Melodeon.net Forums
Discussions => General Discussion => Topic started by: Melissa Sinclair on January 23, 2017, 01:31:39 AM
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I just bought a second melodeon and I don't even have my first one yet! There was a cheap Hohner Liliput on ebay. I figured for that price, even if needing significant work, it would still be a good value, I hope. I don't even know what key it's in!
I really want to try a club system as I think that might be easier for me. We'll see? Eek!
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How much did you get it for? Can we see the original listing?
(I don't have enough money for my own purchases so have to rely on others' for the excitement of getting a bargain) (:)
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I don't even know what key it's in!
Most were made in C/F, the rest in Bb/Eb.
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How much did you get it for? Can we see the original listing?
(I don't have enough money for my own purchases so have to rely on others' for the excitement of getting a bargain) (:)
It's here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Hohner-Liliput-Small-Accordian-with-Case-1940-039-s-/391677989243?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&nma=true&si=pHNPuRWvg7TpI1P8MaOZ7ijHwlg%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Hohner-Liliput-Small-Accordian-with-Case-1940-039-s-/391677989243?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&nma=true&si=pHNPuRWvg7TpI1P8MaOZ7ijHwlg%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc)
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Sorry, you are affected (infected?). While there is no known cure a vaccine is currently being tested that is said to somewhat limit the number of acquisitions. Most poor souls find themselves regularly looking at other keys, other sizes, other makers, other music, other tunes, other abc notations, other mp3's, other postings and other discussions about where to find more and more....until the inevitable happens-
Yet another melodeon!
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That does look like a good deal! I probably would have been very tempted had I seen it myself! Welcome to the wonderful world of boxes!
Thanks,
Baron
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Yes, looks like you've done well. I bought a bunch of pups to start with, so you're one up on me. Shows the power of research. If you expect a full overhaul then anything else is a pleasant surprise.
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Impulse buying of a second melodeon before you have received your first! This is the most serious form of the acute disease. It is essential that you close your ebay account immediately and seek professional help. 😱😱
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Liliputs are great boxes and will give you plenty of exercise! They fit in backpacks and suitcases easily so there's no excuse for not taking it places, took mine all round Australia. It will need work, but hang on to it because if you let it go you will regret it!
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Impulse buying of a second melodeon before you have received your first! This is the most serious form of the acute disease. It is essential that you close your ebay account immediately and seek professional help.
And send the lilliput to me, here in England. It's the only cure :||:
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Liliputs are fabulous boxes, I actually ended up with three at one point last year, sort of accidentally. I already had a D/G and a Bb/Eb (plus C/F Preciosa for a bit of variety) when a red Bb/Eb came up for sale. No one really needs two Bb/Eb Liliputs, luckily I found a home for the purple one with a fellow MAD sufferer on this forum.
Happy Liliputting :)
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Impulse buying of a second melodeon before you have received your first! This is the most serious form of the acute disease. It is essential that you close your ebay account immediately and seek professional help. 😱😱
Wasn't impulse and I have no plans of any more until I learn and have some proficiency. Since there is nowhere to go to try these less than 3 hours drive and even those choices are limited and very pricey, this is the only way to try them out. And buying used and refurbished is still significantly cheaper than buying a new one for all except those made in China which would sell for nothing if I find this isn't for me.
Club style appealed to me from the beginning. Now I can test that out.
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Wasn't impulse and I have no plans of any more
Denial as well! ;) That's really bad.
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;D
Melissa, you're fitting in well here!
Q
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You all are making me smile. I got my son's SUPER nasty cold. It came in with a bang last night. I started feeling hugely tired and leaden while at the grocery store last night. Came home and I had a low grade fever. My eyes hurt, my teeth hurt, my ears hurt... you get the drift. I work with children a lot and have been exposed to a LOT of their bugs the past couple weeks - I'll gladly take this cold over the stomach thing going around! No fever this morning.
Scott sent me progress pictures of the one he is working on for me and I asked if I could send this new one to him too to add to the queue. ;D
Working from home today and doing little so that I can rest up a bit - just doing emails and such, so I'll listen to some more music and this site for best ways to approach learning. I'll probably have questions later.
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Hi you have forced me in by the lilly buy. I have a collection of 40 restored Hohner Liliputs so you have some way to go. That was the right price however you will need to overhaul it especially in regard to your bleeding ears. It will be a club system which is no big deal as only one button goes and it is on the other row. It will originally have been very wet and still will. Unless you are very lucky it will sound quite out of tune and will have groans and wheezes and make ears bleed. It will need a full rewax new valves and retuning. (At this point you could declub and will need to tune up to modern Pitch.) Dont be dispondant it can be done, you need a professional at the right price.If anything rattles its the reed fallen out inside and this might happen quite quickly in the post to you depending on the contition but just gently open it up and put them back.Dont start novice reed work on a lilliy as its very hard to replace the reeds you need to file the new ones.It is the best box ever made and most are structurally very soundwith good bellows they hold the age very well. I will stop there you can always sell it on.Many thanks I hope the march went well.
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Hi you have forced me in by the lilly buy. I have a collection of 40 restored Hohner Liliputs so you have some way to go. That was the right price however you will need to overhaul it especially in regard to your bleeding ears. It will be a club system which is no big deal as only one button goes and it is on the other row. It will originally have been very wet and still will. Unless you are very lucky it will sound quite out of tune and will have groans and wheezes and make ears bleed. It will need a full rewax new valves and retuning. (At this point you could declub and will need to tune up to modern Pitch.) Dont be dispondant it can be done, you need a professional at the right price.If anything rattles its the reed fallen out inside and this might happen quite quickly in the post to you depending on the contition but just gently open it up and put them back.Dont start novice reed work on a lilliy as its very hard to replace the reeds you need to file the new ones.It is the best box ever made and most are structurally very soundwith good bellows they hold the age very well. I will stop there you can always sell it on.Many thanks I hope the march went well.
I am hoping to have it sent directly to Scott. He has refurbished these before, and yes, they tend to be wetter, which I will try to have him tone that done - it doesn't need to be super dry, but not as dissonant as they were originally made.
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Mark has seriously infected me and I have an appointment with my wife (SWMBO) to discuss finances. I muttered something about a 70th birthday present ... Just when I thought I was cured!
Chris B.
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I am hoping to have it sent directly to Scott. He has refurbished these before, and yes, they tend to be wetter, which I will try to have him tone that done - it doesn't need to be super dry, but not as dissonant as they were originally made.
You can always have accordion purchases sent directly to me:) I wish everyone did that!
Good price on the box you bought. It slipped through my net...
Another option if you don't want to wait is to trade it in on the Liliput I have for sale and you can start squeezing immediately. It is in the keys of CF and has been dried out some from the standard Hohner wetness so much more pleasant tremolo (to my biased ears). I have replaced all the bass and chord valves with modern plastic film valves since they are large and were very curled. But, I found the leather treble valves to be in such good condition that I just replaced the few that needed it. I did remove, inspect, repair or replace as needed, rewax and tune all 140 reeds in the entire instrument. It plays nicely and is very compact. I have partially de-clubbed it meaning I have changed the gleighton note back to normal but left the basses in the club configuration. If you prefer, I can change the gleighton back before shipping.
The instrument can be viewed at http://bellingersbuttonboxes.com/product/hohner-liliput-in-cf/ (http://bellingersbuttonboxes.com/product/hohner-liliput-in-cf/) and the listing includes a link to a Youtube demo video as shown here: https://youtu.be/NSs9JDQPvNM (https://youtu.be/NSs9JDQPvNM)
The demo shows how the tremolo is milder than standard Hohner.
Scott
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Mark has seriously infected me and I have an appointment with my wife (SWMBO) to discuss finances. I muttered something about a 70th birthday present ... Just when I thought I was cured!
Chris B.
Sorry to hear that. My husband and I don't do gifts for holidays and birthdays and our anniversary so that we can get the things we really want and when we want them. We had set a budget for this year. (I am within that). I also have a few things I am planning to sell so that if I need more budget, I will have it. We did a major purge of belongings and donated TONS, but a few things I want to get some money out of.
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I am hoping to have it sent directly to Scott. He has refurbished these before, and yes, they tend to be wetter, which I will try to have him tone that done - it doesn't need to be super dry, but not as dissonant as they were originally made.
You can always have accordion purchases sent directly to me:) I wish everyone did that!
Good price on the box you bought. It slipped through my net...
Another option if you don't want to wait is to trade it in on the Liliput I have for sale and you can start squeezing immediately. It is in the keys of CF and has been dried out some from the standard Hohner wetness so much more pleasant tremolo (to my biased ears). I have replaced all the bass and chord valves with modern plastic film valves since they are large and were very curled. But, I found the leather treble valves to be in such good condition that I just replaced the few that needed it. I did remove, inspect, repair or replace as needed, rewax and tune all 140 reeds in the entire instrument. It plays nicely and is very compact. I have partially de-clubbed it meaning I have changed the gleighton note back to normal but left the basses in the club configuration. If you prefer, I can change the gleighton back before shipping.
The instrument can be viewed at http://bellingersbuttonboxes.com/product/hohner-liliput-in-cf/ (http://bellingersbuttonboxes.com/product/hohner-liliput-in-cf/) and the listing includes a link to a Youtube demo video as shown here: https://youtu.be/NSs9JDQPvNM (https://youtu.be/NSs9JDQPvNM)
The demo shows how the tremolo is milder than standard Hohner.
Scott
That one you have is nice too. I will email you. I am thinking though if it's in Bb/Eb, I might prefer that over CF. And I would want it clubbed.... but I'll email. (home sick today).
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Shame you wont hear it before as well as after to really appreciate the work.You can have it tuned as dry as you like. Mike Rowbothan has various sound files on his site of various tunings I recall.The bellinger box looks good and priced.You might find a declubed better if you are starting and play up and down to start the club is a cross row style but you will have both styles on a club but restricted to one key for one row. I like the club and brought a Fratton flat box still in club semi swing and nice. The last two boxes still at the tuners are staying club but not much interest in club in UK.You will of course need to have one in both keys if truely MAD . Do enjoy and regular practice min one hour a day and you will start to feel like a melodeon player after a year.(tough love) The lilliput is highly portable so you can take it anywhere.Stick with it and enjoy.
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Shame you wont hear it before as well as after to really appreciate the work.You can have it tuned as dry as you like. Mike Rowbothan has various sound files on his site of various tunings I recall.The bellinger box looks good and priced.You might find a declubed better if you are starting and play up and down to start the club is a cross row style but you will have both styles on a club but restricted to one key for one row. I like the club and brought a Fratton flat box still in club semi swing and nice. The last two boxes still at the tuners are staying club but not much interest in club in UK.You will of course need to have one in both keys if truely MAD . Do enjoy and regular practice min one hour a day and you will start to feel like a melodeon player after a year.(tough love) The lilliput is highly portable so you can take it anywhere.Stick with it and enjoy.
I couldn't quite follow if you felt it better to have it declubbed or not (My head is a bit foggy today).
My first box with Scott is a GC. So, this would be different if CF or Bb/Eb. I would prefer the latter. The lower the better, IMO as I wouldn't ever be playing in an ensemble - at most as a sing-along somewhere.
ETA: I can have Scott video the before and after too... As I wouldn't be able to truly test it meaningfully anyway it just makes sense to send it directly to him - saves on postage and more chance of damage too. I KNOW it's going to need work!
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Welcome to the "club", Melissa, in more ways than one :D
A sound and wise purchase imho.
I had to grin at the eBay description though, and wonder why many sellers have a problem with the word "bellows". So many variations abound in sale listings: bellow, belows, bellowers, billows, belly, concertina part, squeezy bits, etc. Is bellows such an archaic word that it has disappeared from common usage?
I think that this is the first time I've seen the word "ballast" used though. I sincerely hope that your Liliput has not been filled with sand, stones, water or other substance, to enable playing it in a stable and upright position.... >:E
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Welcome to the "club", Melissa, in more ways than one :D
A sound and wise purchase imho.
I had to grin at the eBay description though, and wonder why many sellers have a problem with the word "bellows". So many variations abound in sale listings: bellow, belows, bellowers, billows, belly, concertina part, squeezy bits, etc. Is bellows such an archaic word that it has disappeared from common usage?
I think that this is the first time I've seen the word "ballast" used though. I sincerely hope that your Liliput has not been filled with sand, stones, water or other substance, to enable playing it in a stable and upright position.... >:E
Therre was so many wrong this with that listing... Starting with it saying accordian in the title listing, but accordion and accordian used later... But for $149 usd, it is worth the risk. If it turns out to be in terrible condition, maybe it can be used for parts.
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Wasn't impulse and I have no plans of any more
Denial as well! ;) That's really bad.
Oh, you've barely started. The correct answer to the question "How many melodeons do you have?" is "Nearly enough. One more will do..."
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I HAVE found ballast-in the bellows. I opened up one old Hohner and found SAND between the pallet and the reeds after removing the treble reedblocks! I'm not kidding(pictures 1 & 2).
How about some melnet conjecturation on how that occurred.
I also found and old Black & Blond where the air button pallet had come off and a family of mice took up residence in the nice cozy interior (pic 3).
Another one for the museum...
Scott
BellingersButtonBoxes.com (http://BellingersButtonBoxes.com)
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I HAVE found ballast-in the bellows. I opened up one old Hohner and found SAND between the pallet and the reeds after removing the treble reedblocks! I'm not kidding(pictures 1 & 2).
How about some melnet conjecturation on how that occurred.
I also found and old Black & Blond where the air button pallet had come off and a mouse family took up residence in the nice cozy interior (pic 3).
Another one for the museum...
Scott
BellingersButtonBoxes.com (http://BellingersButtonBoxes.com)
Ha!Ha! I think the sand got there because someone took it to the beach without thinking about it or protecting it. And mice... they find everything!!!! My husband left his ski boots in the garage one year... found a nest in the toe the following year...sigh...
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Great choice Melissa, Liliputs come in various shades of restroom floor and are a nice size and shape for noodling when you feel ill. Lots of punch in a small package, I'm still waiting for a Preciosa to occur at the 'right' price, they are the same sort of size as a Liliput. Assuming its not a retired doorstop or anchor you appear to have landed a bargain.
Sorry to hear about the infection, from your description it sounds nearly bad enough to be a touch of man-flu :o
Scott, is 'Clubbed to Death' regarded as an adverse criticism of the fettlers skill or an industrial disease over there..................
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Impulse buying of a second melodeon before you have received your first! This is the most serious form of the acute disease. It is essential that you close your ebay account immediately and seek professional help. 😱😱
Yes I firmly believe that eBay should have a breathalyser attached to its site so that you can't buy anything after a few pints. Trust me I've been there.
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I HAVE found ballast in the bellows. I opened up one old Hohner and found SAND between the pallet and the reeds after removing the treble reedblocks! I'm not kidding...
How about some melnet conjecturation on how that occurred.
My guess is that the "sand" was once a cheap foam that some one has used to replace (or add) a pallet pad. It may or may not have once had a leather facing.
Hohner used to use foam pads rather than felt on a couple of piano accordion models in the 1960s (Atlantic and Lucia models, maybe others too...) After around 30 years or so it turns to a sand-type substance; obviously the pallet will no longer seal, the keys are all a mile high and the "sand" will clog coupler slides and reed slots, making for very expensive repairs.
(Currently putting off sorting out an otherwise almost mint condition Hohner Lucia IVP with this very problem....any one on Oz want to take it off my hands???? Please????)
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This condition only becomes serious when you begin to consider exchanging your spouse/partner for the next melodeon ;D
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The Liliput has landed at Scott's!!! That shipper was fast. I payed for it on the 23rd. It was shipped on the 24th (with a given estimate of being delivered on 1/31) and it was delivered on 1/26.) Now to find out what key (probably CF) and what condition when Scott has a chance to get to it. He does have a day job and my new liliput is not the only box he's working on!
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This condition only becomes serious when you begin to consider exchanging your spouse/partner for the next melodeon ;D
If only it was that easy.
Sir John >:E
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It needs a complete overhaul - as I would expect it to. Scott sent these two photos. The one that arrived is the one on the left (based on the old strap). An identical one that Scott has is on the right (based on the strap matching the one he has listed). The new one I got is CF and still clubbed, but below concert pitch, etc. It needs work - which is why I had it sent directly to Scott!!!
Now to do a swap with $ for the one Scott has all ready to go to get it faster, or to just have him refurbish the one I picked off ebay. Another decision to be made (but not making it now - I've got a terrible cold and didn't sleep well!)
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It needs a complete overhaul - as I would expect it to. Scott sent these two photos. The one that arrived is the one on the left (based on the old strap). An identical one that Scott has is on the right (based on the strap matching the one he has listed). The new one I got is CF and still clubbed, but below concert pitch, etc. It needs work - which is why I had it sent directly to Scott!!!
Now to do a swap with $ for the one Scott has all ready to go to get it faster, or to just have him refurbish the one I picked off ebay. Another decision to be made (but not making it now - I've got a terrible cold and didn't sleep well!)
Externally, there appears to be little to choose between the instruments. Internally may be a different matter. Seek Scott's recommendations especially about the action, bellows and state of the reeds. Even if it costs you slightly more, I would say to go for the instrument which has the best reeds - e.g. least rusted, least messed about with by previous tunings, poor previous restoration jobs, (if any), etc.
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No one really needs two Bb/Eb Liliputs, luckily I found a home for the purple one with a fellow MAD sufferer on this forum.
:||: :M :|glug ;D