Cottonwood Tree Menace

[Henry D]

On the outside chance that someone else on the forum is benighted enough to noodle away on their accordion on a beautiful spring day sitting on a bench on their front porch irritating passersby when the cottonwood is sending forth its billowy clouds of white fluffy airborne seeds; don't.

Despite perfectly serviceable screening behind the grill I had five reeds freeze up in the course of one ten minute sitting. 90 minutes worth of dissassembling, twanging, and blowing later I got the *&^%#* stuck reeds freed and back to working status.

Posting here as a cautionary tale and because the wife almost choked laughing when I sought out sympathy for my plight. I viewed it as a catastrophe, she took it as a banana peel...

 

[JKJ]

Despite being widely planted in parks and such all over the east, we are fortunate to have no cottonwood trees near us - I’ve never even experienced the fluffy airborne clouds you describe. An interesting challange!

Maybe you could get some very thin, sheer, see-through extremely fine mesh fabric to put around the accordion to make a filter to keep out the fluff. It could be pinned, clipped, velcro-ed or otherwise fashioned into a big bag or tube to enclose the accordion but still let you put your hands inside to play. Shouldn’t stop any sound.

You can find this stuff at fabric and craft stores or online. Look for photos or videos of nearly any fashion show or celebrity event and you should see examples of clothing made from these types of see-through fabric. Some is a bit stiff intended to hold a shape but some is very thin and flexible, almost feels like air. Some is white and might be noticeable but other I’ve seen was darker and almost invisible. Perhaps that would keep the mess out of the instrument.

It might work to just add some to the inside of the accordion grill but I suspect some unfiltered air might still find its way inside to the pallets, maybe through the keyboard.

JKJ

 

[Pipemajor]

Despite being widely planted in parks and such all over the east, we are fortunate to have no cottonwood trees near us - I’ve never even experienced the fluffy airborne clouds you describe. An interesting challange!

Maybe you could get some very thin, sheer, see-through extremely fine mesh fabric to put around the accordion to make a filter to keep out the fluff. It could be pinned, clipped, velcro-ed or otherwise fashioned into a big bag or tube to enclose the accordion but still let you put your hands inside to play. Shouldn’t stop any sound.

You can find this stuff at fabric and craft stores or online. Look for photos or videos of nearly any fashion show or celebrity event and you should see examples of clothing made from these types of see-through fabric. Some is a bit stiff intended to hold a shape but some is very thin and flexible, almost feels like air. Some is white and might be noticeable but other I’ve seen was darker and almost invisible. Perhaps that would keep the mess out of the instrument.

It might work to just add some to the inside of the accordion grill but I suspect some unfiltered air might still find its way inside to the pallets, maybe through the keyboard.

JKJ

You seem to know a lot about sheer, see through fabrics.
Do you have some dark secret you would care to share?

 

[JKJ]

Yes, my deep dark secret (don't tell anyone) is ...

.... I keep a huge variety of materials on hand, metals (aluminum, brass, steel, titanium), all-thread, plastics (acrylics, cast and extruded, sheet, teflon, delron, and others), glass, fabric, rope, wire, electrical supplies, plastic and rubber tubing, straps, leather, foam rubber, packing supplies, art supplies, mat board, and poster board, electrical supplies, electronic components, and more - for projects I have in mind but many just in case I want something NOW, while I am working. This does take a lot of storage space especially for plywood, construction lumber, planks and slabs (like mahogany, olive, figured maple, walnut, bubinga, cocobolo) and the thousands of wood blanks on shelves ready to pick for woodturning. I also keep nearly every type of fastener (bolts, screws, etc), from tiny metric to huge imperial. I recently drilled and tapped a brass rod for six tiny 3mm set screws to make a special tool to finish a project - it's SO nice to have everything on hand and not have to shop, order, and wait - when I want it I want it now. (another secret - a bit of impatience)

I've used small pieces of shear fabric for fine screens, silk screening, and reinforcements. A piece of very stiff and strong but fine cloth screen came in handy just a few weeks ago to epoxy into place to reinforce something that had cracked. I also have some sheer white cloth with a very tight weave on a PVC pipe frame to make a 2x2x2 "photo cube" for photographing SMALL things - the cloth allows control of the light diffusion to soften shadows as desired.





But as for fabric in general, I may be the only guy on our lane in his mid 70's with a sewing machine. Years ago I realized I had the ability to work with almost anything material except cloth so bought a sewing machine. I chose an embroidery machine just in case and have made lots of things for grand and other kids. Why, do you need me to sew up a tutu for you with posies embroidered around the hem? Are those popular in France?

Or if your interests are in other things I have a small machine shop and am currently designing and building a foot-powered accordion test bellows.

The embroidery machine has been used by a bunch of kids over the years. (I know a lot of kids through my SS kindergarten class, some who have now graduated from college - one is working on her PHD in animal pathology!) This little girl wanted to make a birthday present for a friend. It was a new experience for her and she was so proud of making it!





I've also had some previous kindergartners come for lessons in wood turning, welding, to help with the baby peacocks, and to shovel llama manure. Good clean fun!

JKJ

 

[Henry D]

Lots of great suggestiongs for upgunning the grille's filtering (and that would have to be front and back).

My profuse thanks.

The solution for me was just to play indoors until the cottonwoods had had their springtime fling- about three days of whiteout.

 

[JKJ]

The solution for me was just to play indoors until the cottonwoods had had their springtime fling- about three days of whiteout.

Good idea! To make the wife happy and thrill the neighbors maybe you could hook up an amplifier and pipe the sound outside.

My wife's solution to things annoying her while sitting on her favorite porch (it overlooks the horse pasture) was to have it screened in. We live on a farm in a rural area and for some reason she is annoyed by insects. Go figure.

JKJ

 

[Henry D]

Good idea! To make the wife happy and thrill the neighbors maybe you could hook up an amplifier and pipe the sound outside.

Far more likely to gin up a flash lynch mob than either of the first two. There's a reason I favor the old Scandallis and a steamer trunk Philharmonic; both have mutes...