Dallape SUPERMAESTRO Serial Number 12

SOUND SAMPLES: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AsErJouBehnuh2p_hpBe-IeIR6rf?e=Q2qXFf

It is very difficult to find one of these classic Dallape instruments from the early 1950s with Giovanni Gola's original tuning. The serial number is proudly engraved or stamped on the back of the accordion, each reed block, the tone chamber, bellows frame, and many metal parts. The tone is powerful with both intensity and overtones. This is a rare opportunity to own a piece of accordion manufacturing history, an instrument with fabulous tonal quality and impressive dynamic range.

I have reduced the price by about $1500 because the bass switch slides are fixed in open position, so that you can play only the master bass switch. For many Balkan musicians this would be the way they would play a Dallape accordion. Please, see the comments in the pictures area explaining exactly what has to be done to enable the bass switches. The repair will cost much less than the offered price discount but will take time I do not have. Meanwhile, since the rest of the service is completed (keyboard work, cleaning, voicing and tuning) someone could enjoy playing the accordion.

• Serial Number 12, made in Italy in the 1950s
  
• Some of the best hand-made reeds from the "Golden Age" of the Accordion manufacturing
  
• 4 treble sets of reeds - LM1M2H - from deep rich bassoon to penetrating piccolo
• Concert/Balkan Tuned
  
• Double tone chamber (L-M1)
  
• 41 keys, 19-3/8" keyboard - walnut keys with white key tops
• 15 different treble switches: Harmonium (LM1H), Clarinet (M1),  Flute (M1H), Bandonion (LM1), Bassoon (L), Accordion (LM1M2), Violin (M1M2), Master (LM1M2H), Organ (LH), Musette (M1M2H), Piccolo (H), Flute' (M2H), Bandonion' (LM2), Oboe (M2), and Harmonium' (LM2H).

• Palm Master (LM1M2H)
• 5 sets of bass reeds
• 120 bass with 6 bass registers - the bass side will play only the full sound "master switch" (explanation below)
• Low-A bass reed configuration
• New shoulder straps
• ~27 lb.
  
• Very good case with lots of padding

Here is a link to a shared folder where you can hear sound samples of this  instrument. I suggest you listen with headphones: 

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AsErJouBehnuh2p_hpBe-IeIR6rf?e=Q2qXFf

The body was crafted from mahogany. The reed blocks in the tone chamber are secured in a clever way, typical for Dallape.

The body of the accordion is made on mahogany. The quality of the leather used through (sound boards, reed valves) is superior to the materials used today.

The reeds are fantastic and pristine. The voicing is precise. The accordion is in tune sounds great. Please, listen to the sound samples.

The original tuning holds remarkably well. There is not even a single tuning mark on the reed tongues. Master Giovanni Gola tuned on the inside of the reed tongues.

Let's take a look at the bass reed blocks and reeds... 

In the picture above, the metal bracket in the middle of the switch slides is tightened to lock the slides in open position. The bass switches will not work and the accordion will always play the full "master" bass sound. This is the desired sound for Balkan music.

The close-up view below explains the problem with the bass slides. The brass machined bolt that I am showing with my thumb is broken with a piece stuck in the sound-board. (This bolt has an area without thread that allows the linkages to rotate about the screw as you press different bass switches.) As a result the switch slides will not work properly, therefore the decision to fix them in open position. In order the enable the switches one will need to find an original Dallape machined bolt or manufacture one with access to a machine-shop. There is another identical bolt adjacent to the broken one that could be used to take the measurements. Then the original part of the bolt will have to be drilled out of the sound board. The proper repair would require disassembling the bass machine, so that the repairman would have access to the other side of the sound-board. Enforce the sound board with a wooden plate from the bass machine side and mount the new bolt.... I can do the necessary repair and price the accordion at $6500 or offer it for $5000 to a musician who doesn't mind using the full bass sound. As you can hear in the sound samples, the accordion sounds fabulous as is.