Tricia, I can see why you are so excited about this restoration! What a wonderful icon from which to remember your father and his life.

I look forward to the next installment.

Cathy

I want to know what you did with all those nasty old .10 carat diamonds you replaced! LOL!
Sounds like it was in very good condition and just needed a cleaning.
Can't wait to see the after. I have seen lots of accordions with the "bling" on the name plates but thought they were just rhinestones....who know that some were really diamonds!
And I am sure, ultimatly you can take a nice tax deduction for donating it! Meanwhile you can enjoy having your father's accordion in tip top shape.
What a shame that you can't play it.
Linda C

It looks beautiful. What a great story. Have you read Accordion Crimes by Annie Proulx? It is a haunting story of all the owners of an accordion. I loved it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Accordion Crimes

Even unrestored your accordion is a masterpiece. I can just imagine the hundreds of hours it took to make it.

I can understand how precious it is to you and all the associations it holds, both light and dark. It's wonderful that eventually your accordian will be donated so that others can enjoy and appreciate it.

I hope you do find additional tapes. It's amazing what turns up sometimes.

Carol

Tricia, how wonderful to have a part of your father with you, and it is so worth the money. They could leave us millions, but it is the special little something that make us weak in the kneens and teary. I looked at the tablecloth on the kitchen table tonight, and my Oma with with me. Pure white linen, 1920's, and well used(spots), but I love it.

Look at your treasure and he is with you too.

Tricia, what a great story, I'm so happy for you.

Can't wait to see the new pictures.

Nancy

Tricia, That is a gorgeous piece, I could hear the excitment in the story telling. I look forward to seeing the restored pics. Beautiful story

Melissa

Thanks for listening to my excitement. This weekend I'll get DH to take some close-up shots showing the Mother-Of-Pearl decorations better. Also, the back panel is wood. I discussed with the restorer whether to install a back pad, for protection. We decided against the pad feeling it would seriously hurt the beautiful resonance of the accordion. There's not a chip, dent, or ding in the accordion. It's in immaculate condition. The only signs of wear we left intact considering them more 'patina' than wear. Under the left hand strap the wood is stained from the oil in Dad's skin over thousands of hours of use. We retained the staining & put a protective coating over the top. There's another very small place on the top of the wooden back panel that also had a bit of the black paint worn away (maybe, about 1/4" wide)...probably where Dad rested his chin in between songs. We preserved that also.

Linda, I have what's left of the original stones (many were missing). Don't know for sure what I'll do with them. They are not really jewelry quality which is why I replaced. I still didn't go whole hog with the diamonds. It is, afterall, an accordion subject to being dropped, knocked around, lost (God forbid!) etc. So, I chose round, fully-cut, 'Very Slightly Included' stones (VS1-VS2). I haven't yet seen the accordion with the stones set. That was the very last 'to do" on the restorer's restoration plan. I visited the accordion once during the restoration process because he wanted me to see the unusual bass mechanism. He photographed the interior well since it's not likely we'll open it up again soon.

granjan, I haven't read Accordion Crimes but I ordered it this morning from Amazon. Thank you so much! I'm sure I'll enjoy reading it.

Dad's accordion is one of four known to still exist that were made by these two Italian immigrant brothers in San Francisco. It is the only one, however, known that has this particular type of bass mechanism. My restorer has been at this business for 56 years & he has told me that it looks like a prototype that proved to be too expensive for production. I'm grateful that it's still in great shape after having the gunk cleaned off because it can't be replaced...even by my restorer. He said he wouldn't know where to start. :(

Another quirk with this accordion, for those who might be familiar with accordions...there is no air button. So, anybody playing this instrument had better have excellent bellow control! Apparently, either Dad or the two brothers decided for him that it wasn't necessary.

The case...it has a leather case fitted to the accordion. Over the years from constant wear the handle & opening flap have worn practically paper thin. My restorer was unable to locate a leather restorer who would touch it. The problem is that Mom (an artist) painted decoration on all sides of the case & no leather worker wanted to risk damage to the paintings. So, they cleaned it up & applied a leather restorer to the case & told me to keep it in a safe secure place that's climate controlled. A new padded, leather case has been made for travel but it will live on an accordion stand covered with a custom cover in our home.

I can hardly wait to hear music from this wonderful instrument again. I will play 'Under The Double Eagle' in honor of Dad once & then put it on its stand.

/tricia

What a great story; I can totally appreciate your excitement. I love that it's not just something that he owned, but something that was such a huge a part of his everyday life and all those times you spent together. How many people can say they have something like that? I'm glad you had the sense (and the means!) to pursue a respectful restoration. I don't come over here to "conversations" very much, but I'll certainly be looking out for the after pictures.

What a wonderful story and beautiful instrument. No wonder you are so excited, can't wait to see the restored pictures. Maybe a utube of Under The Double Eagle?

It is a beautiful instrument and a wonderful story. A treasure in so many ways.

As for "Accordion Crimes," I tried to read it but couldn't. I found it terribly dreary and sad. It was one unhappy tale after another associated with ownership of the accordion. But everyone has different tastes in literature. Perhaps it ended on an upbeat note, I only got about halfway through it.

Eileen

Tricia, I have to direct my daughter's attention to this thread. She plays accordian, and appreciates fine instruments. I think she'd love reading this marvelous story about your dad and his accordian, and how much you appreciated his music.

Sally

Oh Tricia, I have such respect for the accordian and the music that comes from it's bellows. Thank you for sharing all of your stories with us.

In the south we use the accordian in much of our music. You seem to have a priceless piece of history.

Enjoy!

Every time I think of 'accordion' I think of one of our favorite movies, 'Amelie'. DH has started learning to play the soundtrack on the piano. We stumbled across this accordion artist on youtube - she has two pieces from the movie, I watch them over and over. Wait till you see her fingers fly at 1:10.

DS #2 and I just finished 'The Book Thief', another one where an accordion is cherished from father to daughter.

What a lovely touching story on so many levels. The love and belief of your dad's parents in him, his skill and love for his work and your love and admiration for your father. Dad and Granddad must be up in heaven busting their buttons over this.

Thanks so much for sharing, and you MUST post your perfomance where we can see it.

Annie Proulx also wrote Brokeback Mountain. It is a short story in a collection titled "Close Range". She is an incredible writer.

What a treasure.

I can't wait to see the photos.

Tricia, your excitement really comes across in your words. What a beautiful and meaningful story!

AM

Thanks for sharing your wonderful family story!

I'll be looking forward to seeing the post restoration pics. Do you have any photos of your father with the accordion? Or even better do you have recordings of him playing it?

I agree that a youtube of you playing is in order for the CF to be able to hear it!!

Grace

I have the accordion! It's fantastic. Everything is perfect including the sound. It was fun at the studio picking it up. There were about a dozen accordionists standing around gawking at it. I asked my restorer to please play so we could hear the sound. OMG, they do not make accordions like this anymore! The wood case makes such a difference in sound. Also, the key touch is vastly different than newer instruments. Dad's keyboard is so fast. The staccato is unbelievably crisp, clear, & sharp. I have a feeling I'm going to have a learning curve since I've been playing my Clavinova for a long time now.

My oven broke over the weekend & I've been spending the past couple days figuring out whether to repair or replace. I spent most of Sunday online looking at ranges so we didn't get to spend as much time on pictures as we wanted. DH snapped a few but they came out too dark so we're going to reshoot this weekend.

Here's one though...it's so pretty. Sorry about the dark shot.

{{gwi:1459124}}

I haven't tried to play yet. I need to wait until DH is here to lift it for me. I can get it off the stand myself but I'm afraid I'll drop it trying to get it back.

/tricia

I meant to add this shot also because it shows the wood case & the staining from the oil in Dad's arm. We left the staining & put a protective coat on the wood. IMO, this is not wear/tear but rather patina & I didn't want to lose the signs of how much this accordion has been played.

{{gwi:1459127}}

/t

Can you tell I'm excited??? These pictures are so horrible but I want to show the beautiful gold bellows. I promise I won't post any more...

{{gwi:1459130}}

/t

Oh, so beautiful!

Sally

Wow that sure is gorgeous. Maybe your next round of pictures could include some close-ups so we can see the details a bit better? Those gold bellows sure are dramatic! I bet you can't wait to give it a try this weekend. You mentioned a custom case - will you be displaying this or will it be covered up?

Oh my, that is so beautiful. That is touching story. I can only imagine the memories you will have every time you look at that gorgeous accordian.

Tricia, I almost missed this post and I'm so glad I decided to take a look at it. What a beautiful instrument and story! Congratulations on finding someone who could do such a great restoration.

WOW!! I wold love to hear it. It is so beautiful, and a great story! Thank you for sharing it with us.

Don't know what made me think of this just now, but I did.

Tricia - What ever happened with the accordion? Did you get a chance to play around with it? Where's it now?

It's sitting on my kitchen table! I played a bit yesterday & hurt my stupid left arm trying to do a bellow shake. Now, I can't lift it to put it back on it's stand.

It's very frustrating in a good way. The music is still in my head & under my fingers. I've been unable to beg and/or bargain with the lupus to leave me alone for just a couple hours so I can play. Just about the time my fingers start to communicate with my brain (I'm playing from muscle memory)...something starts to hurt too bad to continue.

Restoring Dad's accordion was absolutely worth every penny. My muscle memory has allowed me to get through a rather rousing 'Sharpshooters' but that's about all, at least so far. 'Sharpshooters' is an accordion classic dating to the early 20th century. It was 'Baby Face' that did in my left arm..."Baby face, baby face, you've got that cutest little baby face....."

Thanks so much for asking!

/tricia

I can only say one word -- youtube.

Please, when you can?

AAH....muscle memory...AKA finger memory...
There was a funeral at my chirch last week ( guess who did lunch? LOL) and we are fortunate to have one of the world's foremost organists retire from teaching near here....and as the lady who died was a musician she had requested Bach's Tocatta and Fugue in D minor be played....and Davis was called. He said he didn't need music because it was in his fingers.
Many people laughed and were amazed and had no idea what that meant....but I know!
I hope that soon you feel well enough to find another tune you would like to send from your brain to your fingers....new stuff keeps us young!
Linda C