Older 4 rocker excelsior plastic grill?

[nagant27]

Just a long shot I know but does anyone have a grill for an older 4 rocker ny made excelsior? This accordion really plays and sounds great. Someone replaced the H set of reeds with another M, and did a great job. It sounds super and I’m hoping to get a new grill for it.

thanks!

 

[JIM D.]

I'm afraid your looking for a part as scarce as hens teeth. "00"'s were made in large numbers in the 40's & 50's and there should
be some around for Parts Only. You will have to spend some time posting in accordion forums & the accordion sites in facebook.
In the past I was fortunate to find one for parts only on Ebay. Not being that bad of condition I repaired it well enough to make it
playable and sold it. I've since purchased another and fully intend to restore it for my own use. I have it 60% finished and when I
have time (what a joke!!) I plan to complete it for my personal use. THERE ARE some old ones out there for parts and I wish you
the best in finding one.

The 4 rocker design never lasted as many accordionists simply didn't know how to use it properly and preferred to use the newer
shift machine designs.
Charles Magnante became famous using one ---


And many jazz accordion players still perform with one -----

 

[nagant27]

Thanks Jim. I had a feeling it was going to be tough to find. I’ll keep my eye on eBay and see if one comes up that is rough enough to part out. We’ve agreed before on how under valued these really are. They are light, well built, very comfortable to play, and the sound combinations are fun to experiment with.
This one has exceptional tone in my opinion and I really enjoy playing it.
I also have a later 00 model so would be cool to have both models playing and looking nice. Someday hopefully one will show up on here or somewhere.
PS: I am *not* volunteering to do it!

 

[debra]

Why would you look for a replacement grille? An accordion repairer should (with quite a bit of work) be able to repair it completely, because this old grill is very likely made of celluloid and that is the one type of "plastic" accordion repairers can really do miracles with...
As a fairly large piece is missing it is also a large job, but as the mirror image of the missing part is still there (at the other end of the grille) a repairer can make a mold for the missing piece and then make it out of celluloid. It can even be done so you would never know a repair was needed, but again, it is a *lot* of work.

 

[nagant27]

That’s good to know, price might be a bit much and not sure if worth that. I didn’t realize celluloid was that “workable”. That’s good information too.
I was thinking even a 3 d printer some day would be able to duplicate it too.

 

[JIM D.]

A time consuming and to costly of a venture when there are many out there. Found a "00" playable for $ 500 today.
Have patience, one for parts shows up occasionally. Only paid $300.00 for the one I'll rebuild for my personal use.

Used Vintage Excelsior Professional Accordion 1950's Black | LaSalle Music | Reverb

Excelsior Professional Accordion w/ Case -41 Key/120 Bass -Made in Italy, 1950's -Jet Black Finish with Chrome Trim -4-Treble tone registers -2 Bass tone registers -Bellows are in good condition -Compression is good -All keys and buttons working -Includes hard case -Key Width: 3/4" -Ke...

reverb.com

 

[nagant27]

What other 4 reed, good reeds, good playing professional accordion can be had that cheap other than the 00. I’m keeping my eyes open and will keep looking!

 

[Scuromondo]

What other 4 reed, good reeds, good playing professional accordion can be had that cheap other than the 00. I’m keeping my eyes open and will keep looking!

Liberty Bellows currently have an Excelsior “OO” for sale. I think they are a reputable outlet. They are asking $1200 for it. Perhaps that may be more than you are prepared to pay, but if you really want a “OO” in playable condition, it might not be a bad choice, especially if the cost and aggravation of restoring your grill is so indeterminate.

 

[Glug]

They also have a section for grilles:

Grills, Registers, Switches, Decorative Items

www.libertybellows.com

I spotted this one earlier:

Excelsior Accordion Part - Black Grill 18 x 6.25 x 1.75

Brand: Italian Dimensions (Inch): 18 x 6.25 x 1.75 Dimensions (cm): 46 x 16 x 4.5

www.libertybellows.com

Which is obviously related, but the wrong number of rockers.

 

[nagant27]

Good to know guys. Thank you. I’m gonna add liberty bellows to my radar and see what comes up. I’ll wait and hopefully something will turn up. I hate to admit it but I do already own a couple fully playable 00s, so I’m in no hurry. It’s all part of the accordion addiction/obsession I have. Probably should get therapy, but I absolutely love it!

 

[nagant27]

Well I managed to find one! Amazingly the serial numbers are within 30 of each other too. I think it was meant to be. The grill was easy to swap, didn’t even need to make any modifications or adjustments. $150 and was very close to me to boot. The reeds in both of these are in great condition. Both are totally playable as is. If anyone ends up restoring one ever, or needing any parts or reeds from one I’m probably just gonna keep the one for parts.
I was thinking of maybe replacing the high reed rocker with another middle since mine has 3 middles. I think it might be cooler and more accurate.
Sometimes it’s the little things...

 

[JIM D.]

As the saying goes -- "PATIENCE HAS IT"S REWARDS" .
A good find as a used "00" bass machine is worth at least $ 200 to 300 USD
Also most of the used reeds will be valuable -- count the good reeds you have (should be 284 in the box) and multiply them by $5.00

 

[nagant27]

Hey Jim if you ever get around to restoring yours and need something let me know. These really are excellent sounding accordions. I’d love to help after all the work you did for me.

 

[nagant27]

One thing I noticed on these 2, the pallets are made of wood on one and plastic on the other. The plastic seem really good and say excelsior on every single one so I think are original. I’ve only seen wood on excelsior before. They work very well and the keyboard is light and fast and feels nice. They were made so close together, if the serial numbers mean anything, so I was curious. Anyone seen or noticed this?

 

[JIM D.]

The one with the chrome corners is a 40's American made - The other is a 50's American made
model containing 50% of parts made in Italy. The parts should be interchangeable. I have many parts to
fit a "00" I've saved - with the exception of a grill. Serial #'s were optional to the dealer that purchased them
for new retail sales. Many times when a model changed serial #'s were reused.

 

[nagant27]

Can you tell Jim because of the pallets? Or sone other features?
It appears that the one without the corners did have them at one time, I can see the small holes where they were.

 

[JIM D.]

Many undocumented features can be found on Excelsiors made in the 50's. This is when American models began using more
& more Italian made components up until full Italian production.
Outside appearances stayed the same however with the exception of the Italian American identification plate on the back
of models until the 60's. After that a plastic plate MADE IN ITALY replaced it.
I've run into many custom ordered Excelsior models that were not listed in their literature and undocumented.
A very unusual custom model I worked on years back was an Accordiana (normally a student model) that was full man
size with 4/5 hand made reeds and a tone chamber !!

 

[NickC]

Very nice. I'm glad you found the grill. Enjoy it!