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Author Topic: Hohner Club IIIBS Refurb  (Read 1920 times)

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Squeaky Pete

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Hohner Club IIIBS Refurb
« on: April 20, 2019, 12:02:00 AM »

I decided to get going on this little project today and I'll try to take reasonable pictures for you.
First job was refacing the treble pallets. In this box it was considerably more involved (and tricky) than Lester's excellent video and far less entertaining.
The felt had started to disintegrate and as well as not making an airtight seal, left a fine dust everywhere.
Access to the half row pallets is non existent so the whole  treble mechanism had to come off.
« Last Edit: April 20, 2019, 08:50:48 AM by Squeaky Pete »
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Poker work DG.
Pariselle 2.6 DG, Ex-Club IIIBS CF,
Matching Liliputs in CF and DG,
Lots of sickly Hohners needing TLC,
Bassoon, Various Bagpipes........

Squeaky Pete

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Re: Hohner Club IIIBS Refurb
« Reply #1 on: April 20, 2019, 09:08:28 AM »

Once the keyboard housing had been removed by unscrewing a load of tiny countersunk woodscrews from the face with a watchmaker's driver and the the two big ones from the inside (again just like Lester's tutorial) the mechanism was accessible.
Two big screws held the main axle mounting bar, and at the opposite side the support for the helper row was screwed on with teeny tiny roundhead screws. This took the second smallest driver I own.
Once this was loose I tried to remove the pallets. The glue was absolutely solid and I could feel the levers bending as I tried to twist the pallets off.
Plan B was to cut through the fabric discs with a knife along the edges of the slots then apply heat. The soldering iron did the trick and I soon had a pile of pallets ready for the next stage.
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Poker work DG.
Pariselle 2.6 DG, Ex-Club IIIBS CF,
Matching Liliputs in CF and DG,
Lots of sickly Hohners needing TLC,
Bassoon, Various Bagpipes........

Squeaky Pete

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Re: Hohner Club IIIBS Refurb
« Reply #2 on: April 20, 2019, 05:20:48 PM »

The glue on the pallets was rock solid. Some cleaned off with a Stanley blade but most were absolutely awful.
A certain amount of blood was spilled before I decided to do it with sandpaper.
The glue was tenacious and the only way I could think to safely remove enough to leave a flat surface was rubbing a pallet on a stretched length of paper.
I dug a small screwdriver into the top and dragged it along while pressing down. This gave good control and kept my fingertips off the abrasive surface.
About an hour later I had a pile of nice clean pallets.
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Poker work DG.
Pariselle 2.6 DG, Ex-Club IIIBS CF,
Matching Liliputs in CF and DG,
Lots of sickly Hohners needing TLC,
Bassoon, Various Bagpipes........

Steve_freereeder

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Re: Hohner Club IIIBS Refurb
« Reply #3 on: April 20, 2019, 11:33:00 PM »

Well done for getting the pallets removed and clean!

This looks to me as if the pallets had previously been refaced. It doesn't look like original Hohner facing material nor Hohner factory glueing of the pallets to the pallet arms. Normally you shouldn't encounter that amount of trouble removing the pallets and getting them clean.  :(

I always think that when repairing or restoring a box, it's worth remembering that some work may need to be repeated at some future date and hence avoid using glues which are near impossible to remove easily. Someone may thank you for that in the future.
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Squeaky Pete

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Re: Hohner Club IIIBS Refurb
« Reply #4 on: April 21, 2019, 10:26:00 PM »

The old pallet facing looked identical to material I got from Charlie Marshall, Steve.
I ran a saw blade in the slots just to clear any glue debris.
Gluing up was just as Lester showed, though as I didn't have a bit of British Rail property to hand I used my collection of club hammers to weight it all down. While this was going off I renewed the gaskets on the bellows and glued up a timber patch on the cracked bass end cover.
Refitting the pallets was tedious but with the help of a poky stick I managed. An extra push down on the rod tips made sure they were all at the correct level.
I used my trusty hot melt glue gun to fix the pallets, though it would have been much easier if it had an extended nozzle. The helper row is almost completely inaccessible behind the mechanism but I found by getting the nozzle pushed hard between the linkages and twisting the box around I could drop the glue onto the joint, though it's not as neat as I would have liked. The rest was a doddle in comparison.

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Poker work DG.
Pariselle 2.6 DG, Ex-Club IIIBS CF,
Matching Liliputs in CF and DG,
Lots of sickly Hohners needing TLC,
Bassoon, Various Bagpipes........

Squeaky Pete

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Re: Hohner Club IIIBS Refurb
« Reply #5 on: April 21, 2019, 11:04:54 PM »

It took a second go at the helper row as my first attempt was too inaccurate and didn't allow enough movement.
Also the the pallets were precious close to edge of the holes.
The repair patch on the bass cover was too bulky, as I suspected, and fouled the bass linkage. It was easy to thin it down with the hand plane and it fitted a treat.
In refitting the reed blocks I probably overtightened the holding down screws and the L and M+ levers were stiff until I readjusted the screws. All working fine now.
The bellows seemed fine and with the new gasket fitted it's all feeling tight (for a box that's much older than me).
The bass pallets are good and there's no point in replacing them.
I've been pondering the bass layout. I want thirdless chords and although I am intrigued by the possibility of the Eb/Bb as it is now, I'm going to have to change to Bb/Bb.
The linkages make all this a bit of a brain teaser but I think I've worked out how to achieve it with one pair or reedplates moved and one pair of reeds retuned.
Sadly the club gleichton will have to go. I don't want to learn something new at this stage. I'd rather spend the time improving my piping or bassoon playing.
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Poker work DG.
Pariselle 2.6 DG, Ex-Club IIIBS CF,
Matching Liliputs in CF and DG,
Lots of sickly Hohners needing TLC,
Bassoon, Various Bagpipes........

Pete Dunk

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Re: Hohner Club IIIBS Refurb
« Reply #6 on: April 21, 2019, 11:22:10 PM »

Gluing up was just as Lester showed, though as I didn't have a bit of British Rail property to hand I used my collection of club hammers to weight it all down.

As an ex-railwayman I can assure you that the bits of rail Lester has are not from a standard gauge track! As a new volunteer on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway I can assure you that I will be keeping a sharp eye out for old bits of track in the Pway scrap pile.

[nerdmode\] Railway terminology is weird, to a driver the track is "the road" to other railway people the track is known as "the permanant way" or "Pway" for short [nerdmode/]
Lester's bits of rail are from a 'narrow gauge' railway like the RHDR. I'm sure the RHDR would be very interested in selling off bits of old rail . . .
« Last Edit: April 21, 2019, 11:24:03 PM by Pete Dunk »
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Lester

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Re: Hohner Club IIIBS Refurb
« Reply #7 on: April 22, 2019, 08:01:50 AM »

[nerdmode\] Railway terminology is weird, to a driver the track is "the road" to other railway people the track is known as "the permanent way" or "Pway" for short [nerdmode/]


Whilst we are on nerd railways I love the terms still in use:
  • 4 Foot - the gap between the rails in standard gauge (actually 4 foot 8 1/2 inches)
  • 6 Foot - the gap between adjacent sets of rails (usually somewhere round about 6 foot)
  • 10 foot - the gap between adjacent sets of pairs of ways (can be anything over 6 foot or so)
  • Chain - 22 yards, still used nationwide for track distances (ie 24 miles and 11 chains)

Squeaky Pete

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Re: Hohner Club IIIBS Refurb
« Reply #8 on: April 22, 2019, 03:52:37 PM »

Thirds gone out of the bass side this afternoon.
It was quite straightforward and the chords still sound very full with 4 reeds sounding.
One pair of reed plates swapped, two pairs blanked and a couple of thirds blanked.
I didn't change the Eb/Bb for the moment. I'm going to see if I can live with it. I often play the F on the outside row pull with a D pull on the inside row, as in the b music of speed the plough, so I'll just try to get used to it.
For playing with Northumbrian Small Pipes there are a few tunes that need an Eb bass (Fnat in NSP speak) so it should have its uses.
I have to retune the gleichton next and give everything a tickle in the tuning dept and I'm good to go.
The helper row will have to wait. Somehow I want C# on push and pull but if I remember rightly, it shares a plate with Eb which needs to be on the push to match the bass.
Really I should repaper the bellows, but it's only cosmetic.
So far it has not been too traumatic and I might tackle Darth next as he'll be a bit lighter to lug around. Or liliput who will be even lighter, but still in old German pitch
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Poker work DG.
Pariselle 2.6 DG, Ex-Club IIIBS CF,
Matching Liliputs in CF and DG,
Lots of sickly Hohners needing TLC,
Bassoon, Various Bagpipes........

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Re: Hohner Club IIIBS Refurb
« Reply #9 on: August 30, 2019, 10:16:20 AM »

Following your message on another post, is there any chance that you show us the finished project ?  (:)

Squeaky Pete

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Re: Hohner Club IIIBS Refurb
« Reply #10 on: August 30, 2019, 11:02:58 AM »

I'll do some photos tonight.
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Poker work DG.
Pariselle 2.6 DG, Ex-Club IIIBS CF,
Matching Liliputs in CF and DG,
Lots of sickly Hohners needing TLC,
Bassoon, Various Bagpipes........

Squeaky Pete

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Re: Hohner Club IIIBS Refurb
« Reply #11 on: August 31, 2019, 12:00:22 AM »

I didn't get round to photos tonight, but I don't think there's anything much left to see.
I rearranged the helper row  C#4/D#4, Ab4/F#4, Bb4/G#4, D5/C5, C#5/D#5, Ab5/F#5, C#6/D#6
There's also the low accidentals on the C row Ab3/F#3.
I have fitted a new air button like I showed in another thread.
The bass end has caused a lot of head scratching. I've got the 3rds removed and it's now de-clubbed. I'd really like to double up the 5ths, like I did on the club IIB, but the stradella type linkage prevents it.
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Poker work DG.
Pariselle 2.6 DG, Ex-Club IIIBS CF,
Matching Liliputs in CF and DG,
Lots of sickly Hohners needing TLC,
Bassoon, Various Bagpipes........

Squeaky Pete

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Re: Hohner Club IIIBS Refurb
« Reply #12 on: March 30, 2020, 05:41:37 PM »

As there has been a bit of talk about de-clubbing the basses recently, I thought I'd take some pictures of the reed blocks to show what I did.
There are two reeds taped off as marked, one moved and retuned, and the remaining 3rds blanked off. So on some plates one reed only is sounding with the other note on another plate. A bit of a mish mash  but it took a fair bit of thinking just to get this far. I marked it all on a bit of card somewhere in case I wanted to do it again.
I'll try and do a short YouTube tonight.

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Poker work DG.
Pariselle 2.6 DG, Ex-Club IIIBS CF,
Matching Liliputs in CF and DG,
Lots of sickly Hohners needing TLC,
Bassoon, Various Bagpipes........

Squeaky Pete

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Re: Hohner Club IIIBS Refurb
« Reply #13 on: March 30, 2020, 10:20:44 PM »

There you go. The basses sound fine to me though I think with a load more work I could double the 5ths.
I realise I have an account in my own name so I'd better use that for now.
https://youtu.be/qP99MWJtXr0
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Poker work DG.
Pariselle 2.6 DG, Ex-Club IIIBS CF,
Matching Liliputs in CF and DG,
Lots of sickly Hohners needing TLC,
Bassoon, Various Bagpipes........

Jon Stapleton

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Re: Hohner Club IIIBS Refurb
« Reply #14 on: April 01, 2020, 10:43:07 PM »

Sounds good.  the club bass means that removing thirds doesn't leave the chord sounding weak,  it would be interesting to double the 5ths but sometimes the club bass end can be a bit overpowering anyway so it may not be worth the effort, but we all have our own preferences which is why this is all so much fun!
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