Bellows Gasket Leak Giulietti Model N4 Transformer

[Mike K]

I have had a slight leak for quite a while and have been putting off addressing it. I looked at the accordion repair "manual" web page but the gasket material here looks different than the foam tape type I have seen. Hard to get a good picture but it appears to fit in a groove, not flush. Any idea how I determine what I need and where I can get it. I hesitate to try to pull it off to investigate further for fear of making it worse. One guy I took it to for other repairs put Elmer glue in the crack but when I had to open it up for other issues, it just had made the leak worse.

 

[Wheezer]

are you saying that an accordion technician used elmers glue to seal the gasket, instead of a using a properly fitted replacement gasket?

 

[Ventura]

both Foam and Felt are compressible material that will hold a shape
after being squished between 2 edges, and even a soft Suede leather
will work

i do lightly tack glue ( or modern foam gasket tape has peel-off sticky stuff one side )
the edge that fits into the "channel" you mention

the caveat is that you cannot use a material too thick that you cannot get
the bellows pins back in

bellows gaskets lose mass over time as they dry out and harden, and then can leak
when they no longer fill the space between the leading edges of the bellows frame
and the mating space of the accordion body

thats all i know about it

 

[JIM D.]

Your Giulietti ( a very fine made box) is as the very least 60 years old made by Zero Sette of Italy.
It was made in the so called late "The Golden Age Of Accordions" when the finest materials &
craftmanship were used in producing musical instruments. Unfortunately the original bellows
gasket ( Goatskin) has shrunk with age. There is only one proper repair for your situation ---

HOW TO REPAIR ACCORDIONS 1

Check out http://accordionrevival.com! AccordionRevival.com How to repair accordions, make accordion repair tools, find and repair air leaks, change leathers, wax reeds, voice reeds, level keyboards.

accordionrevival.com

 

[boxplayer4000]

I bought an accordion on eBay once where the bellows gasket had been glued on both sides. Beware.
I recommend a foam/rubber gasket (a self-adhesive one if possible) because it is thicker than the natural leather ones and better able
to cope with possible (hopefully slight) deformities in the wood after 60 years.

 

[debra]

What you need for bellows gasket material is http://www.carinidena.it/MS5ECOMMERCE60/jsp/eco_cc_home_bs_portlet.jsp?p=dettarti&codarti=2626
This is 5mm wide and 2mm thick and is the most commonly used size. It is adhesive on one side, so no additional glue is needed.
You should not attempt to do anything to the gasket tape you have now until you have replacement tape.
When you add the new tape, cut the ends diagonally. Apply the tape without pulling on it even the slightest bit. Make sure the length is right. The ends must meet without any pulling. Best is if you end up with 0.5mm extra, so you "stuff" the ends together a bit to avoid any leaks.
I'm not sure what we are seeing in the second picture. What's the purpose of the tape on the reed block? And why does it have a loose corner?

 

[Ventura]

referring back to a "Just sayin' "

you remember those Italian Leather store samples ? some
were impossibly thin really fine Suede, and in a pinch i have
cut a length enough to re-surface an existing bellows gasket
as a temporary but effective seal

 

[boxplayer4000]

I recommend care in selecting material for accordion repairs. Leathers and felts etc. are not uniform in quality.
Years ago using a seemingly fine chamois leather I probably obtained in DIY/car shop I lined the pallets of a melodeon. It took a while to
establish there was ever so slight air leakage through all the closed pallets and that the chamois leather used had a much more
open structure than properly sourced material. The problem disappeared when I used properly sourced material. I may have gotten away with it on a bellows gasket where the leather is held firm between the two wooden surfaces but it certainly was unsuitable for pallets.

 

[Mike K]

What you need for bellows gasket material is http://www.carinidena.it/MS5ECOMMERCE60/jsp/eco_cc_home_bs_portlet.jsp?p=dettarti&codarti=2626
This is 5mm wide and 2mm thick and is the most commonly used size. It is adhesive on one side, so no additional glue is needed.
You should not attempt to do anything to the gasket tape you have now until you have replacement tape.
When you add the new tape, cut the ends diagonally. Apply the tape without pulling on it even the slightest bit. Make sure the length is right. The ends must meet without any pulling. Best is if you end up with 0.5mm extra, so you "stuff" the ends together a bit to avoid any leaks.
I'm not sure what we are seeing in the second picture. What's the purpose of the tape on the reed block? And why does it have a loose corner?

NOt sure what the tape is there for. my original music instructor put it there I am guessing. he had modified the bass pickups and put them in the left hand side and used a spiral cord to attach it to the treble side. This got the pickups closer to the bass reeds but has given me much trouble over the years with bad connections. Possibly the tape originally was to prevent the spiral stretch cord from getting into the reeds. I probably should remove it. I have moved the pickups back to the treble side.

I think I will try the tape jim recommended since I can get in the US first. I am a little worried about making it worse in the process. Leak is annoying but not real bad. sort of hits me in the face. I have light layer of paper towel stuck there right now to tighten the seal.

 

[Mike K]

Your Giulietti ( a very fine made box) is as the very least 60 years old made by Zero Sette of Italy.
It was made in the so called late "The Golden Age Of Accordions" when the finest materials &
craftmanship were used in producing musical instruments. Unfortunately the original bellows
gasket ( Goatskin) has shrunk with age. There is only one proper repair for your situation ---

HOW TO REPAIR ACCORDIONS 1

Check out http://accordionrevival.com! AccordionRevival.com How to repair accordions, make accordion repair tools, find and repair air leaks, change leathers, wax reeds, voice reeds, level keyboards.

accordionrevival.com

I sent FRM an email to try to find costs. Does not appear you can order directly from the web site. I will need to open it again and try to measure the width . I also have a couple reeds that do not vibrate properly. Had someone work on them but they did not fix them properly. Not sure they are really out of tune, sound more like they are rubbing because they sometimes go in an out at different volumes. I have pulled them out and tried to find an issue but no luck. Tough to find someone to do repairs in Richmond VA area. Not ready to ship it somewhere.

 

[Mike K]

referring back to a "Just sayin' "

you remember those Italian Leather store samples ? some
were impossibly thin really fine Suede, and in a pinch i have
cut a length enough to re-surface an existing bellows gasket
as a temporary but effective seal

I am actually using a small strip of heavy duty paper shop towels as a temporary seal. Actually works fairly well, just leaks a little at the end of the towel.

 

[Mike K]

are you saying that an accordion technician used elmers glue to seal the gasket, instead of a using a properly fitted replacement gasket?

After the bellows was back together he put some glue on the outside along the seal. It did actually help but when I took it apart due to issues with my pickups, the leak was worse then previously. I did not want to use glue again.

 

[Mike K]

Your Giulietti ( a very fine made box) is as the very least 60 years old made by Zero Sette of Italy.
It was made in the so called late "The Golden Age Of Accordions" when the finest materials &
craftmanship were used in producing musical instruments. Unfortunately the original bellows
gasket ( Goatskin) has shrunk with age. There is only one proper repair for your situation ---

HOW TO REPAIR ACCORDIONS 1

Check out http://accordionrevival.com! AccordionRevival.com How to repair accordions, make accordion repair tools, find and repair air leaks, change leathers, wax reeds, voice reeds, level keyboards.

accordionrevival.com

I actually had a chance to pick up another one like it one time. Was about 500 miles away though. Still regret not doing it. I own another Giulietti Continental but it is not the Zero Sette It has a different treble cleff design insignia. It has the extra three rows rather than the convertor free bass. I have never gotten comfortable with it. The right hand sounds great but I really do not like the sound of the left hand reeds. Very awkward to reach the buttons to switch reed settings also in the middle of a song. I was around 12 when my father bought it new. Would have been about 1966. Remember playing at an accordion competition in NY state and was practicing outside waiting my turn and Mr. Giulietti reprimanded me for taking the instrument outside in the cold and playing it.

 

[Ventura]

oh you can drive up 95 and pick up some bellows tape from Frank Busso
and probably get him to give your problems a look see too..

there are repair people in the Wash DC area

 

[Tom]

In a pinch you can get some window foam insulation tape (weather stripping) from your local hardware store or Amazon. As a temporary fix it might work better than paper towels.

 

[debra]

In a pinch you can get some window foam insulation tape (weather stripping) from your local hardware store or Amazon. As a temporary fix it might work better than paper towels.

You have to be careful with the thickness though. The most common thickness used in accordions is 2mm, and I believe the tape used in accordions compresses a bit more easily than what hardware stores sel for window insulation. It is really best to get new bellows gasket tape in 5x2 mm from an accordion repairer.