Mystery Concertina with button issues

[Wolf Molkentin]

13 hours ago, Daniel Hersh said:

 

Bastari and Stagi are basically the same.  But some Hohner-branded concertinas were made in Italy by Bastari/Stagi and others (more recently) were made in China.  In my experience the Chinese Hohners are worse than the Italian ones.

 

Agreed - I didn’t have the later Hohners in mind - however my Stagi/Hohner is sufficiently awful in its own right... ?

[John_D]

13 hours ago, Don Taylor said:

Fix the button sleeving first and then record a new file.  Right now multiple reeds are sounding which might be because one or more buttons are not closing their pads completely, probably because the sleeves have gone.  

 

Buy yourself a small enough screwdriver to get the ends separated properly so that you can see what is going on with the action mechanism (the levers attached to the buttons that raise and lower pads over holes in the action board).  The holes, when open, let air pass over the reeds causing them to sound, if some of them are sticking open then  multiple reeds will sound.  Until the action mechanism is fixed there is little point in chasing other issues.

 

Take some pictures of the action and post them here.

I am having trouble posting images but last night I did open it up to see the mechanism (with a small enough screwdriver) and the pads are fine. I unstuck the crammed key and rerecorded playing every note. I also discover that there was a small wooden inlay on the outside of the concertina saying "Made in Italy"  so that confirms it be a bastari/stagi. Also the particles turned out to be the rotted and dried rubber bearings that fell off. 

The only way I can share all of this is through google so here's the link:https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=1AUJFG13tc4nIwfqN2XUwEgGUf5yRqgKn

[Don Taylor]

All of the levers need to have replacements for those rotted black bits of rubber tubing.

[John_D]

21 minutes ago, Don Taylor said:

All of the levers need to have replacements for those rotted black bits of rubber tubing.

Based on that thread you guys showed me they said the size they experimented with was an ID 3/32" and 1/8". My local hardware store has vinyl tubing that an ID of 3/16" do you guys think that'll work?

[Don Taylor]

I don't think that it is super critical but 3/16 might be a bit big, but the stuff is dirt cheap so try some.  You want a fairly snug fit around the post so that it does not wobble around.

 

Model airplane fuel tubing can be had in smaller diameters if there is a hobby shop near you (Dubro is a popular brand of silicone tubing) or maybe try an auto parts shop like the Partsource or NAPA.  You only need 2 or 3 feet. If you can find it locally then this should cost less than $5.  Amazon.com has it.

 

Wolf had success using some tubing from inside a soap dispenser!

[John_D]

Tubing is in place, but some new problem have arisen, the thumb valve is sticking, the A/C key is sounding off, some reeds are sounding at the same time. This could be a problem with the valves so I think that's the next thing I should replace! All pictures and videos of my concertina is in this google drive folder:

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=1AUJFG13tc4nIwfqN2XUwEgGUf5yRqgKn

Edited August 31, 2019 by John_D