What unplayable accordions do you have? What do they need?

[Soulsaver]

I have a lovely condition Hohner Atlantic IV De Lux (1950s think or maybe early 70s can't remember...) waiting pallets felting & gasket... I've got the stuff just need to make the time.
A Verdi I (just pre war) which needs loads: pallets, prob valves, poss tuning & a small crack repaired... maybe a write off, never get round to.
A Verdi II is playable, but needs registers free'd up.
Also got a Verdi V that plays fine, that I've got replacement bellows for (cosmetic) ... and haven't done that either.. Doh!

Edit: added 'is playable' to Verdi II

 

[TomBR]

Not too bad at the moment!

I just "finished" a Frontalini 12x4 48b which has been in progress a long time but is now playing nicely, also some fettling on a Hohner 32b that my sister is going to borrow to try PA. Recently finished some guitar repairs for friends that took more time than I'd hoped.

There's an 80 bass Orlando Pellegrini B/C/C# that needs a complete retune and revalve, plus a "proper" air valve for that system. Rather low priority now I've decided that I must stick to PA and not dabble in too many systems. (If anyone's interested....)

A 26 button Lachenal Anglo concertina that has been to New Zealand and back, labelled for a music shop there. Needs woodwork repairs and retune, pads, valves and straps.

My Atlantic needs some maintenance but is playing OK and I want to keep using it for now.

I had 3x12 36b that needed a lot of work, I gave that to Kem, once of this parish, to practice restoring on.

Ho hum,
Tom

 

[james_from_stoke]

well, if anyone has anything that they don't want, in need of a loving home...
;-)
I have a practically unplayable Alvari 12 Bass.
It needs new bellows, new pallets, new keyboard, new reeds and blocks, new treble and bass board and more bass notes. Pretty much complete replacement/upgrade. Did I mention the straps aswell...
I did have evil plans to turn it into a DIY C/C# diatonic, but really can't be bothered at the moment

 

[pentaprism]

According to my victi.... uhhh... I mean... my wife, all of my accordions are unplayable.

What they really need is a person who knows how to play. :hb

 

[Glenn]

I think someone is being a bit hard on themselves here.

 

[geoff45789]

I have a possibly 1920's 120 base green accordion labelled 'Amigo'. I bought it very cheaply with the intention of taking it to pieces to see how it works. Most notes play and sound nice. Shoulder straps and bellows clips are completely gone. Some notes don't sound. Most valve leathers need replacing.

Also a Lignatone Pianola 1. It's more or less playable but quite leaky. Some valve leathers need replacing. One key doesn't sound all reeds on pull. Coupler buttons are a bit hit & miss but not a problem as I an unlikely to use it with anything other than 3 voices. Sound is very good.

 

[Soulsaver]

We haven't heard from Garth... wondered if he's added to his project(s)?

 

[artelagro]

Oh yes, I am still here but accordions haven't been touched for a couple of months now. Three new girls (pullets) have taken up residence and have completely taken over our lives.

Today is the first day we have seen rain for a month so I will come indoors and see what the state of all the unfinished projects are and try and report back before the day is out. This could be my chance to de-stress and make ready for the next batch.

Garth

 

[Soulsaver]

Hi Garth, no rush. Do they lay this young?

 

[artelagro]

When I saw the title of this thread, I was hoping that some of our members would be starting an on-line car boot sale. This hasn’t happened (yet) so I will get the ball rolling. I will put fuller details in the For Sale/ Wanted section.

It has long been my ambition to have a clear bench to work on and this could be the start of something, let’s hope my advertising skills don’t let me down. All the boxes I am listing need some work to make them playable and I will try and be as explicit as possible.

However, going back to the title of the thread, i.e ‘unplayable accordions’, mine are:-
Hohner Atlantic 1V
Hohner Concerto 1V
Hohner Carena 111M
Maestro (Hagstrom)
Calvi Parma Francia 4-voice
Fontanelli 2-voice
All the above are 120 bass.

Garth

p.s. Soulsaver - The 3 chooks are now 22 weeks old and we collect 3 small/medium eggs each morning.

 

[Soulsaver]

I know I'm rekindling here... but I was looking for something else and read this. And realised I'd missed one from under my desk... a Hohner Lucia 111. It's playable, just, but hard work. Seems to have heavy springs on the bass... good for developing your finger muscles before going back to an Italian box...

Edit:Changed 'Lucida' (which is a Japanese Toyota narrow bodied Previa...) to Lucia... which is the Hohner I meant.. age, probably.

 

[Blanik]

Hi,

First post for me and the reason is because I have a broken Bass Housing on my Roland FR3x. It has taken me weeks, and a lot of help from another member, Jimgansett, to get enough information to be able to order a new housing. But at last --- the part has been ordered.
I am wondering if any other FR3x owner had the same problem ?

I bought this V-Accordion second hand and did not notice the damage at the time of purchase. Recently, while playing at a dance, I must have inadvertently pushed a bit harder to get more volume and the crack opened into a break.

I am attaching a photo of the damage.

 

[Soulsaver]

Welcome to the forum.
Glad you raised this thread again, I was thinking not many people have a work in progress from our ranks.. or just not keen on admitting they have.
Does the board do anything other than act as a closure? Was it ordered direct from Roland? Swansea? Or do you have to go through a dealer? I assume it would have been too costly after shipping duty vat etc to get it from USA?

 

[BrandyD]

I have a 1970's Trieste, which may be an Excelsior copy. I was looking to have it repaired, a few sticky keys and sticky bass buttons. In the process of finding someone to work on it I fell in love with the Roland, and made that purchase. Haven't had the Trieste repaired yet . . . Still on my to-do list.

Brandy

 

[smdc66]

http://www.accordionists.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=345&hilit=pancotti+vickers

i still have this sitting on the shelf

wont go into detail here as did so in the above thread but it needs new leathers and retune but otherwise in good condition


and my friend has a red 120 bass settimio soprani in his garage that looks in really good condition but sounds awful as needs a complete overhaul i think to make it sound right and is still sitting on his shelf while he debates/procrastinates on the merits /playing value (to him) and when and where to take it for review - if ever

 

[Blanik]

Thanks for the welcome Soulsaver.
My contact here in Ireland is a Roland Agent, and after a conversation on the phone, we agreed what the actual part was, and he ordered it. I wish I had been as wise as you and asked all those questions.

I got a text from the agent, (James), after the phone conversation, and he said that he had ordered the part, and it would cost €50 and take 4 weeks to arrive. I have no idea what the shipping charges will be. I was just delighted to talk to someone who was going to solve my problem. On reflection, the €50 seemed very cheap for what I wanted and I began to have doubts as to what James had actually ordered for me. So I am waiting with great trepidation to see what is going to arrive in 4 weeks. I also have no idea where James ordered it from, but will find out when it arrives. What larks eh ??
One thing I am thankful for is that my friend Jimgansett, had sent me an assembly drawing for the FR 8X, so I knew the name of the housing --- it is called a Fondino ! This bit of information helped enormously during the phone conversation with James in trying to identify the required part.

You ask what the purpose of the "Board" is ?? The Fondino is a rectangular housing which contains the Bass buttons, and the loudspeakers are attached to it. It also has the air release button held in it. It is attached to the main housing by six screws, two of which are visible in the photo. Looking at the photo one might get the impression that the crack is only on a plate or board but in fact it is the bottom of a housing, which is about 3 or 4 inches deep.

My reason for asking if any other member had experienced this damage was that I would try and not repeat the cause for it, with the new part. I doubt if simply pushing on the bottom of the housing would cause such damage but I have no idea what the previous owner did to cause the fracture.

 

[Blanik]

Well ---- I am pleased to report that the bottom cowling, Fondino, for my FR3X arrived and within 30 minutes I had it attached. It came from Roland U.K. It is wonderful to feel the smoothness after the sharp broken edge of the damaged one. The agent had never heard of the type of damage my cowling had suffered, and apparently no one on this forum has experienced it either. I would love to know what caused the cowling to break so that I would not repeat the same action again. It might simply be that the bottom of the cowling is weak because of the many exit holes that are required to allow the sound to escape from the speaker, and excessive pushing on the cowling could result in a fracture.

 

[simonking]

Glad you raised this thread again, I was thinking not many people have a work in progress from our ranks.. or just not keen on admitting they have.

Since this thread has been activated again, Ill admit that Ive got a couple in progress (actually in no progress for about a year...):

1. A old Crucianelli (1920s or 30s LMMM, one coupler) I bought just to practice waxing, re-valving and tuning and other work. Im actually pretty pleased with what Ive managed to achieve on the right hand side - the keyboard action is now shallow and level but it will never be great compared to modern instruments due to the wear and square-edged keys. The bass reed blocks are still in bits!

2. A Settimio Soprani Lido. This turned out to be an eBay mistake... Terrible corrosion of the aluminium foundation plates and some of the register slides were completely mangled - think Ive got this part of it working as well as could be hoped without great expense (I already had to make a new register slide - not easy with commonly available materials). This one is also still mostly in bits - could be worth restoring properly though as it has some unusual design features including short crosswise reed blocks (trademarked ampliphonic but a dead-end in accordion evolution!) and grille mutes operated by a switch. I think its probably early 50s as the bass mechanism has four-note seventh chord. Its also the very unusual spatula design. The original reed block waxing is lovely and in surprisingly good condition for its age but Im not sure this can be saved as all the valves are totally shot.