Do I, and how do I, take apart the stradella system?

[Ducknapper]

do I take apart the accordion?

So my accordion has a problem, and after observing the stradella system I've figured out the solution!!! The only problem is to fix it I believe id have to take some of the stradella system out of the accordion

So, the problem is as follows:

When I press some chord buttons, they play the root note too. Interesting right?

I FOUND WHY

So the accordion has a thing where when you play the root note it plays the note an octave higher, and it uses a pushy thing. So when the root note lever moves, it pushes the high note lever too, but also allows the high note to move on its own eg in the chord

THE PROBLEM IS

SOME OF THEM ARE RHE WRONG WAY ROUND

THE HIGH NOTE PUSHES THE ROOT NOTE, MEANING WHENEVER THAY HIGH NOTE PLAUS THE ROOT NOTE PLAYS!!! AND WHEN THE ROOT NORE PLAYS ITS JUST THE ROOT NOTE RAWWWRR

sorry guys I'm getting a bit too capitalised

BUT

I know it'd be a simple fix, just switch them around? put the backwards ones Infront of the other lever instead of behind. But tondo that id need to take out the upper half of the stradella bass system so I can access those levers. Do I do it? If I do, how do I keep track of what goes where?
It's not even technically my accordion, I'm just borrowing it, so I should ask permission right? I just want my um pah pah to not be an um umpah umpah if ya know what I mean

Any ideas appreciated, especially for tips on how to take it apart and put it back together!


I took a photo, I could get it in focus very well but there's these two L shaped bits

the one with the stalk on the right is the higher note and the one with the stalk on the left is the lower note

the left one should be nestled inside the right one, rather than the right one inside the left one. If the left were inside the right then the low note would push the high note and the high note wouldn't push the low note, which is how it should be

I've drawn terrible diagrams to accompany it


many thanks for any advices

this is probably a pointless post since there'll be tips online already for taking apart the system and it's obvious I should talk to the actual owner about whether to do it, but I felt like posting anyway!

 

[Ben-jammin]

If you’re not 110% knowledgeable and confident in what you’re doing you shouldn’t be considering taking apart the Stradella system of an accordion that doesn’t belong to you. There could be exception if the owner truly understands and accepts the risk. There’s many instruments that have been rendered unplayable by good intentions. If this is as simple and easy as you expect I would think the cost for a professional should be reasonable.

 

[Ventura]

ok, until the experts chime in..

you say there are a few "in the wrong position"
according to your analysis
but
tell me please HOW they got into the wrong positions ?

if you cannot figure out HOW they changed position,
then
they are where they should be

when a cxxxd BASS button is pushed, it DOES lift the pallet off
the chord reeds, EDITED.. it is supposed to
work that way.. it has been working that way for hundreds
of years on gazillions of accordions

there is one type of stradella system that allows you to easily
remove those cross-linkage activators so that pressing a chord
would not press a bass note too.. that is the drop-out Bass
section on latter day Scandalli's

watch for one used in your area.. they cosmetically use a lot
of aluminum often Blue and cream color or the other series
Gold and black.. the bass plate pops off by pressing a button
under the strap and you can see the 2 clips on either end of
the mech.. unclip them the whole thing drops out and the
cross-linkage os revealed (only held in by springs)

if you want to mess with the way stradella works, buy
one of these and have a go at it

have you checked and fully understood the system
of shifts for the bass that change the sound
(muting or allowing the reedblocks to be in play) ???

 

[debra]

...
when a chord button is pushed, it DOES lift the pallet off
the chord reeds, and it ALSO lifts the pallet off of the
corresponding bass reed fundamental.. it is supposed to
work that way.. it has been working that way for hundreds
of years on gazillions of accordions
...

No actually it is the other way around. Wen the root note plays it also also lifts the pallet of the chord reeds. That's how the Stradella bass system is designed. The result is that you cannot have the root note playing just the lowest two octaves: there is always at least one of the chord octaves playing along. (Each bass register must open at least one of the typically three reed banks for the chords, otherwise the chords don't play.) The chord pallets can open by themselves (when chord buttons are pushed) and never pull the root note reed banks open.
Only a few rare accordions like some of the original Scandalli VI ones have an octave de-coupler switch that disables this and thus allows to play just the lowest two octaves on the root notes.
It is possible for the "hook" that gets the root pallet to pull the chord pallet to "jump" to the wrong position, but then the root pallet stays pushed open a bit all the time and the root note will play even when no buttons are pushed. See the picture below.
The smaller pallets are for the root note reeds (2 voices) and the larger for the chord reeds (3 voices).
If in your case nothing plays when no buttons are pushed then you have a different problem than the pin and hook being reversed.

Disassembly of a Stradella bass mechanism is not something to try the first time without supervision unless you are very courageous. In that case, take lots and lots of pictures of each step of the process so that you can do the reassembly correctly by referring back to the pictures you took.

 

[Ventura]

i must have been upside down the day i thought i figured that out

instead of that hook setup, the ones i mentioned are flat pieces
maybe an inch and a half long that fit into slots on opposite
sides of the gap

 

[kimric]

i must have been upside down the day i thought i figured that out

instead of that hook setup, the ones i mentioned are flat pieces
maybe an inch and a half long that fit into slots on opposite
sides of the gap

If you want to try messing with this Scandalli bass system, all the modern Chinese instruments are mechanical copies.

 

[Squeezebox Of Delights]

Could you post more pictures of the instrument? It would be helpful to know what type of box it is so we can offer more specific advice : )