I had myself a look at that one, but since the seller would only ship by UPS, the total price would be too much for me, since I just got another old box off Ebay to start working on...
The Globe Special is one of the most common of the Globes. Made sometime in the 20's, perhaps mid 1920's in Germany, for exporting to the States. I've only ever seen them in the key of D, but I've heard about one or two in C as well. Alot of the irish-americans in the US used Globes, though the "Globe Gold Medal" was the preferred among the recording artists as far as I know. John Kimmel and Jerry O'Brien used Globe Gold medal 4-stoppers, and Joe Derrane actually started out playing a Globe Gold Medal 4-stop as well. I'm not sure what the technical differene is, but the Gold Medals are supposed to sound better. I've never held Gold Medal 4-stopper, but a couple of Specials, and they're actually very nice (which is why I was lurking around the auction, though I did not bid).
2 sets of flat-mounted reeds, and 2 sets on a block in the treble. The reeds should be able to be firing again, if you mount new valves and gets them cleaned out well. The basses are a little more tricky, the chord reeds are mounted 3 reeds on a single plate. If one or more are broken, it could be quite a job to get a reed replaced, or getting a new reedplate. But the SOUND! Man! Those basses are just soo old-school! :) WOOMPF!
Don't expect the full sound and cut of a modern 4-voice melodeon, even though you'll give it a full overhaul. It sounds great, and has a great feel to it, and it's most likely going to be easy to play once you do the work, but for sessions I find that it would lack a bit of power...
I'd love to see a picture or 5 from the inside, showing how the reeds look at the moment. I've seen some with reeds on both alu and brass plate, but would be nice to see this one, to compare.
Best of luck restoring it - wish it was mine, but you know, finances...
//Lars
