Hohner paint repair

[32251]

Have an all aluminum painted Hohner to work on. Shell is painted. Thick enamel paint it looks like. One section of the front face is worn all the way down to the aluminum. So let’s repaint it. Found a rattle can color that works. First pic is one coat, you can see the dark area where the aluminum is being covered, next pic is two coats and starting to look good. Probably should have used an aluminum primer coat, but I think this will be fine. I will do about 6 coats and sand to blend and then rubbing compound. Very repairable issue for an accordion with bad paint loss.

 

[MoreorlessMusic]

Thank you for posting this, I recently bought a Hohner with an aluminium case and will need to do a similar repair job on it so it is encouraging to see that you have had success with this.

 

[debra]

We cannot see it in the pictures as there is no "before" picture. But often when you think it has been painted with a thick paint it is actually covered in celluloid and not painted.
The best way to tell whether an aluminium part (like a grille) is painted or covered with celluloid is to check where it has holes. When the part is covered with celluloid only the top has celluloid and inside the holes or cutouts you see the aluminium (or wood if it's a wooden part). When the part is painted (spray-painted typically) the paint is also in the holes and cutouts. it is also never a "thick enamel paint", because industrially painted parts (spray-painted) always have a thin coat of paint. The part you have has no paint in the hole, so it is most likely covered with celluloid, and was not painted. (Yet another way to tellis to feel both sides of the metal. A painted side feels almost as cold as the blank back side. A side covered with celluloid feels less cold (as the celluloid does not absorb the warmth of you finger as much as the metal does).
Other than by looking at holes it can be hard to determine whether a surface was painted or covered with celluloid. The shiny outside surface can look very much alike. I recently worked on a small Pigini which looked like it was covered with black celluloid (except for the obviously painted grille with paint in all the cutouts). But on closer inspection (looking inside the holes for the bellow pins for instance) it became clear that the treble side was painted and the bass side was covered with celluloid... it can be tricky to see whether something is painted or covered with celluloid!

 

[boxplayer4000]

Debra: Well explained, thanks.
The problem remains, with both paint and celluloid; and that is getting a good match between old and new.

 

[32251]

We cannot see it in the pictures as there is no "before" picture. But often when you think it has been painted with a thick paint it is actually covered in celluloid and not painted.
The best way to tell whether an aluminium part (like a grille) is painted or covered with celluloid is to check where it has holes. When the part is covered with celluloid only the top has celluloid and inside the holes or cutouts you see the aluminium (or wood if it's a wooden part). When the part is painted (spray-painted typically) the paint is also in the holes and cutouts. it is also never a "thick enamel paint", because industrially painted parts (spray-painted) always have a thin coat of paint. The part you have has no paint in the hole, so it is most likely covered with celluloid, and was not painted. (Yet another way to tellis to feel both sides of the metal. A painted side feels almost as cold as the blank back side. A side covered with celluloid feels less cold (as the celluloid does not absorb the warmth of you finger as much as the metal does).
Other than by looking at holes it can be hard to determine whether a surface was painted or covered with celluloid. The shiny outside surface can look very much alike. I recently worked on a small Pigini which looked like it was covered with black celluloid (except for the obviously painted grille with paint in all the cutouts). But on closer inspection (looking inside the holes for the bellow pins for instance) it became clear that the treble side was painted and the bass side was covered with celluloid... it can be tricky to see whether something is painted or covered with celluloid!

No this was painted. The part I painted was the body of the accordion, not the grille. Being from the 1950s there was really only two main industrial spray coverings for most things….lacquer or enamel paints. The paint on this unit was for sure thick, as you could see chipped out spots and the area I painted was a large worn spot down to the aluminum. It is easy to see/feel and even smell celluloid covering no matter if the substrate is wood or aluminum. I was happy with the paint results. This accordion has sold. The buyer picked this one out of 7 I had to choose from because of the look of the grill and the sound.