Princettii

[OldCook]

Just purchased this accordion. I was wondering if anyone could tell me what all the switches are. One on the side also seems to muffle the tone and opens 4 louvres. Interested in learning. I have played piano for close to seven years. Any info would be appreciated

 

[Dingo40]

. I was wondering if anyone could tell me what all the switches are

Hi OC, and welcome!
You've found yourself a nice late 1940s/very early 1950s , 41/(though I can't see it) probably 120, four treble reed/4 bass reed piano accordion in good cosmetic condition made by a very decent Italian company ( Busilacchio).
The straight row of knobs ("register switches ") is there to choose pre-selected combinations of treble reeds for playing together.
These combinations are named after supposed resemblance to the sounds made by various other instruments (bassoon, violin. etc)
The bass section also has switches to engage (or disengage) combinations of the variously pitched bass reeds. (Only ever press one register switch at a time. Never more than one at a time together, or damage is likely to result!)
This allows variety of tonal effects in your playing.
See here:

Accordion reed ranks and switches - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The four louvered muffler is called a "mute" and is often to be found in various designs across the decades though not all models have one.
A nice unit!

 

[Tom]

Welcome Old Cook! Congrats on the accordion, very unusual design and color. Do you mean the four louvres on the treble side open and close with one of the switches? That seems very cool, and unusual. Good luck with learning to play your accordion!

 

[Dingo40]

Measure the distance across the outermost edges of the outermost white keys of the keyboard :
If's about 19 inches or more, it's a full adult sized model.
If about 17" or less, a child's, youth's or ladies'.

 

[OldCook]

Measure the distance across the outermost edges of the outermost white keys of the keyboard :
If's about 19 inches or more, it's a full adult sized model.
If about 17" or less, a child's, youth's or ladies'.

Full size model. Would you have a rough idea on the Value?

 

[Dingo40]

Sorry, no: but someone else will!

 

[Ben-jammin]

In my geographic area I would expect value to fall between $100 to $300 USD. Maybe more if it’s seen regular maintenance not too far in the decent past or it has particular good reeds and/or a feature like cassotto. A qualified repair person would be your best bet to give you a true assessment of condition and value. The waterfall keys were a fad that fell out of favor in the 1950s which is the same time that that mute style was being used by several other brands. Accordions of that vintage frequently require significant work for all reed sets to play correct pitch, for repairing air seals, and to replace dried and brittle reed wax.