How does the cassotto block come out?

[Ikesaccordions]

Hohner isn't the only maker which used brown plastic slides. I had some that were breaking up in the bass of an Acme, so I just took some the same thickness from a full sized 120 bass bass. Seeing they were a bit wide for the channels, I carefully put them on a horizontal belt sander and gradually buffed them to fit. But much to my surprise the holes on my aluminium slides were a mite further apart so that at one end they were not at all closely aligned.
You can actually make slides without access to a machine shop. Buy some plain stock the correct thickness, and if necessary saw it to the needed width with a small table saw. Make round holes perfectly centered, and make a sqare steel template. Clamp the slide with the rectangular template, and hand-file it.
The template is just one rectangular hole you center on each round hole. Clamp the slide between 2 straight flat bars so as not to bend it. Hardwood slats or aluminum stock. Make an opening in the clamping jig to place your template when filing

 

[boxplayer4000]

Ikesaccordions:
I talk with this Hohner/German site on technical topics and spares issues from time to time and I find them very helpful.

Accordions for Classical, Latin, Folk: HOHNER - enjoy music

Original HOHNER Accordions. Play Classical music, Latin, Folk, Pop, and Rock. Reliable Quality Made in Germany.

www.hohner.de

To quote Mark Twain “News of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”

 

[Alan Polivka]

What surprises me mostly is that a big name firm like Hohner would use what to me would, at face value, appear to be most unsuitable material for the slides.
That they have actually survived decades of use seems to be a miracle to me!
But then, we also have the episode of the unsuitable palette glue and the synthetic sponges that simply evaporated into thin air.

Hohner seemed to love to experiment with non-standard construction approaches.

 

[JerryPH]

Hohner seemed to love to experiment with non-standard construction approaches.

Indeed, back in their "hey-day" they made all kinds of accordions from really unique to monstrosities. At the time they were a company on a mission to promote, find what people liked and deliver. Sadly, quite the different company today!

 

[Alan Polivka]

Indeed, back in their "hey-day" they made all kinds of accordions from really unique to monstrosities. At the time they were a company on a mission to promote, find what people liked and deliver. Sadly, quite the different company today!

Fortunately, I was able to tour their huge facility in Trossingen, Germany, while it was still in full operation. They made harmonicas as well as accordions there.

 

[JerryPH]

Fortunately, I was able to tour their huge facility in Trossingen, Germany, while it was still in full operation. They made harmonicas as well as accordions there.

A few years ago there was a guy that slipped in to the old factory... took a lot of pics, and made lots of cool comments.

You are very lucky to have been able to see the original plant. I'd love to have been able to see the location where my parents picked up my Hohner Morino!

 

[dak]

What surprises me mostly is that a big name firm like Hohner would use what to me would, at face value, appear to be most unsuitable material for the slides.

Early Morinos are likely to differ in their mechanisms from competitors because Morino, a learnt carpenter, was a self-made man who had created hundreds of individual instruments when still working in Geneva. When he was essentially bankrupt because a business partner absconded with most of the inventory, Hohner made him an offer he could not refuse. So with things like cassotto, he had his own recipes and experiences partly predating what was developed in Castelfidardo. This can also involve materials: his greatest expertise was with woodworks, so the original Morinos are robust, stable, and lighter than their Italian-made successors.

That they have actually survived decades of use seems to be a miracle to me!

So he must not have been completely wrong... I think at the time sliders were made from duroplasts instead of the much more common thermoplasts these days. I am not sure I want to verify this with a soldering iron...

But then, we also have the episode of the unsuitable palette glue and the synthetic sponges that simply evaporated into thin air.

That's Dr. Dorner domain, the son-in-law engineer who was also responsible for the aluminum frames of Atlantic and Imperator and also worked on Hohner's own reed plates. He was actually the one for checking out modern materials, and overall was a pretty solid contributor. But he had his misses as well.

 

[boxplayer4000]

Hohner Slide.
henry d:
I explained above that I have a Morino from the same era as your own with a similar problem (broken) reed-block slide. I’ve been able to live with mine because it’s affecting the bass only but if it had been affecting the treble end (like yours) I would have been much more focused.
I also explained that Hohner/Germany said they would likely be able to help with a spare but that they would need the broken item to hand so that they could make a match. As I didn’t have the broken item in my Morino I could not comply with this but I said I could produce a full-scale drawing. Hohner weren’t happy about this but said they could do it but, not unreasonably I thought, said the risk of supplying the wrong item/postage etc. would be mine alone. I appreciate your distance from Hohner/Germany. There’s conflicting comments above about the existence of Hohner/USA but in a continent the size of the USA it’s hard to believe that there’s nobody with good contact to Hohner/Germany. I feel this could be your route to getting a spare into the USA.
To those with difficulties with non-magnetic screwdrivers/non ferrous screws etc. they could try putting the smallest blob of ‘blu-tac’ material on the screwdriver tip to retain the screw in difficult places.

 

[Ventura]

good opportunity for a do-it-self workshop tip

grab any spare leftover bad old style hard drive and
rip it apart.. dig down to the depths and you can liberate
a pair of intensely powerful Neodymium magnets on plates
which can easily be used to magnetize screwdrivers to hold
those pesky tiny screws being sent into deep dark places

 

[JKJ]

To those with difficulties with non-magnetic screwdrivers/non ferrous screws etc. they could try putting the smallest blob of ‘blu-tac’ material on the screwdriver tip to retain the screw in difficult places.

That’s a good idea! For tiny screws I use a similar method - soften a bit of beeswax between my fingers and put a speck in the slot or phillips/JIS socket then press the screwdriver in. I keep beehives so I always have an excess of wax! (BTW, some may not know about Japanese JIS screws, they look like phillips but are different, common on vehicles, office equipment and more - if you ever “cammed-out“ a stubborn screw with a phillips driver it may have actually been a JIS screw!)

Also, I’ll pass on my new favorite tool set for working on small things, or things with small fasteners! I’ve bought several of these Strebito sets for myself and as gifts.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08SGM6F79

They are targeted to those who work on phones and such but I’ve found many uses. A thoughtful touch is including duplicates of the smallest of the most common driver tips. This shows the driver tip sizes included, some I may never use but who knows…

PS, it comes with a tool magnetizer/demagnetizer.



JKJ

 

[boxplayer4000]

JKJ: I thought I had quite a good selection of screwdrivers until I saw your list.!!
The 'right tool for the job' is the aim. Many repair jobs I've had have included dealing with screws and nuts which have been 'attacked' by a butcher.

 

[JKJ]

JKJ: I thought I had quite a good selection of screwdrivers until I saw your list.!!
The 'right tool for the job' is the aim. Many repair jobs I've had have included dealing with screws and nuts which have been 'attacked' by a butcher.

Ha! (and I've cut many slots in well rounded-out phillips screws so they could be removed with a big flat head screwdriver on a hammer-driven impact driver.

A friend came to my shop once to get something fixed (of course) and mentioned she couldn't understand why anyone would ever need more than one screwdriver. Well, maybe two, if you might need one of those "crossy shaped" ones. Yikes!

Then I opened my primary screwdriver drawer in my main shop (with the smaller "small screwdriver" drawer open to the left):



Two shop mottos I live by: one, you can't have too many tools. The other is never buy junk tools.

Other drawers have only torx, hex keys, sockets, "normal" wrenches, "big" wrenches, hammers+prybars, adjustable wrenches, cutters, vise grips, cordless, pneumatic, drill bits, taps, dies, threaded fasteners, tape, wire etc., over 60 drawers in roll-arounds alone. Elsewhere in the shop are tools related to welding, machining, woodworking, woodturning, and carving. I'm so ashamed...

There are also screwdriver and tool sets elsewhere in the shop, house, and around on the farm as needed, and small tool bags in every vehicle including the farm and construction equipment. (That stuff needs really big tools at times)

BTW, I think everyone should regularly take updated photos of every drawer opened and every battery, electric, and gasoline tool, all materials and supplies, and store the photos off-site. (Goes for kitchen, closets, garage, musical instruments too.) Photos could be so helpful for insurance purposes in case of a horrible disaster some day. I've heard of people who suddenly remembered other things they lost months after the insurance settlement.

Oh no, I just had a thought! I'm about out of room. Where am I going to keep my accordion-related tools like those to adjust piano key rods, test bellows? Something's gonna have to go.

JKJ

 

[Tom]

Ha! (and I've cut many slots in well rounded-out phillips screws so they could be removed with a big flat head screwdriver on a hammer-driven impact driver.

A friend came to my shop once to get something fixed (of course) and mentioned she couldn't understand why anyone would ever need more than one screwdriver. Well, maybe two, if you might need one of those "crossy shaped" ones. Yikes!

Then I opened my primary screwdriver drawer in my main shop (with the smaller "small screwdriver" drawer open to the left):



Two shop mottos I live by: one, you can't have too many tools. The other is never buy junk tools.

Other drawers have only torx, hex keys, sockets, "normal" wrenches, "big" wrenches, hammers+prybars, adjustable wrenches, cutters, vise grips, cordless, pneumatic, drill bits, taps, dies, threaded fasteners, tape, wire etc., over 60 drawers in roll-arounds alone. Elsewhere in the shop are tools related to welding, machining, woodworking, woodturning, and carving. I'm so ashamed...

There are also screwdriver and tool sets elsewhere in the shop, house, and around on the farm as needed, and small tool bags in every vehicle including the farm and construction equipment. (That stuff needs really big tools at times)

BTW, I think everyone should regularly take updated photos of every drawer opened and every battery, electric, and gasoline tool, all materials and supplies, and store the photos off-site. (Goes for kitchen, closets, garage, musical instruments too.) Photos could be so helpful for insurance purposes in case of a horrible disaster some day. I've heard of people who suddenly remembered other things they lost months after the insurance settlement.

Oh no, I just had a thought! I'm about out of room. Where am I going to keep my accordion-related tools like those to adjust piano key rods, test bellows? Something's gonna have to go.

JKJ

Very impressive!