Scandalli wreck - or treasure?

[noelekal]

Just in case this could help things along.

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[Ffingers]

KiwiSqueezer, drop me a PM and we can possibly get you some of the bits off this defunct box of mine.

 

[KiwiSqueezer]

Thanks for all the interest in, and appreciation of this story. It's encouraging that no-one has called me a madman, or idiot. Yet.

Ventura

Your comment about Scandalli confirms my fears...​

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I thought that the curved array of treble switches - which to me looks worryingly like a 'BEFORE' photo in an orthodontist's adverisement - came before the straight array of switches, and after the 'typewriter key' pattern, so quite early on. I'm guessing that this box dates from the 50s: is this about right?​

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In spite of your warning about the faux ivory finish, I attacked the already-damaged treble switch. I ended up - with considerable trepidation- having to remove more of its surface than I expected, to get rid of the yellow-brown staining. Simple polishing wasn't enough. Luckily, the veining pattern could be seen on the back of the switch, indicating that it is full-thickness. The result is excellent, with preservation of the subtle veining, much better matching the white piano keys. The important thing was to avoid overheating the material, so no power tools. The plastic appears to be polystyrene, which makes life easier, because it's so easy to solvent-weld. The damaged switch was cracked near the pivot hole, so the cover and metalwork were separated, and the crack filled and reinforced behind and out of sight with MEK and polystyrene - standard plastic modeller technique.... Only 12 more to go...​

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The treble pallets are going to require some thinking about. I'm not sure whether I should try to maintain originality as much as possible - and the alloy pallets are sort of appealing - or take your advice and change the pallets. I'm hoping someone will come along and tell me how to re-do the fixing in the original, or near-original manner. But then, I suppose genuine improvements are allowed... I don't fancy having to bend the key rods much though.​

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Regarding my daughter's "little devious and generous heart". Yes, a wonderful heart, but more devious than I had suspected, and aided and abetted by her mother. They both kept the secret in the face of my several times lamenting the missed opportunity of saving this box. I wonder what else they're keeping from me?​

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noelekal

Thanks for the 'bin lid' link. I suspect these are the same that appear on Parrot boxes. They can probably be made to fit, but it would require some head-scratching, and might even be easier to make lids from scratch. Neither option is very attractive...​

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Ffingers

Thank you for what sounds like a potentially very generous offer of help. I'll certainly PM you in due course. But I'm worried that you seem to be condemming your box to death or dismantling - can't it be saved?​

 

[Pipemajor]

Faux Oak graining on staircases and doors with some cool old roller too

In Scotland this was called scumbling and was used on the wheelhouses of all the old fishing boats

 

[Ventura]

the veining pattern could be seen on the back of the switch, indicating that it is full-thickness. The result is excellent, with preservation of the subtle veining, much better matching the white piano keys.?[/INDENT]

that is great to hear this part went so well, and i am glad to hear
they grained the material through and through, which indicates
they cared about quality

by contrast, the white Roland accordions pretty finish is only surface deep,
and can easily be worn off in places if one is not careful

well you have made a good start of it

i guess if you replaced the palletts with something aftermarket the main
issue would be finding some equally thin ones, and wood may come thicker from
a supplier, but could be shaved down before use.. if you could get some extra
of the original aluminum type to practice on you might try a few ideas on them first.

as for dating, well the round aluminum key rods/action was updated by the flat aluminum
taking over, then the treble side key system he invented came next, so for some years
you could find his accordions with the individual trebles, but still build in place
stradella bass. so for this one having the drop out bass mechanism is where
i place it as more recent (relatively) and then they switched to the more modern
Silvana looking types and the S Soprani's coming out of the same factory
which i would guess overlapped this model for awhile before hubcaps were discontinued

but that is just surmise, no specific dates are known by me