Yes, I've been told it's around 100 years old. It's falling apart and very well loved. Thankyou for the info
You could of course keep the vintage look?
(Never did understand the fashion for bleached teeth.)
Oh, just a guess - your Stanelli looks more German than Italian.
There was a time (about when yours was made) when marketing German gear was a bit problematic.
(Never did understand the fashion for bleached teeth.)
Oh, just a guess - your Stanelli looks more German than Italian.
There was a time (about when yours was made) when marketing German gear was a bit problematic.
Yes. It says on the underside that it is made in Germany.
Also I would like to keep the look I'm just very aware that it's very old and that there is a LOT of grime on the keys and I don't know where people have put there hands hahaa. So I'd just like to clean them or put some sort of compound over the top of them to preserve them
I admire your desire to restore this old girl, but if I were you, I'd do the following:
1) Get the box as air tight as it gets. You don't need perfect compression (you won't get it on a box this old), but you don't want it leaking from every gasket, pallet & corner.
2) See how far you can get with the reedwork on the right hand side - that is cleaning, re-valving, re-waxing and tuning. Valves & wax will cost more than the box itself, but you buy them in bulk and they last a while. Tuning is likely to be your massive show stopper as it takes quite a bit of time & butchered reeds to get to the point where you can tune a reed set from scratch (and the tuning can be wildly out after the clean & rust removal).
If you get to the point where the RHS reeds are playable, then go about setting up the right & left mech, and that's a good time to worry about button cosmetics before you set up the mechs.
1) Get the box as air tight as it gets. You don't need perfect compression (you won't get it on a box this old), but you don't want it leaking from every gasket, pallet & corner.
2) See how far you can get with the reedwork on the right hand side - that is cleaning, re-valving, re-waxing and tuning. Valves & wax will cost more than the box itself, but you buy them in bulk and they last a while. Tuning is likely to be your massive show stopper as it takes quite a bit of time & butchered reeds to get to the point where you can tune a reed set from scratch (and the tuning can be wildly out after the clean & rust removal).
If you get to the point where the RHS reeds are playable, then go about setting up the right & left mech, and that's a good time to worry about button cosmetics before you set up the mechs.
I would love to do all of these things but I am 15 years old and I simply do not have the money. There is currently 8 pounds in my bank account and that won't change until my birthday in 2 months. I may try to do all these things afterwards I just can't as of right now
Fair enough, but if you don't figure out the reedwork, you're running the risk of spending a lot of time and cash on the cosmetics, but in the end you'll be facing a £200 fee for servicing & tuning the reeds from scratch. And if the reeds are out of tune, the rest does not matter that much.
Are reeds around 100 pounds?? If so... The accordion was 28 and I'm just not willing to spend that kind of money
I know this is a bad thing. But that's too much for me. 100 pounds is a lot of money you know?
Servicing and tuning your existing reeds yourself (which is the primary skill that's required here) is very time consuming, and this is probably the skill you should aim to learn & hone first.
Getting it done professionally, for an overhaul of a box this size, assuming everything else works perfectly, is probably £150-£250. We're talking clean the reeds, replace broken ones, re-wax, re-valve, tune from scratch. The cost can double when there's issues with reedblocks, issues with gaskets, issues with pallet set-up, etc, etc.
You can do it all yourself, but you'd still need at least £100 for some wax, valves, tuning tools (scratcher & lifters). Any broken reeds need to be replaced but you might get lucky and get some free ones if you ask your local fettlers and they are feeling generous. Then you need a few weeks of your time figuring out how to do the actual tuning for the first time.
Why do you think concert accordions cost £15-25k new?
This ain't no ipad with some zeroes, ones and some logic on top of that - it's a precision analogue device with thousands of moving parts in it, and each one of them needs to be working very well, if not perfectly.
Getting it done professionally, for an overhaul of a box this size, assuming everything else works perfectly, is probably £150-£250. We're talking clean the reeds, replace broken ones, re-wax, re-valve, tune from scratch. The cost can double when there's issues with reedblocks, issues with gaskets, issues with pallet set-up, etc, etc.
You can do it all yourself, but you'd still need at least £100 for some wax, valves, tuning tools (scratcher & lifters). Any broken reeds need to be replaced but you might get lucky and get some free ones if you ask your local fettlers and they are feeling generous. Then you need a few weeks of your time figuring out how to do the actual tuning for the first time.
Why do you think concert accordions cost £15-25k new?
This ain't no ipad with some zeroes, ones and some logic on top of that - it's a precision analogue device with thousands of moving parts in it, and each one of them needs to be working very well, if not perfectly.
Yeah I get that. It's just to much money for me to give up like that. The tuning doesn't seem to bad, I think there are 2 keys which are slightly out and they're on the very right side of the box so I reckon I'm just gonna keep it the same. It works well enough for me at the minute. I will probably learn to tune etc in the near future
fwiw, if you are interested in learning this stuff, do find a local accordion fettler and see if he's feeling friendly and generous to share some advice & parts. I'm a guitar luthier and I've helped out a few local youngsters who were looking to learn about working on plucked instruments, for free over the years. Only one of them went past the basic set-up procedures and actually built a guitar. I guess one is more than zero, so my time was not completely wasted.
But there's no money in lutherie I can tell you that. It's the type of work that you do for personal satisfaction to see smiles on people's faces when they pick up an instrument from you. It's wise to have a dentist/doctor/accountant job to fall back on
Just don't become a lawyer or a politician, there's too many of them already and they are not making this world any better 
.
But there's no money in lutherie I can tell you that. It's the type of work that you do for personal satisfaction to see smiles on people's faces when they pick up an instrument from you. It's wise to have a dentist/doctor/accountant job to fall back on
Just don't become a lawyer or a politician, there's too many of them already and they are not making this world any better .As well as what I said in my last reply, I don't think Lincoln has any accordion fettlers? I don't know if that's what they're called so you're going to have to bare with me. We we aren't really known for our music, and one of our only music shops just shut down... Not many people know that lincoln is a thing at all and the only things we are known for are the Christmas market (which just stopped running) and the cathedral so I don't think we will ever have one.
Thankyou for your advice. I will try and see if there are any accordion fettlers near me.fwiw, if you are interested in learning this stuff, do find a local accordion fettler and see if he's feeling friendly and generous to share some advice & parts. I'm a guitar luthier and I've helped out a few local youngsters who were looking to learn about working on plucked instruments, for free over the years. Only one of them went past the basic set-up procedures and actually built a guitar. I guess one is more than zero, so my time was not completely wasted.
But there's no money in lutherie I can tell you that. It's the type of work that you do for personal satisfaction to see smiles on people's faces when they pick up an instrument from you. It's wise to have a dentist/doctor/accountant job to fall back on
I would like to be an engineer I just haven't worked out which part of it yet... I want to go into electrical or mechanical engineering though.
From what I'm seeing there aren't anyfwiw, if you are interested in learning this stuff, do find a local accordion fettler and see if he's feeling friendly and generous to share some advice & parts. I'm a guitar luthier and I've helped out a few local youngsters who were looking to learn about working on plucked instruments, for free over the years. Only one of them went past the basic set-up procedures and actually built a guitar. I guess one is more than zero, so my time was not completely wasted.
But there's no money in lutherie I can tell you that. It's the type of work that you do for personal satisfaction to see smiles on people's faces when they pick up an instrument from you. It's wise to have a dentist/doctor/accountant job to fall back on
Well, you probably still have the Newark college right next door, with the department for musical craft, or whatever it's called these days.
The cathedral is very nice. The wolds as well. Also, there's Skeggy right next door to you .
I've stayed in Lincoln for a couple of months - there's a few very well known guitarists and guitar luthiers in your area.
The cathedral is very nice. The wolds as well. Also, there's Skeggy right next door to you
.I've stayed in Lincoln for a couple of months - there's a few very well known guitarists and guitar luthiers in your area.
Squeezebox Of Delights
Active member
I'm in Lincoln! Plus, I've done a bit of fettling. I'm by no means an expert but I know quite a bit about these instruments, and how to tinker with them. I'm away at the moment, but when I get back in a couple of days I'd absolutely be up for giving you a hand. I'm also only a teenager - 19, to be exact - and I know that accordion fettling isn't exactly bank-account friendly if you're young! Also I believe your buttons are probably casein, which was used extensively on old boxes. I'm not quite sure how to clean casein, but be careful either way.
The first thing you could try to clean the keyboard is with a cloth and some whitening toothpaste. Doesn't cost much and should get rid of the "grime" on the keys.
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