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Settimio Soprani leather bellows strap wanted
- Thread starter Rosie C
- Start date
Dingo40
Been here for ages!
You could try a local harness maker/saddler to see if they could make one for you from scratch using what you have for a template.
Just a long shot: they do have the skills, tools and available materials.
There appear to be several in your locality.
Last edited:
Rosie C
Well-known member
It's an idea - if I had two made then there wouldn't be such an issue matching them.
boxplayer4000
Prolific poster
These are probably cheaper than custom made parts:
colinm
Well-known member
Have you tried cgm musical in scotland , on tinternet
Dingo40
Been here for ages!
That's what boxplayer suggested!
Here's the link:
Only trouble is, it doesn't seem like any of them will match
Loads on E-bay
Ventura
Been here for ages!
this type of bellows strap has long ago fallen out of favor
the permanent end is held firmly when new, it was not intended
to swivel, if it swivels it may also leak
the movable end is just a hole with a thin brass edge grommet
that you just loop over the pin sticking up to hold the bellows closed,
and if the strap is still flexible enough, you loop it back over itself and
also over the holding pin to keep it out of the way more or less
while playing. They do not snap onto those pins.
some pre-war Hohners used this type of bellows strap too
because you must stretch the strap a bit to get it over the pin,
then release it to hold, the strap needs to be both somewhat
stretchy and a perfect length, else it holds loosely and can flop
off easily. Once the strap dries out and loses it's stretch it
will break like this one has.
so ANY piece of leather the right thickness and softness can
be cut with a good scissors, and a simple grommet tool/hole punch
of appropriate size will finish the job.. it may take a few times to get
one the exact correct length and flex
therefore, outside of wishing to preserve authenticity, substituting
a more modern bellows strap and hardware is a much better solution,
especially if this accordion ends up in "playable" condition and
rotates into the Gig rotation, as the original bellows straps are unreliable.
this also allows for selecting something very nice looking and complementary
with rhinestone embedded snaps or your name embroidered onto the
new strap. There are also grommet type snap setting kits at the hobby shop
and leather supply shop.
if you wish to try making a pair, Tack shops usually have some fresh, nice, basic
leather lariats/leads in that width and thickness in brown and black ready to purchase
buying an old used pair from eBay they will be dried out and not take
the stretch needed when looping over the pin and quickly fail
ps: love the sharps and flats ! quite unique
the permanent end is held firmly when new, it was not intended
to swivel, if it swivels it may also leak
the movable end is just a hole with a thin brass edge grommet
that you just loop over the pin sticking up to hold the bellows closed,
and if the strap is still flexible enough, you loop it back over itself and
also over the holding pin to keep it out of the way more or less
while playing. They do not snap onto those pins.
some pre-war Hohners used this type of bellows strap too
because you must stretch the strap a bit to get it over the pin,
then release it to hold, the strap needs to be both somewhat
stretchy and a perfect length, else it holds loosely and can flop
off easily. Once the strap dries out and loses it's stretch it
will break like this one has.
so ANY piece of leather the right thickness and softness can
be cut with a good scissors, and a simple grommet tool/hole punch
of appropriate size will finish the job.. it may take a few times to get
one the exact correct length and flex
therefore, outside of wishing to preserve authenticity, substituting
a more modern bellows strap and hardware is a much better solution,
especially if this accordion ends up in "playable" condition and
rotates into the Gig rotation, as the original bellows straps are unreliable.
this also allows for selecting something very nice looking and complementary
with rhinestone embedded snaps or your name embroidered onto the
new strap. There are also grommet type snap setting kits at the hobby shop
and leather supply shop.
if you wish to try making a pair, Tack shops usually have some fresh, nice, basic
leather lariats/leads in that width and thickness in brown and black ready to purchase
buying an old used pair from eBay they will be dried out and not take
the stretch needed when looping over the pin and quickly fail
ps: love the sharps and flats ! quite unique
Rosie C
Well-known member
Ah, that makes a lot of sense. The strap on the other side is intact but the leather on the inside is cracked - just like it's been folded back.
They are gorgeous. There's a tiny chip in one of but otherwise they're in really nice condition too.
Thanks! I measured the accordion and it's 85mm between centres. They have this type which would be a little different, but would fit. I'd have to take the bellow off to swap them over though
I saw in a post a couple of years ago that you have a similar vintage Settimio - could you explain how the palm bar under the treble keyboard works? It seems spring-loaded so whatever it does, I would have to keep it held in to maintain the effect?
Edit: there's this type too, which would be more like the original:
Ventura
Been here for ages!
these palm switches are typically "either or"
under the coverings there is a Y looking flat gizmo and springs thing that on one press
pivots down/left and on the next press pivots up/right.. usually it controls
the shutter for the L reeds, allowing the box to sound MMM or LMMM
as the most frequent (i have) seen on the more elaborate models, or
MM / LMM on the lesser ones
this era, once they moved to 120 bass, slowly adopted other improvements..
some quickly migrated between brands like the either-or palm shift. A few
brands had a split palm shift too back then. Some had little windows on top
near the bellows strap so you could see which position was engaged, some had (a)
meter-looking needle(s) under a front window on the grille
from the pictures, your stradella mech is the (unique) one designed by Settimo Soprani
and used by them through the 1950's at least. You can ID many private label
boxes from this mech design. The industry in general moved to the one you see
nowadays and most all accordions by the 1960's had the modern type, but if you
ever need parts, you can look under a lot of other names in the junque-piles for
donor mech
under the coverings there is a Y looking flat gizmo and springs thing that on one press
pivots down/left and on the next press pivots up/right.. usually it controls
the shutter for the L reeds, allowing the box to sound MMM or LMMM
as the most frequent (i have) seen on the more elaborate models, or
MM / LMM on the lesser ones
this era, once they moved to 120 bass, slowly adopted other improvements..
some quickly migrated between brands like the either-or palm shift. A few
brands had a split palm shift too back then. Some had little windows on top
near the bellows strap so you could see which position was engaged, some had (a)
meter-looking needle(s) under a front window on the grille
from the pictures, your stradella mech is the (unique) one designed by Settimo Soprani
and used by them through the 1950's at least. You can ID many private label
boxes from this mech design. The industry in general moved to the one you see
nowadays and most all accordions by the 1960's had the modern type, but if you
ever need parts, you can look under a lot of other names in the junque-piles for
donor mech
