanism buttons being severely bent at least one treble reed block has been carelessly fitted and about a dozen valves on an adjacent block have been damaged.
The bass mechanism is completely removable in one piece; it’s held in with two snap clips, one of which had ‘let go’ probably following the fall.
However………..while most issues seem repairable I note that all reeds are secured, not with wax, but with glue.
I don’t recall this unusual method of reed fixing being discussed on the ‘forum’ .

 

[debra]

The use of glue to get reed plates to stay fixed on the reed blocks pops up once in a while. It is an extreme case of accordions being built without considering the later possible need for repairs. And some repairers do the same, without regard for the next repairer who will touch the accordion.
The proper way to get the reed plates to stick to reed blocks is wax. Nothing else should be used (except for tropical or hot desert circumstances). With glue it's a pain to take a reed plate off, should it need repair or replacing.

 

[boxplayer4000]

debra: It's a shortcut I didn't think a company like Scandalli would take.
The glue is responding to heat but it's a mucky process.

 

[Ventura]

however "carelessly fitted" you might think,
it lasted for over 50 years, didn't it ?

blame the idiot that dropped it, not Scandalli..

and blame the idiot that re-did the reeds god only knows when
and why

i hope the case was not cracked, and good luck with the repair..
if necessary, you should be able to easily find a donor bass assembly
from any similar full size model

 

[KiwiSqueezer]

Difficult to believe that Scandalli glued in the reed plates, if only because wax would probably have been cheaper...

 

[ackordio]

Scandalli did it and so did Hohner.

At Hohner, it was the search for new manufacturing methods. In the early series of the "Leichtmetall"-instruments at the end of the fifties, a hot glue was used, along with other experiments (foam, Wechselgummi, cardboard seals and more). Hohner wanted to leave the old days behind, as did many at the time.

Hot glue was not a good idea, not only because it made repairs more difficult, but also because the plates followed the force of gravity for decades and slipped off the reed blocks.



None of these innovations stood the test of time. But hey: repairs are done decades later, by which time the profit has already been realised.

 

[Ventura]

i do not believe Scandalli did it
ever

 

[ackordio]

From what I've read (but not seen, I must admit), Scandalli glued the plates for export to countries with hot climates, which makes sense as wax is very temperature sensitive.

 

[Ventura]

your last photo is the reveal

first: the hot climate rumor would maybe stand a chance
except for all those nails

the very definition of the word "redundant"

second: the Scandalli/Farfisa factory where these accordions were built
lay in bankrupt ruins long before mylar reed-valves came in to
use in Italy

so those reeds have been removed and re-valved at some point..
and re-installed.. so the poorly fitted reedblock was then likely
to also have been poorly re-fitted by that same person

 

[ackordio]

I'm afraid I wasn't very clear in my statement. The picture is of a Hohner Imperator IV from 1958 and was only intended to show the long-term behaviour of the plates glued with hot glue. Although these are much less sensitive to heat than waxed plates, they are not stable in the long term.
However, the glue used for the Scandalli seems to be different. It cannot be excluded that this was done afterwards. In any case, it is very neatly done and on all blocks, so it could be done by the manufacturer for exporting to hot regions or to simplify production.

 

[Paul vdV]

I have tried to save an old Hohner Atlantic from the trash bin. It had glue on the bass blocks. I remover the glue on one of them in order to renew the valves. It was a very tedious and difficult task ... Still have to do the other one ...