New accordion day! (12 bass Hohner)

[Rosie C]

Thanks @Ventura !

I already had some repair materials for my 120 bass, so I've dug them out and had a go at fitting new leather valves...

Removing an old valve:


I replaced the worse valves, leaving the existing where they were OK:


The new leather valves came with valve glue which is just cyanoacrylate and not very good:


The 6 lower bass reeds done. I have the metal tines to reinforce the valves, but the glue wouldn't stick the little leather circles. So that will have to wait until I have better glue.


The chord block:


The leather valves in my spares box were mostly larger ones for bass. The only small ones I had were a strange design with plastic strips bonded on top. They were the right size at least, though I managed to damage one of the plastic strips, and didn't have enough strips for all the reeds.



All done. Well, the outside valves done. The inside will happen another time. I've had a trial play and it's sounding much better - in particular the volume and tone of the bass notes is more consistent between notes, and the notes are crisper - starting more quickly I think.

 

[Rosie C]

I took another look at the Student II on Rocko's auction, and I see they're very similar. The floral pattern is the same, as is the gold bellows tape and the gold back protector.

 

[Ventura]

betcha have some in your auto supplies
that'll hold those dots on just fine

 

[Rosie C]

Indeed we do. Not common, but definitely available!

 

[Ventura]

so i was curious and want to ask how the keyboard
feels for playing, as it has nice long keys, as compared to
the popular short squat Hohners like you originally looked
at and tried at the start of your buying "spree"
LoL

i had cautioned you they have a very short "throw" pivotpoint

 

[Rosie C]

so i was curious and want to ask how the keyboard
feels for playing, as it has nice long keys, as compared to
the popular short squat Hohners like you originally looked
at and tried at the start of your buying "spree"
LoL

i had cautioned you they have a very short "throw" pivotpoint

I didn't notice the 'throw' specifically, but it is a very easy keyboard to play. I've not measured it, but I think it's more of less the same key spacing as my Roland - I found it easy to play quickly and I found the octave jumps (always G to G) accurate. The keys are a bit uneven, but I didn't notice when I was playing.