Accordion Repair Made Easy by John Reuther.This book tells how to do most simple to moderately complex repairs. It is available from:
Ernest Deffner, Inc.
230 Herricks Rd.
PO Box 608
Mineola, NY 11501
(516) 746-3100
e-mail: FDeffner@aol.com.
There is also a video tape (I think Elderly Instruments might carry it, although I obtained mine from "Lark in the Morning"). The video gives introductory information, more on maintenance than repair. It is geared mostly to accordion users rather than to someone who wants to become an accordion repairman. [For more, try here. - e.]
First of all, my recommendation is not to take apart an accordion unless you are very mechanically astute and careful. There are a lot of extremely delicate parts inside an accordion that can easily get damaged if you don't know about them.
With that strong word of caution, an important thing to remember is to take the accordion apart slowly, taking time to note where each part came from so that you can put it back together correctly when you're done. There are many different sized screws, bellows pins, etc. that only fit properly in one location.
Never take apart the bass mechanism of a piano accordion unless you've successfully done it before, or been trained about how to do it. Each of the 120 buttons fits in exactly in one location only. It's best to have a special made fixture to hold each button in its respective location so that they don't get mixed up while the bass mechanism is apart.
Another important thing to remember is when removing the grill or taking the accordion apart at the bellows, always watch for wires that may run between the two parts (right hand side vs. left hand side). These wires are associated with the mic system (obviously only a concern if your accordion is mic'd for amplification). If the mics were installed well, there will be a connector allowing you to disconnect the wires to allow complete separation of the two pieces of the accordion.
CAUTION - CAUTION - CAUTION - CAUTION - CAUTION - CAUTION - CAUTION
Do not touch the reeds. Perspiration, etc. from your fingers will cause the
reeds to rust.
CAUTION - CAUTION - CAUTION - CAUTION - CAUTION - CAUTION - CAUTION
Having taking an accordion apart at the bellows, if you plan to remove a reed
block, be EXTREMELY careful not to catch the leather "skins" on anything,
bending them out of shape. The skins are EXTREMELY delicate and affect the
sound of the accordion more than any other single item. Simply bending one
away from the reedblock can result in that note not playing properly in the
future.
Never attempt to replace a reed skin with anything other than the proper reed skin leather from an accordion supply shop. It has very unique properties not found in most other types of leather. Furthermore, never remove a reedskin, because the process of removing and replacing a reed skin will generally cause the note to play out of tune, thus requiring re-tuning.
Also, be very careful not to get any dirt, etc. on the base of the reed block (much less in the reed itself). Here again, removing reedblocks is something that you should probably not try unless you are experienced or have such an old accordion that you don't care if you damage it.
Tuning, waxing, etc. requires years of practice (skill) and should best be left to the experts.
Nearly all of the materials used inside an accordion (leather, "wax", etc.) are very carefully selected for certain very important properties that are not readily apparent. NEVER substitute anything other than the appropriate materials, obtained from an accordion supply house. It took me years of experimenting with alternatives to learn this valuable lesson.
The cause of buzzing, gurgling, wheezing, etc. is most likely due to one of the two leather "skins" attached to the reed plate itself. Otherwise, the reed may have broken loose in the wax that holds it to the wooden reed block. However, nearly all of the improper sounds that occur on individual notes (i.e. not across the entire accordion) are caused by defects in the skins.
Sometimes the skin is bent out of shape and can be reshaped to correct the problem. However, this typically requires removal of the skin. After replacing it, you'll generally find that the note no longer plays in tune. Furthermore, the skins are extremely fragile, in that if you simply brush the reed block against some part of the accordion or your body while removing it, you can bend one or more reed skins out of shape and cause more damage than you had in the first place.
If the reed plate has come loose in the wax, you can melt the wax back to it with a low wattage (15 W. or less) soldering iron. Always try to disturb the existing wax as little as possible (i.e. leave it on the reed block) while removing the reed. This will assure that the reed goes back in exactly the right place. Otherwise, you risk having the inner reed or skin hit the side of the reed block cavity.
CAUTION: Be extremely careful not to get wax on the reed or reed skin. Once you have wax on a reed skin, it must be replaced. With the very tight quarters you're working in on an accordion, it's very easy to slip and get wax where it shouldn't be or bend a reed skin out of shape.
Never substitute anything other than the correct wax mixture (from an accordion supply house) for the wax. Improper wax substitutes have been the cause of reeds breaking loose from the reed blocks in many accordions.
The accordion repair shop will use the original wood frame from these bellows and replace everything else (the cardboard & cloth bellows), for a few hundred dollars. It is nearly impossible to build a new set of bellows and have them align with your accordion properly without using the old bellows frames.
Note that in many cases, the old bellows can be overhauled.
As with any accordion repair, make sure you get several reliable references on the person/shop doing the repairs before handing your accordion over to them. There are very few really good accordion repairmen left in the US these days. There are even fewer folks who know how to overhaul bellows (much less build them).
Disclaimer: I make no guarantees regarding the accuracy of any information included here. If you know of any corrections, please let me know via AcrdionMan@aol.com.