My second project: Hohner Lucia II

[Jose EB5AGV]

Well, after leaving aside, at least by now, my Hohner Verdi II Project, which was very nice looking but had problems with its reeds... I have bought today (and, no, it is not an April 1st fool ) a somewhat trashed Hohner Lucia II (I have some affinity with old Hohner II models, it seems!)

Don't be scared about how it looks...

Here you have it already on my workbench:



Ouch, this hurts!



I wonder why people glue these things on the register selectors:



They keys are a bit uneven, but all work:



Bass buttons have also some gems on them:



Some lateral views:





At least the badge is in good shape!



Then here is an area needing some care:



Look in detail:



All in all, the accordion sounds decently. The seller has played it for me. He has quite an array of accordions, BTW. This one was bought about a month ago for 350€ plus shipping. He didn't expect it to be that bad and has sold it to me for just 150€ (thanks Lute!)

Obvious faults are some tuning issues and some muted notes. I have not yet had the time to open the instrument, but for sure will find decaying valves and plenty of dirt. The good thing is that the bellows are tight and the overall sound is nice. I think I could get this one to useable condition. It will never be pretty but beauty is on the inside, right?

I will post more pictures of the inside as I work on it. I have noticed one treble register is not fully engaging, so I will work on that also. The bellows locking mechanism is also faulty.

Your opinion is welcomed, even if you call me mad!

Jose

 

[Glug]

My main box is a 1959 Hohner Lucia IV P, so looks very similar to yours.
I did a full repair and I have to say I like the way they're made.
Some people don't particularly like the sound but I do.

I did fix all the air leaks, including replacing all pallet facings and leveling the keys, it's not too difficult: https://www.accordionists.info/threads/air-leaks-lucia-iv-p.5243/



Akkordeonwelt do a lot of suitable spares: https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/akkordeonwelt?_trksid=p4429486.m3561.l170197

 

[Tom]

Good luck with that one Jose!

 

[Corinto]

¡Suerte Campeón!

 

[Jose EB5AGV]

Well, just a short update on this project. When I opened the instrument, I found some butchering done to it. Beware if you are sensitive....

There was a loose reed around, which was not unexpected:





I wonder why the inner valve is of a different kind than the external. Had they been replaced?

At least that gives me an idea of what to expect from the reeds... not too bad, but lots of work ahead. A nice way to learn!

Here you have the bass section:





The bellows lock mechanism is working, but a bit missaligned, so I can fix it, no big deal:



Mechanically, the bass registers selectors are OK:



And then, on the treble side, the missing reed location!



And I found a curious thing... someone had stuck that white thing on a reed, I guess it was so out of tune that this was a crude way to silence it?



All in all, reeds seem fixable, but of course, a cleaning, rewaxing and tuning is on order:



(continues on next message)

 

[Jose EB5AGV]

Here you have more pictures of the treble reeds:







Not too bad, I would say, based on my little experience.

But then, the butchering

Here you can see some screw and spring not original...



And look that poor repaired key, with the lever completely scratched and ruined:





I guess I will look for replacement for the damaged keys, screws and springs, I hope to locate them so the treble side is again fine. I need also to replace felts on this section.

So this project enters an stand-by mode, while I find the needed spare parts. Any hint welcomed!!!