American
Made EXCELSIOR SYMPHONY CITATION Accordion
I love the American
made Excelsior accordions. This particular instrument is truly
spectacular. It is the famous Citation Series Symphony model with hand
made reeds and a double tone chamber. The accordion has been
professionally serviced by Aldo Mencaccini, the founder and owner of Bell
accordions. Aldo was my mentor in accordion restoration. I was fortunate
to work with him and learn from him during the last 10 years before he
retired in 2006 at age of 86. At that time I purchased his tool box with
dozens of special hand-made tools for accordion repairs. Aldo did keep
some small set of his most precious tools, custom designed to work on the
1950s Excelsior, Sonola, and Bell accordions. Aldo started working for
Excesior when he was a young boy. Years later he opened his own Bell
accordion company and made history with the 4516 and 4518 models. That
said, Excelsior remained his first love. I call this particular
accordion "Aldo's last Excelsior"! We stayed in touch until he
passed just a few days short of his 103rd birthday. Aldo had this
Excelsior accordion and kept perfecting the tuning. He didn't want to sell
it. A few years after his death I bought the accordion from his daughter.
The remaining precious tools were given to me as a gift.
After I received the
accordion I went over the entire instrument and did some additional
improvements:
- Re-waxed most of the reed blocks
where the wax had started to separate from the reed plates. This
recovered the full richness and efficiency of the accordion. This is
Aldo's tuning with some minor spot adjustments from me.
- Cleaned and lubricated the bass
machine and bass switches
- New bellows protector
- New shoulder straps
- Cleaned and polished the body and
vacuumed the bellows
The accordion is very clean. The tonal blend between treble and bass is
perfect. The Tone Modulator is wooden and very efficient. When closed it
results in even warmer, more mellow tone. Since the treble microphones
are mounted above the tone modulator, they amplify its effect and make
it even more pronounced. The compression is excellent. The reeds
use very little air and playing this accordion is a true pleasure.
- Made in USA, Serial Number 11751
- Hand-made reeds
- Double Tone Chamber (Cassotto) - L and M1
- Tone modulator
- Original crystalline type
microphones (3 treble and 2 bass microphones) with separate
Volume and Tone controls for treble and bass installed on the grill;
1/4" pickup
- 4 treble sets of reeds - LMMH
- Tuned to 440 Hz with only a few
cents added to the out-of-chamber clarinet reeds for the magic
Excelsior "violin" sound
- 41 keys, 19.25" American walnut keyboard; original valves in
excellent condition
- 10 treble switches - Bassoon (L), Accordion
(LMM), Harmonium (LMMH), Melodion (LM), Organ (LH), Oboe (M), Musette (MMH), Violin (MM),
Clarinet (MH), and Piccolo (H). Please, note that on all American-made
Excelsior accordions the Clarinet and Oboe switches are swapped based on
the modern convention. The switch for the chambered clarinet reeds M1 is
called Oboe. The combination of these reeds and the piccolo reeds M1H is
accessed by the Clarinet switch.
- Palm Master switch (LMMH)
- 120 bass
- 5 sets of bass reeds
- 3 bass switches
- Clean chrome plating throughout
- 17-fold bellows
- Excellent compression
- New bellow protector and straps throughout
- 26 lb
- Original Excelsior hard-shell case in very good condition
Restoring the American made
Excelsior Symphony accordions is very rewarding. They sound so rich and play so
easy it is a delight to play them. This legendary instrument is
offered with a full year warranty serviced at the Accordion
Gallery in Flemington, NJ.
Call
973-219-9259 with any questions, for a sound demo, or to
schedule your visit to the Accordion Gallery.
The next
two pictures show the bass machine and the two bass microphones - one in
each corner.
A look
under the grill reveals the original treble microphones (3 of them), the
new grill cloth, and the unique design
of the Excelsior tone modulator (remains
unmatched in efficiency till modern days).
Here is a
look inside the treble side...
The body is
made of aged mahogany. These are the original hand-made reeds with
genuine leather reed valves.
Re-waxed as
needed in June of 2025 and will be reliable for many years.
This is a
look inside the bass reed side. The body of the accordion is very narrow
(slim) and ergonomic.
As a result the large Bass/Tenor reed
block is positioned very close the the bellows folds.
The black strips over the reed leathers
are retainers that prevent the reed leathers from being caught inside
the bellows folds.
The large
Bass and Tenor reeds are double-riveted, the most responsive and air
efficient reeds for the bass side.
