Hohner Carmen ll

[Jaime_Dergut]

Hello everybody.

Could anyone please tell me the cultural history of the Hohner Carmen ll models?


I found one in a farmers market nearby and I was surprised by the relatively good condition of the sound. I got it for 40$ (original case included) and, given the shape and smell, it must be over 70 years old. MM, up to mino chords in the bass side. Most likely a Irish folk music oriented instrument.

I am planing on restoring it myself. Most likely it needs some lubrication, a new bass strap (original one is too small for me), align the keys and perhaps clean the dust out of the reeds.

I'll see how much work is needed, but so far it plays decently good.

Please, let me know your thoughts about this. I am interested on the history about these models.

Regards,

Jaime

 

[Tom]

Super cool project! I’m guessing a few reed leathers to change out…. Have you open d it yet? Sorry, I can’t enlighten you about the history

 

[Jaime_Dergut]

Super cool project! I’m guessing a few reed leathers to change out…. Have you open d it yet? Sorry, I can’t enlighten you about the history

I did open it. It was in surprisingly fair condition. I did replace some reed leathers and, for some some reason, some of them were not fully covering the reed hole (a small gap at the top).

I don't know if this is part of the design or just a defect from fabric, but I tried to covered them.

It plays really good! The only problem is that some reeds on the lower notes of the keyboard side sound like out of tune or like something is blocking them when I pull the bellows out.

I still haven't figure what could be wrong since on the reeds at plain sight, but I can double check. If I can' fix that, the accordion is more than in perfect condition to be played!

 

[Jaime_Dergut]

Here are some pictures of the reed blocks.

They look in fairly good shape to me. One of them had a leather cover off, but I quickly fix that with some spare parts I had.

The only problem so far now is that some reeds on the lower notes, treble side, sound out of tune or weird when I pull the bellows out.

I still don't know what could it be.

 

[Tom]

Yeah, not too bad looking Jaime, good work! Some of those low reeds could be out of tune or ???? Hard to say. Good luck!

 

[Jaime_Dergut]

Yeah, not too bad looking Jaime, good work! Some of those low reeds could be out of tune or ???? Hard to say. Good luck!

Hi Tom.

I figured something, the bad sound of those reeds must be because of dust and other bad stuff on the reed inside the chamber.

I don't know how to properly clean reeds for this.

 

[Tom]

Hi Tom.

I figured something, the bad sound of those reeds must be because of dust and other bad stuff on the reed inside the chamber.

I don't know how to properly clean reeds for this.

Possibly. I have removed individual reeds by “melting” the wax holding them in carefully enough to replace them after cleaning them and/or replacing the inner leather. This is not recommended for a “proper” repair, but on a beater or practice repair, it can work. You can find info on cleaning the reeds on this site or the accordion revival site. Good luck!

 

[dak]

I did replace some reed leathers and, for some some reason, some of them were not fully covering the reed hole (a small gap at the top).

Leather shrinks over decades. If the leather ends more or less flush with the reed gap, this is a source for weird noises. Once it it shorter, stuff works again but the pitch of the opposing reed is affected. For consistent results, I tend to stick with the existing leathers but reglue them such that they cover the gap again.

 

[Jaime_Dergut]

I did try to cover some of the leater gaps that I found with pieces of sticky notes, which I am not sure if they are working properly. I will share more about it later today.

As for the reeds, they sounded out of tune on the inside chamber because they had a lot of debris and stuff interfering with the reed free movement.

I tried to clean that with a sheet of paper. I think it worked for most of them except one, or maybe two. I will also share that later.

I wish there was an easy way to share video or audio here.