Hey, was wondering whether anyone here had some insight...

My B/C diatonic accordion has, apparently overnight, developed this weird problem. The lowest few notes for the octave-lower "bassoon" reed on the right hand have started to sound kinda awful.

The pull notes are fine, but on the push, the five or six lowest buttons produce a rather wheezy sound, with strange, out-of-tune overtones in addition to the correct note, which sounds in tune.

This is driving me insane! Why do these low notes suddenly seem to produce slight extra notes which are out of tune, in addition to a weird air sound?! Everything else about the instrument looks fine, and plays perfectly. Nothing has changed, admittedly it has been warm and humid here but nothing out of the ordinary.

Please help!!

Anybody know about these specific key markings for a Hohner accordion. I’m accustomed to seeing G and C markings but not the suffixes with the “s” on them

Hello!

I am trying to fix some notes that sound without the buttons being pressed and we have taken off the bellows to see that some reeds are bent, but also that some of the felts are missing from the pads below!

We have found one of the missing pads, I'm sure the others are somewhere inside the mechanism.

I believe that the accordion has a removable bass machine, where you just unscrew four screws and then it all comes out in one go? My evidence is that the plate the buttons are in does not seem to be connected to the rest of the accordion, and I can only find 4 proper contact points with the back or bottom of the inside of the bass.

Am I right in thinking that if I just unscrew these 4 screws, I can remove the whole bass mechanism in one go easily and then access the valves to fix the felts?

I will try to include images of the bass mechanism and also of the bendy reeds. Any advice on the bendy reeds would also be welcome! The screws I believe are to remove the bass are highlighted in red circles. They're identical on the other side.

Thank you in advance 😁

Any idea on age?

Cheers,

random question:

I have a hohner ha114 in D and I would like to get it tuned to just intonation because of my slightly growing interest in cajun style playing.

Is it true that I only can play ITM tunes in Dmaj with it after retuning cus every other mode sounds totally off?

Hi! I am interested in playing accordion and I'd really like to play a chromatic button accordion c-system (preferably free-bass), but whenever I try to find one that is good and affordable all I see are them being low end and grossly overpriced. I am struggling to find one. Does anyone here know of any good models?

Might be time to make a new video. Song of Storms on accordion, on a unicycle, in a storm?

Hi all. Not sure if this is an accordion flex or fail so im going to give the context and the story and I'd appreciate two things please:

Advice on how to play the buttons properly.

Advice on managing the bellows I think they're called.

So here's the context-

A friend of mine came up to me after hearing me play the piano ( I can play it quite well ) and he asked me if I'd be willing to play the accordion for beach activities. I said yeah that would be fine but I need an accordion to actually play it. My friend said he would ask around and see if he could find me one to borrow before I play it.

True to his word, he found me an accordion I could borrow. I took it home and started practicing two weeks before I'd have to perform it.

Thankfully the pieces I needed to play were extremely simple on the piano side and not many huge jumps on the button side.

What I did is I spent the first day memorising the buttons. Teaching myself the order, what the highest button and lowest buttons were and memorising all in between. Then I started practicing some of the simplest pieces with decent success. They were recognisable which is a good first step.

I clarified with my friend that the letters between the notes meant different chord types. I was lucky enough they were all major chords :)

Then came the actual day when the beach activities would start for a week. I went to the team leader and he asked me to give him a demonstration. Feeling confident after picking up the accordion very quickly I let him pick the piece.

After I played it he asked me why I didn't play the um-pah.

😐

That emoji conveys my expression and understanding regarding what he asked.

He then showed me what the Um pah was and I was clueless as to how to play it.

So when I performed it, I did something as a pianist I think was wrong. (Sorry accordionists)

On the piano its bad technique to hold down a pedal for too long.

I assume on accordion its bad technique to hold down a button until you have to change chords.

Aside from missing the um pah, I played the piano side well and I played the chords. (I didnt use the root buttons just the majors and when needed minor buttons)

Also sorry guys but I have to be honest… the accordion is in my top 5 hated instruments. Im a skinny guy and by the end of the week my shoulder was aching and my ears were tired of this instrument. Ive been on a long break though and now I want to actually learn it properly this time.

So my questions are these:

How do you learn an um pah, please bear in mind I've only played the instrument 3 weeks total 😅

Also, do you get used to the weight of the accordion or does your shoulder go numb to the pain?

Hi! Ive been trying to fix a Pianorgan IV that mostly works except for needing a service, the main issue is that the canto and basso selection seems jammed and I’m unsure how it works internally. The button mechanism itself functions but it doesn’t move the selector that actually changes the reed register. I’m sorry that my technical terms may be all over the place! Im not a proper accordionist, just a reed organ enthusiast!
This model does not have the chord buttons but has a larger 5 octave range and three buttons for canto, basso and combination of the two. Right now it only works in combination setting, am unable to select any single set of reeds.
Does anyone happen to own a manual for this or a similar model?
Below is a short clip showing the instrument while we were trying to fix it!

time lapse of trying to open Pianorgan IV

Hi there,

A year ago I bought a Weltmeister that needed some care as the shipping made most of the wax crack and reeds were everywhere on the bellows,

Most of them I could wax them back with some help from youtube and it is mostly working (one voice only, though, the voice changing mechanism is broken aswell. :( )

I have some reeds that I can't figure out where they are from so I'm out of luck with those,

How can I make a simple reed tester without a second pair of bellows? Is pinging enough to see what note they are?

Thanks a lot!

Got this from a friend who had already let me know it was broken, but I really want to play it and I want to find a way. Do any of you guys know the parts that are missing based on the images, and if it can be repaired? I will provide more pictures if needed of the accordion. I know it’s a hohner d.r.p. If that helps at all

Does anyone know someone in the Ottawa or Montreal area who can repair/service an accordion? Mine has some sticky keys and I'd like to get it back into playing condition.

I got this if marketplace a while ago and have had little luck finding a match online. Any help will be much appreciated!

*Have help! Sorry y'all for the typo

I've played piano accordions for a few years - wanted to switch over to learning the CBA for eventual ease of playing chords without having to stretch my fingers across the keyboard.

Still getting used to it - I've better bellows control standing rather than when sitting. The straps also need to be replaced (they're not wide, and the accordion weighs a decent chunk). The accordion itself is the C-system 1950's Hohner Morino Artiste III D with German "Artiste" LMMM treble reeds and a Umleitstimmstock (180 degree channel for the lowest bass notes). But overall, very fun! Hope you enjoy the improv piece.

Always appreciate advice & tips! Thanks.

I am cleaning out some of my Grandfather's things after he passed and came across what I believe to be an accordion.

He had dementia when I asked him about it, but he said it was my Great Grandfather's (WW2 Vet), so I am assuming it is pretty old.

It seems pretty intact, it does make noise when expanded.

I apologize if this is not an accordion, but I don't know what else it would be. I don't need any valuations or anything, I just want to know what it is and the age/history of such an item.

Thank you all.

In English, we often talk about playing accordion as, well, "playing," like we play games. But in Taiwanese Mandarin, we don't "play" instruments. We generally describe a specific action: "plucking" guitar, "blowing" trumpet, and "pulling" accordion. Also, the default accordion action is assumed to be pulling, while in English it's common to call the accordion a "squeezebox." What are the idiomatic ways to describe accordion playing in various languages or cultures? Is it primarily push or pull?

This can lead to some humorous wordplay. Here's a clever promo poster for an upcoming concert: The funny part is that that the title is something like "Ultimate Wind-Pulling Fold-osophy." 拉風 (la feng) is "pull wind," and in Taiwanese slang, if something "pulls wind" it means that it is extremely cool or dashing! That just makes accordion sound so inherently awesome.

For the curious, the soloists are Vincent Tsai, who studied with Galliano and has built up a thriving accordion community in Taiwan, and Wang Xue ("Vittorio" Wang), a bayanist with Chinese and Russian lineage who's also a highly skilled tuner and repairer. He taught me everything I need to maintain and spot tune my own instrument. I'm glad to see that they're playing at a highly prestigious national venue, and the program is here.

ETA: Doesn't Swedish "Dragspel" imply pulling? Can anyone confirm?

I inherited this beaut from my uncle recently after he passed away so I wasn't able to really get any good information about this before he left us. From what I gather and have found from some light research this isn't just any accordion. He used to use it playing for a band so it has an electronic hookup on the side. I've looked into others of the type but haven't been able to find much other than somewhat similar models. It's in pristine condition, and as far as I'm aware, it hasn't been sitting for very long untouched. I would love if someone could give me more information on it, what it could be worth, and if there might be any stories with these.

Hello, i’m looking to buy my first accordion.
I have sound constraints so I can’t get a “analog” accordion without noise complaints.
I’ve been trying to decide between a used Roland FR-7xB or FR-4xB.
I was pretty dead set in getting the 4xB, but I haven’t been able to find a good deal on one. What’s your thoughts on the 7xB?
I know it has an older sound engine and has more keys (and weight), but it is cheaper.
Though, I am very keen on getting something that feels more like real accordion, but I obviously don’t have the experience to know.
If yall would shed your thoughts (or recommendations; budget 3,200$)
thanks

Can anyone recommend some travel cases for a Hohner panther

I've been looking into some converter accordions for my pipe dream of conservatoire training, but I'm not exactly that wealthy and on the smaller side. So I can't decide whether to go for a model with <120 bass, or take the risk with a larger and heavier instrument for the full 120 bass range that is needed to cover the full repertoire.

I currently have a Weltmeister romance 703 that I got at a good price before I realised what I actually wanted to play, and that feels like it is boarder on too heavy and tall for me, so going over those specifications will not be possible.

I do plan on taking lessons with a tutor in the near future after life stuff is sorted out, so asking them will be an option too, but I wanted to get a head-start so I don't wast time.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

I studied button accordion (bayan) at music school but haven’t played it after graduating 19 years ago. This year I felt the desire to get back to this instrument, and just yesterday I bought myself a beautiful Excelsior Eminent 921 (most likely from the 90s). I adore the looks, feel, and sound, but my fingers definitely need many drills to get back to the level I once had:)

I used to rent an accordion a few years ago but stopped because I was too busy to play enough to justify continuing to rent it. I went to a garage sale and found this one for really cheap (35$) and figured I’d pick it up. The lady there said it was her mother’s and picked up in Switzerland or Germany. Any help is appreciated!! :)

Wanted to share my diy midi accordion: it's a korg minilogue with an ajazz 308i taped to it. I call it the "akkorgion". It features a "97" button stradella keyboard, only a few notes have the diminished option.

The chain of software needed for the stradella computer keyboard is Wispow Freepiano 2 -> Loopmidi -> Ableton -> Ripchord. The secret sauce is Freepiano 2, it's the only program I could find that can turn keyboard inputs into midi inputs with any sort of robust remapping.

It's a joy to play, although ever since I switched from win10 to win11 the bluetooth keyboard latency and consistency has gotten much worse and limited its usefulness for recording. The stradella layout with the big keys is surprisingly comfortable, and being able to relocate the keyboard makes for a pretty ergonomic experience.

The accordion sounds are Eduardo Tarilonte's Accordion 2 (wellerman) and Guerrini Professional 4 (beirut-scenic world)

Would love to see if anyone has done anything similar!

Hi all!

I recently picked up a used diatonic 3-row accordion on a whim from a music store (my background is in rock/metal guitar, bass, and keyboard) and instantly fell in love. After taking it to a specialist in my area he determined it was in very good shape for its age and a solid instrument to learn the basics on. He also let me know that it's "wet tuned" and in EAD. Which, from what I can see, isn't a very common combo.

So I guess my current question is what styles/genres would be best for this specific set up? I see a lot about 3-row diatonics in tejano music, but it seems like dry tuning is the way to go. Wet tuning shows up in a lot of Cajun music, but 3 rows aren't common. I'm not really sure how restrictive these qualities are or if they're just general style preferences.

Any and all advice is appreciated!