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By Gaines I. "Ike" Milligan

18-JAN-00

Disclaimer: Accordion repair is an artistic endeavor and I am not responsible for the result
(unless it's good) of any information used that I provide here.

If  after reading this treatise, you have anything to add, or questions,  please don't hesitate, communicate !
I plan to add links to more subjects related to accordion care later.

accordiondoc@mindspring.com
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Gaines I. Milligan
Ike's Accordion Hospital
10803 Keller Street
Silver Spring MD 20902
Phone(301)649-1266


 
 

Why It's Important to Have Airtight Bellows

    Once you have played an airtight accordion you will forever afterward understand the facts that: 1. It's much easier on the arm. 2. The reeds respond much better to instant changes in pressure.

    Never put your fingers on the steel reeds, or blow your breath on them, when you open up an accordion, or attempt  accordion tuning without a lot of knowledge. I will gladly answer any questions you may have about repair and care of accordions . If you want to try accordion repair on your own, I suggest trying it on a junk accordion from a flea market which can often be had for around $50. When buying a used accordion, be very conservative, as people often try to sell accordions for a lot more than they are worth.Accordions have thousands of moving parts and hundreds of reeds, and seldom has any repair or maintenance been performed, because America has very few qualified accordion repair persons, and many people who "repair" accordions are not qualified, and often do more harm than good. More about this subject on another page.

    Over the years I have tried many different methods of repairing bellows. I have read the late Mr. John Reuter's repair book Accordion Repairs Made Easy (and others) and have found the methods he describes therein somewhat dated and inadequate. I play for money and have to depend on my bellows, moreover I am using old squeezeboxes (because they interest me) which I have tuned and restored, and old bellows are seldom able to stand up to the stress due to age of the materials. Accordion bellows are made of layers of cloth and cardboard with leather and metal added. These materials dry out deteriorate, and shrink. After 20 years the average set of accordion bellows will begin to leak if the accordion is played a lot. I have developed a method which gives me a reliable way to permanently stop most air leaks.

    A. From the outside: Sit in a chair with the accordion supported on your knees. Locate the air button and hold it down and stretch the bellows open. Most leaks will be near the corners. Hold your face near the corners and squeeze the bellows with all valves closed. The inside of the mouth is most sensitive for feeling air leaks. If the leak is from the leather "diamond" on the corners the air can bounce off the corner facing it and deceive as to the exact place The air from a pinhole in the leather diamond can bounce off the other side of the fold and seem to be there instead. Also bear in mind that the leather in the corner that leaks is likely to billow out or move slightly as the bellows pressure changes. This is not because it is thinner there, but from air currents moving along it like the sail on a boat. If you see this, there is a leak in that corner. Repeat this procedure on all sides of the bellows, front back top and bottom. You may also hear a slight hissing or breathing noise indicating a leak. Sometimes, rarely, the leak will be from leather coming unglued at the wide angle of the diamond away from the bellows corner. To see this you have to strip away the cloth or paper covering (see below). If the cardboard is damaged the bellows will usually flex or wobble at the break, which could be near the corner or toward the middle. Cardboard is always repaired from the inside (see below). The metal corner could be leaking, from improper repair, from looseness due to shrinkage, or from cracking due to metal fatigue. In the last case the corner has to be replaced (see below), and serious consideration given to having a news bellows made, as all the metal corners are due to split, if one does. If the corner splits or loosens it can cause all the other parts to go bad from extra stress on the materials. Eventually the metal will split completely in half.
    B. From the inside: Place the squeezebox on a table resting on its four feet on the bass side. Look all around the bellows where joined to the shell, and find and remove all (usually 4 to 8) pins and/or screws holding the bellows to the shell. If you don't find and remove all the pins you could damage the wood bellows frame when removing the bellows. The pins are simply pulled out taking care not to bend them. Sometimes a dull knife can be used to pry out the pins taking care (TC) not to scratch the finish. Especially TC that ALL the pins/screws holding the bellows are removed before opening it, so as not to damage the frame if one is overlooked. Sometimes the strap holders screws will go into the frame, so look to see if they are lined up in that area and if so remove them and put all screws/pins in a wide bottomed cup to not lose them. If possible take the bellows loose on both sides and mark the top front frame beam with an X pencil mark.
    Look at the condition of the gasket around the frame, if it leaked, it should be replaced. (See Below, or SB). Look at the cardboard inside the bellows, use a small flashlight if necessary. Bad cardboard can be repaired SB. Now hold the bellows up to a light and stretch them, looking inside to check the leather diamond corners for light shining thru pinholes. Stick a pin thru the pinhole to locate it from the outside, and put a piece of masking tape over it to find it later

Repair

    For cardboard: If the repair is in the middle of the bellows not the corner, just glue a thin card board patch folding it in half using any kind of wet glue such as Elmer's (tm) white glue or Franklin (tm) hide glue. A greeting card, business card, cereal box or shirt cardboard will work. Inside the fold press the patch in place with a butter knife, etc. to firmly seat it along the fold, and put a book on the closed bellows as a weight to clamp the repair. If the cardboard splits in the V notch cardboard can also be used, folding it in half and cutting a v notch to match the angle. However, I prefer to use a piece of genuine chamois on this particular place, with a kind of glue called "The Welder" (tm) a clear volatile solvent based rubber glue available from well stocked hardware stores. Another similar glue called "E6000" (tm) can be obtained from jewelers supply or industrial supply stores. I cut a notch in the leather patch also. Before applying either patch, carefully scrape any loose paper tape or pull any loose cloth tape from the broken area inside the bellows, to expose a surface to the glue.
    All other repairs must be done starting on the outside. We strip down the bellows to the damaged area. Don't  just slap a patch on it and hope for the best.   Any previous repairs that are sloppy or leaking must be carefully taken off. Sometimes heat from a low power soldering iron will help getting off the old repair materials, of course don't touch the leather with it.
    If the leather diamond,cardboard on the corner, or metal corner is the problem, you must strip down the repair area from the outside. Start by stripping the tape back from the metal corner, often it is loose, if not, a thin blade can be used to remove it. ( Disclaimer: I am not responsible for any injury to you or your instrument and do this or any other  repair under adult supervision.) The corner can then be gently pried off, unless it has been glued on too tightly, in which case you will use a low powered soldering iron such as Radio shack sells 25 or 30 watts touching it only to the metal for maybe 60 seconds to melt the glue and pry it while it is still hot. I always put my finger on the corner to see if its hot to the touch, before prying. Then, once the corner is off, take a small screwdriver blade, twist, and spread the corner a little wider, to get it back on.
    If the metal corner is split, due to metal fatigue, it must be replaced with another having the same curvature. The split corner can not be reused without causing more damage as it has to clamp the materials securely to prevent stress and destruction. Eventually it will split completely in half and fall off. Moreover, if one splits the rest are due to split and should be inspected for splits and hairline cracks. Matching corners can be used from old non-restoreable bellows, or ordered by sending the bad corner to some  supply houses to match it. Telephone them first and also draw an outline of the curve, in case it gets lost in the mail. Links to these places will be supplied later. Ernest Deffner, Castiglione  Co., Frank Romano,  Hohner Inc. (for Hohner  parts). I do not sell supplies to the public at the present time. You can probably find these places on the internet yellow page search sites.
    If the cardboard near the corner is damaged, fold a piece in half which has been cut to fit the area damaged, and cut a point at the same angle as the bellows cut, put glue on it and push it in from the inside, making sure you are in the right fold. Use a butter knife, etc. to push it in place snug in the crease. Then use sharp scissors to trim it on the corner, to match the curve of the metal corner.
    Usually the leather (a diamond shaped piece glued in the corners) will also be damaged if the cardboard is damaged. Then strip back the cloth or paper sheath from the leather diamond trying not to tear the cloth. The whole diamond can be replaced, if necessary, they can be mail ordered from accordion repair suppliers. However, I usually just cut a triangle from a piece of thin chamois leather, or a thin kid glove and glue it over the damaged area. Leather stretches in one direction and the stretch direction should point to the corner. The metal corner will be spread enough to clamp over the leather patch. That is why I pay attention to the thickness of what skin I buy as the same store, e.g. TRAK auto, will have both thin and thick chamois skins mixed. To widen the metal corner enough to slip over the repaired area, put something inside it and twist gently to bend it out.
Put glue inside the corner, such as The Welder brand, and CAREFULLY squeeze it with ordinary slip joint pliers just enough to clamp the corner. If the corner doesn't line up with the edges of the other corners, you may want to tap it down gently. A flat nose clamp, such as a welders clamp sold by the Vise Grip (tm) Company can be used to squeeze the bellows repair area flat before putting on the metal corner to help the corner fit. Also make sure the corner of the cardboard under the metal corner is trimmed to match the others to let the metal corner fit into the uniform position, making for a neater looking repair. And, of course,  it will go on easier when the bellows are not expanded.
    Next, use your finger to spread a light coat of glue on th cloth that has been stripped back and smooth it back down. Of course if any excess glue is present it may cause the bellows folds to stick together.
    Obtain a roll of bellows tape from a supply house, or cut a piece of "buckram" cloth (from bookbinders) in strips and glue a strip down to replace the piece of tape pulled back from the corner. Make sure the tape snugly holds the corner as the glue dries, maybe press it smoothly down with your fingers, and put a book on the bellows as a wieght to clamp it. A water soluble glue such as Franklin (tm) hide glue, (available at Sears) or Elmers (tm) furniture glue can be used on the tape. When applying it keep a damp rag handy to wipe your fingers as you work, hide glu is very sticky. Be sure the tape is firmly seated  and not loose before the glue completely dries. If the cardboard is old and brittle, I use The Welder (tm) or E6000 (tm), instead of water soluble glue, thickly spread on the tape to strengthen the area, always wipe off any excess glue that may cause the bellows to stick together, and if any doubt stick a sheet of wax paper in between until dry.
    Gasket: Around the frame is a leather or foam gasket. Thick chamois can be carefully cut in a strip to replace it. Gasket foam strips are sold by  supply houses. Leather stripping is no longer sold. Dense black "open cell" type foam, self adhesive on side only, is the synthetic material. You may find a narrow roll of it at a plastic supply house but if it's too wide it may be a nuisance to trim down. I use a single edge razor blade pressed straight down on the bellows frame after reassembly of the bellows onto the instrument. Do not use sticky grey window insulation strips as the thick self-adhesive glue on them can cause problems. When replacing the old gasket carefully scrape of the old glue from the frame, if it was rubber cement, lighter fluid (naphtha) will dissolve it, do not use paint thinner . If it was leather a hard glue was probably used and must be scraped, TC not to gouge the wood, or a leak may result. For leather use a water based glue mentioned above, for foam use contact cement, such as Weldwood brand. Do not stretch the foam. If it did not leak, leave it alone, and don't replace it.
    Reassembly: Place the bass section on its feet again and check the pencil  mark on the bellows frame, indicating top front. The bellows must go back in the same position for the pins to line up with the holes. Use the long pins in the thick frame side, if there were long and short. The pins may look alike, but may be slightly different in thickness. Test each pin as it goes in. Use a hard object to push the pin in, TC not to bend it, and if it sticks or binds, don't force it in, but pull it back out and try it in a different hole. Pins that are too loose should be put in tight holes, and vice versa. So switch them around, if need be. if one pin was cut short, it may have to go back in that same hole as it was probably shortened for a mechanical reason. I never pound the pin in with a hammer. If the gasket replaced was thicker than the one before, you may have to lean on the edge of the keyboard to squeeze it down at the same time you or your helper push the pin in.

Questions !
Date: Fri, 05 Mar 1999 09:40:29 -0500 To: Subject: Hi Ike!!!! HELP!!! Content-Disposition: inline Happy Friday!!!!!!! i have 2 questions... my boyfriend and i are trying to fix some pretty major leaks in his instrument and i printed up your instructions yesterday. first of all, you've got a really fabulous website!!!!! in the section on repairing the bellows with cardboard you mentioned a "V notch"---what's that???? we're also not sure what the "diamonds" are that you refer to!?!?! thank you for your advice!!! have a groovy day!!!!!!!! peace, tara
Answers !
Date: Fri, 05 Mar 1999 10:26:12 -0500 To: Subject: Re: Hi Ike!!!! HELP!!! Content-Disposition: inline wow, now that's service!!!! i didn't expect to hear back from you for days!!! thanks a lot!!!!!!! cross your fingers...
"Gaines I. Milligan" 03/05 5:00 AM So People actually use this information!! The diamonds are diamond shaped pieces of leather glued inside the bellows that flex in the corners. you can make new ones from chamois leather sold to polish cars. The stretch direction should be pointing to the corner. Vnotch refers to the cardboard below the corner, where the wide angle of the diamond is glued. I will add these definitions to file. Thanks for your feedback and good luck. Disclaimer : I am not responsible for any mishap or damages.
    Use all this information at your own risk, or send your  instrument to me for the best repair and tuning available, and also most economical.
     I have over 20 years experience and many satisfied professional players rely on me.

I offer complete tuning and repair service on all acoustic (bellows operated) accordions, including piano, button accordions, chromatic accordions, converter , and free bass, all makes .
 
 


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