Old Scandalli - why 13 registers ?

[Glug]

And here's the keyboard mechanism (after cleaning and new red felt):



It seems to be quite good, very quite and almost no lateral movement.

The "Scandalli keyboard tool" is apparently for unhooking those springs, but I already had a "US Pro Hook and Pick Set" from Amazon which does the job just fine.

The only issue is that blue cloth (felt I think) it holds the key tab central in a slot in the aluminium base to keep the keys straight. It's about 50 years old and is making a slight scraping noise due to the coating of aluminium oxide (you can see the black marks). I'm working on finding a replacement material.

 

[debra]

Looks like quite an extensive restoration project. When reeds fall off in transport it means the wax is brittle, so you need to replace the wax on all reed blocks. Also, don't forget that this keyboard mechanism requires some grease (where the keys hinge). You should use a lubricant that is like a paste, not oil as it should not "run". The pallets look old and worn too... so you should check whether that felt is still soft enough...
Once you start restoring an accordion you discover more and more things to do...

 

[Glug]

Yep, I'm going to do a complete restoration There's also some random holes that need filling, and a brass register slide that needs replacing.

I bought it so I would have a project that would result in an accordion better than the one I play, without leaving me with nothing decent to play in the meantime.

I'm not sure those key hinges are supposed to be greased: there wasn't any there when I started, apparently aluminium is 'self lubricating', and they're completely silent and working fine at the moment I think. But I did spray the hinge area with WD40 PTFE so maybe that's working.

 

[Ventura]

it was a tremendous loss to the Acordion world when the Farfisa Factory and
machine tooling that was created by Scandalli to build these new design
Keyboards and drop out Bass mechanisms was left to rot on the side of the road

i suggest also "felting" those wide areas under the keys that are untouched by
the movement (i did that on mine) to help resist higher frequency noise reflection

glad you are saving this cool old Accordion... when we fix one up now
it is likely to outlive us !

ciao

Ventura

 

[Glug]

Cheers, good to know about felting the wide areas.

I've now got a replacement for that blue material: 8mm wide satin ribbon (polyester) with 1mm felt (from CGM) glued to it.
It's exactly the right thickness (1.2mm) and apparently satin is a low friction weave.

Unfortunately being 2 weeks before Xmas I could only get khaki (green) on Amazon.

 

[Ventura]

this is my similar mechanism Scandalli 4/4 reed 3/4 size box

it has been extremely reliable... it's loud, bold sound
and light weight made it my preferred stroller for Nursing Home
hallways and common areas, while the sweet MM shift was
calm and gentle when popping into rooms for a quiet song or two

so everything from gentle La Paloma to a rousing Tarantelle Siciliano
works well on this accordion

 

[debra]

Yep, I'm going to do a complete restoration There's also some random holes that need filling, and a brass register slide that needs replacing.

I bought it so I would have a project that would result in an accordion better than the one I play, without leaving me with nothing decent to play in the meantime.

I'm not sure those key hinges are supposed to be greased: there wasn't any there when I started, apparently aluminium is 'self lubricating', and they're completely silent and working fine at the moment I think. But I did spray the hinge area with WD40 PTFE so maybe that's working.

Interesting, because I got to repair a few accordions (for instance Guerrini) with this mechanism and they all had some grease on the "slots" where the key hinges.

 

[Glug]

I'll keep it in mind.
So far the PTFE seems to work but I've got silicone too. However it hasn't been played yet so problems might show up later.
I've heard of people using copper grease too on aluminium.

 

[Ventura]

again, because i was a piston head in my youth, white lithium grease was introduced to my awareness. Available in a can, small tube, or even a spray can with skinny plastic tube to direct the flow

we used it even on the metal to metal slide points when rebuilding drum brakes

used sparingly, a thin film of it does the trick

then silicone lubricants became available and for some things that seemed to be even better, but i still use the old tried and true lithium for many things

 

[JIM D.]

I always recommend not to use oils in accordion repair But in these cases of aluminum to aluminum contact I've always
taken exception and used white lithium grease on keyboards of this type. This keyboard design can be found on most
all Scandalli mediocre student models and even a few Hohner models. In the past I have estimated the cost of repair on
2 of these keyboard equipped accordions that were void of any lube on the aluminum rails and with use & wear caused
the keys to jam together. In both cases the cost of repair to the aluminum keyboard bed would far outweigh the value
of the accordion. I have also found some of these keyboards that were lubed with what looked like a wheel bearing grease
that had hardened with age and turned to a tar that impeded the keyboard action. But in most cases I have found most
of these keyboards with a sparsely applied grease that only needed to be wiped clean and new lube applied.
I keep a few tubes of white lithium grease in the shop for this use. I chose the white lithium because of the wide
use on automobiles (door jams & locks) as it lubricates in all temp's and tends not to attract debris.


Amazon product ASIN B000M8Q248

 

[Glug]

Think I've reached the bottom of the rabbit hole:



That's the treble soundboard removed so I can fix the register sliders. The most disassembly I've ever done and I didn't break anything yet.

2nd from the bottom has a broken tab on the left, 'fixed' by soldering it to the control arm. The fix may have lasted several seconds.

The top 4 have smears of axle grease on them. Some einstein decided to fill the control box (fits over the top 4 slider in the middle) with heavy grease, which inevitable leaked onto the sliders. This caused them to not slide very well.

Is there any way of cleaning inside the slider slots ? Turps did remove the grease in the control box.
I'm guessing the sliders themselves should be polished then cleaned off and left dry.

I'm going to try making a new slider out of brass sheet, should be fun

 

[chj]

I suppose you could benefit from "removing" the crack in the wood. I am a speaker builder and those are a no-no to achieve the positive contribution from the enclosure.

 

[Glug]

Yep, already done

I also hand carved a new register slider from the finest 0.3mm brass sheet, works just fine.

Something I have discovered: there are oval recesses in the bottom of two of the treble reed blocks in the middle.
They fit over the area where the control rods from the register switches go through the sliders.

So 2 cutouts in 2 reed blocks positioned over the 4 control rod ends.
If these recesses were airtight the only way for air to escape from the interior through the register mechanism is if it sneaks through the register slider channels into that recess. I think that was the original plan.

On my box there was no suede in that region (you can see it in the image up the page) and the side wall of the recesses was cut badly.

I've repaired the reed blocks and installed some bellows foam but haven't tested the result yet.
Certainly a better approach than filling the register mechanism with axle grease.

 

[Glug]

Forgot to mention: I also weighed it - 10.0kg + straps.

The Scandalli Brevetto seems to be around 12.2kg (presumably including straps).
Now I'm wondering what's missing from mine

 

[oldbayan]

Theoretically, 4 voices can be combined in 13 different ways!

 

[Glug]

It's actually 16 (including all off)

In a lot of ways binary switches made a lot of sense: https://www.libertybellows.com/shop...e-O-Piano-Accordion-LMMH-41-120-x46776121.htm. But it would require play 'chords' on the switches to change between the most used combinations.

I've often wondered why the bass registers are not done that way, since they don't tend to get switched as much.

 

[Ventura]

mostly because accordion buyers could be fooled by "more switches = Higher Price/better model"