Hohner Verdi III B restoration

[zigasatler]

Hello to all accordionists and accordion enthusiasts. This is my first thread here, so I hope I came to the right place.
I would like to ask you for a technical advice. Recently I bought an old Hohner Verdi III B accordion, probably somewhere around 1930. The accordion is not in the best shape, but my plan is to restore it as best as possible. I have a suitable space for this kind of process at home and I also have some experience with accordion restoration. Beside this Verdi, I am also a proud owner of a Morino VM (1958), Weltmeister Stella (1975) and Rutar diatonic accordion (2020). I will post some photos of the accordion later, but meanwhile I would like to ask you if any of you have an idea how to remove the treble keys. I noticed that there is a small metal wire hanging out at the bottom of the treble side. I tried to rotate it and pull it out gently with pliers, but unfortunately that wasn't possible. Does anyone have any idea how to remove this metal wire and treble keys, because I really don't want to break anything?

Thank you in advance and have a nice day!

 

[debra]

Pictures might help? I have no idea what the "small metal wire" could be...
Not sure why you would buy an old hohner Verdi III B unless it's just a fun project. When you have a Morino VM, what else could you possible still need...

 

[Squeezebox Of Delights]

That wire is the end of the rod that holds all the keys on, and pulling it out does indeed remove all the keys. They're often quite tight on older instruments, and I'm not surprised that you couldn't get it out with pliers. I've had to give up on a couple of sticky key repair jobs because the rod was impossible to remove, but on other instruments I've had success by clamping the end of the rod into a tabletop metalworking vice and wiggling/twisting/hitting the treble side (with a rubber mallet and protective leather, don't worry!) until it came out. Something to bear in mind is that each key has a little spring under it and this little spring will flick each key off into the stratosphere as you pull the rod out, so make sure you number them first!

 

[Tom]

Tape all the keys down before you pull the pin!

 

[zigasatler]

Pictures might help? I have no idea what the "small metal wire" could be...
Not sure why you would buy an old hohner Verdi III B unless it's just a fun project. When you have a Morino VM, what else could you possible still need...

This is what I meant. And yes, this is supposed to be a fun project, like you said I am a big fan of Slavko Avsenik and his band, and Verdi III B was his first piano accordion in the early 1950's. The sound is dryer than Morino's, so I decided to give it a try with the restoration.

Thank you for your answers. I will keep you posted on how the project is going.

 

[debra]

This is what I meant. And yes, this is supposed to be a fun project, like you said I am a big fan of Slavko Avsenik and his band, and Verdi III B was his first piano accordion in the early 1950's. The sound is dryer than Morino's, so I decided to give it a try with the restoration.

Thank you for your answers. I will keep you posted on how the project is going.

OK. I wouldn't call that a wire sticking out... It is the rod that provides the pivot point for all the keys. It is a very stiff rod that you can (in theory) grab with large pliers and wiggle and pull out. That is best done slowly so you can grab each key (starting with the lowest note) as the rod is being pulled out. I'm a bit surprised to see this in an old Hohner as for several decades Hohner used a different mechanism (several versions of it actually) that let you remove individual keys in any order, and the rod was not removable. But in this accordion it is.
Especially on a really old accordion it can be very hard to wiggle and pull the rod out without causing any damage. While the use of any lubricant is generally disapproved of in accordion repair it may be necessary to squeeze a drop of WD40 in between the keys, on the rod to get it to loosen up. When that fails some people resort to putting electric current through the rod to heat it up to free itself... quite drastic measures are sometimes needed...

 

[Dingo40]

There's several posts on the internet as well as several threads in this forum on removing key axle rods which is a long lived perennial topic!
Here's just one such:

Here's another (but there's several more !).

Thread 'Keyboard axle removal'

May 17, 2018

Hi folks, thought Id share this in case it helps somebody.

Ive got an old (1935ish) Santianelli 48 bass with some very minor keyboard problems. So I though Id take a break from fixing the valves to see how easy it is to get access to the key mechanism. Ive read AccordionRevival quite a few times and searched on here so after a poke or three I concluded the keys dont come off individually and its a twin axle design. Its got 2 axle ends visible on the bottom end of the keyboard and no holes or axle cover at the top end.
Keyboard:
Axles:
The first axle (upper left...

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