Can anyone provide details about this Super Scandalli?

[Frankenstein1313]

Hello. My name is Frank and I am new here. Recently I bought an accordion from a musician that didn't need it anymore. He once bought it from another musician, some fifteen years ago, and he could not provide any details about the accordion. I would like to know a bit more about the instrument. There is no sign of a model or type on the case or the instrument itself. There is a sign with a hand-carved test 'regist' on it. On the back the number 2280 is carved. Searching online also didn't give me much information, so I figured I'd call to the knowledge of this forum

I hope anyone can provide more details about the accordion. Thank you in advance.

 

[Big Squeezy Accordions]

Very cool looking, and an unusual color. I have never seen this particular model of Scandalli, but they are an old and well respected brand. This one appears to be from the 40s. The panel on the top with 4 little windows is to display the register. It looks like you only have a single palm switch, so I would guess you have two registers - most likely MMM and LMMM, meaning 3 reeds tuned a bit apart for a musette sound, and then the same 3 reeds with an additional lower octave added. The circular knob is for an internal bellows lock, which is a feature on some Scandallis and Hohners. It's worth taking out the bellows pins and opening it up to make sure the locking mechanism has not become bent and is rubbing against the inside of the bellows. I've seen Scandallis with holes worn through the bellows because of these in the past. I see you are missing a couple of bass buttons. This is most likely because of an unfortunate design flaw in many Scandallis, wherein the bass buttons are held in with little plastic bands. Over time, the plastic disintegrates and the bass buttons start falling out. Hopefully you have the buttons somewhere. One odd thing is that the divot indicating the C bass button is in the major chord row, rather than the primary bass row. I don't know why this would be, unless someone took it apart and put it back together incorrectly. I suggest bringing it to a professional if you can find one. Probably others on this forum will have more information than I've been able to provide.

 

[Dingo40]

Welcome Frank
Thank you for sharing your lovely accordion with us: great pictures!
It is in excellent cosmetic condition for its age.
Accordions, like cars are much influenced by the stylistic conventions of their age in the arts, architecture, cars, etc.
As the decor of your accordion appears to be heavily influenced by the Art Deco movement (of the 1920s to 1930s), it could well be as early as from the 1930s
Also, the type of register selector mechanism was popular about that time: possibly as many as four registers , cycling through in succession with each press of the palm lever and showing up on the top window?
It should be possible to find suitable substitute replacement bass buttons
The flap labelled "REGIST" is probably a cover for access to some part of the register selection mechanism.
Great colour!
So that's my opinion, for what it's worth

 

[Dingo40]

BSA said:
"One odd thing is that the divot indicating the C bass button is in the major chord row, rather than the primary bass row."
Many/most accordions in the day had no factory marked bass buttons.
I wonder if one of the previous owners did a diy job and lost their bearings?
Wouldn't be the first time!

 

[Ventura]

Scandalli made 140 bass accordions too, so maybe one this early
was just bass row plus 2 counterbass as on a 140 laypot, but the
diminished row was left off

"conventions" that the industry ended up following went through
many variations on their way to the top !

it is hard to tell just when.. pre or post war... one the one hand it
still has so many of the vestiges of the art case and early shift style,
but it also has profligate use of Aluminum.. when did the accordionmakers
get their hands on unlimited amounts of aluminum to use artistically ?

and once the war ended, it was quite some years before there was ANY
extra metal italian manufacturing could get their hands on to use ornamentally

she still looks great !

 

[Dingo40]

Ventura said:
"...and once the war ended, it was quite some years before there was ANY
extra metal italian manufacturing could get their hands on to use ornamental"
Actually, I'm old enough to remember events from when WW2 ended and one of the the things, in Europe, was the speed with which armaments were repurposed into consumer goods (swords into ploughshares ?).
One thing in particular was a local foundry casting aluminium from military aircraft into locally made clothes irons, ladles and cooking pots, in large numbers at cheap prices (the metal being sold for scrap). So it is feasible.

 

[Ventura]

good to know they had some quick reverse.. the Germans melted pretty much everything
in Italy during their retreat up the boot !

i have seen pot metal and hand filed scrap metal used in accordion shifts and bracing
as they started back up making non-critical items (like musical instruments)

i suppose Pots and daily necessities took the focus the first few years..
sand casting until they could tool up molds again ?

 

[Big Squeezy Accordions]

When did Scandalli start making waterfall keys? I was under the impression that this key design didn't appear til the 40s, but correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Ventura]

that has fooled me too but as our master repairman Debra has
noted, once there were also waterfall look keytops made by acetone method
(allowing strips still soft to droop over the front of the wood key underneath)
vs: the later waterfall look Plastic keys largely used during the late 40's early 50's
(or so i believe) and which i feel should be avoided like the plague

hard to tell which is which from photo's

 

[Dingo40]

Some similar keys were made of pressed sheet metal with a cellulose or plastic coating.
I see similarly named keytop styles also appeared contemporaneously on pianos.

 

[Frankenstein1313]

Thank you all for your extensive responses. I have a better understanding of what kind of accordion I bought. I already figured it might be an old one, didn't suspect it would from before WWII.

 

[nagant27]

This is most likely because of an unfortunate design flaw in many Scandallis, wherein the bass buttons are held in with little plastic bands. Over time, the plastic disintegrates and the bass buttons start falling out. Hopefully you have the buttons somewhere. One odd thing is that the divot

This is interesting. Any idea where you could get the bands or what type of bands could be used today to fix this? It looks like a cool accordion to get playing again.

 

[tcabot]

One thing in particular was a local foundry casting aluminium from military aircraft into locally made clothes irons, ladles and cooking pots, in large numbers at cheap prices (the metal being sold for scrap).

I've got a couple of aluminium woodworking hand planes in my workshop named "Boston". Not only is it unusual that the block plane bodies are made out of aluminium, but it is also unusual that they are called "Boston" despite having been made in Wales.
The factory that made them happened to be just down the road from the place where "Boston" bomber planes (Douglas A-20) were recycled after WWII. The general belief is that these planes were made from, well, planes.
Not the best bit of kit, but I keep them as a conversation piece for when I get a visitor.

 

[Big Squeezy Accordions]

This is interesting. Any idea where you could get the bands or what type of bands could be used today to fix this? It looks like a cool accordion to get playing again.

First verify that you do, in fact, have this type of bass mechanism. If you unscrew the strap, remove the bass plate, and post a picture, I can tell you. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but your bass plate should open without any screws, just by pushing the semicircular metal buttons at the back. Then use heat shrink tubing for the plastic bands. Here's an earlier thread on the topic:

Scandalli bass button "rubber band" replacement

I somehow ended up with two Scandalli's with bass register problems. The first (white) was dropped from a height and the shock just popped some of the doo-dads out of the thingamajig, plus it dislodged the entire bass assembly from it's holding position. This was easily fixed! Yay! The second...

www.accordionists.info

 

[Ffingers]

I've got a couple of aluminium woodworking hand planes in my workshop named "Boston". Not only is it unusual that the block plane bodies are made out of aluminium, but it is also unusual that they are called "Boston" despite having been made in Wales.
The factory that made them happened to be just down the road from the place where "Boston" bomber planes (Douglas A-20) were recycled after WWII. The general belief is that these planes were made from, well, planes.
Not the best bit of kit, but I keep them as a conversation piece for when I get a visitor.

Could it have been made in the Boston Lodge foundry which serviced/services the Blaenau Ffestiniog narrow guage railway?

Ffestiniog — Great Little Trains of Wales

www.greatlittletrainsofwales.co.uk

 

[tcabot]

Possible, but it's far away from where "The Boston" hand planes were made.
Afaik, there were only 3 models ever made. I have 2 of them . The designs are unusual & interesting, but very basic in their function and the engineering is on the rough side to say the least - this was not a world-leading company producing high-end progressive designs. The choice of aluminium for plane bodies is unusual even for our times and was rather odd for 80 years ago, unless you couldn't get your hands on any other metals. So the bomber recycling scheme story does add up quite well, and goes hand in hand with what Dingo was saying. To quote the chap who came up with this interesting theory, "By 1946 some 856 airframes were waiting to be scrapped. It would appear highly likely that a scrapped and smelted Boston airframe provided not just the name, but the raw material to make these [hand]planes".

Sorry to the OP for hijacking the thread with WWII musings - to stay on topic, I love the unusual green colour of the accordion!

 

[belsmith]

I have found this so interesting.

I too like the colour of the accordion, and the WWII info all new to me.
Thanks