Creaky bellows

[yaroslav9728]

Hi everyone.

I have hohner lucia piano accordion. I noticed that when I push bellows first time I hear a sound like "pffftt", probably creaks something. I would like to know what to do in this situation.

 

[Dingo40]

Hi Yaroslav,

Pffft on the push sounds very much like an air leak. :-/

Check all around very carefully and see if you can hear where it's coming from ( use your ears and see if you can feel it on your face).

Creaking simply suggests insufficient exercise (use). More frequent use should fix that 

Paul De Bra will probably suggest what you can do to fix both! 

 

[debra]

I concur with Dingo that if it's "pffftt" that you hear it's the sound of air escaping, and thus an air leak.
But... if you had an air leak then it's unlikely it would manifest itself only on the first push and not later.
If it's more "creaky" like the title suggests the sound would be more likely on the first pull, more than on the first push (unless you store the accordion with the bellows open?).
In any case, a bellow that makes a creaky noise on the first pull and push is actually quite common and if it happens it's because of the glue used for the bellows tape. I always advise to avoid getting glue in the fold of the tape, but the way bellows are made in the factory glue is spread evenly over a whole sheet, then the bellows is kept open at a specific width and a machine cuts the sheet into strips, pushes it in, then presses the bellows closed. (So what you see as tape was never tape on a roll.) As a result there may be just too much glue in the folded part of the tape and that causes noise to "crack" the glue.
It's nothing to worry about as long as you open and close the bellows once before you start a performance.

 

[JIM D.]

If that sound you hear is truly air escaping only on the bellows closing, A leaky air button pallet might be the culpert. On bellows opening the air
pressure on the air button pallet will tend to hold it closed. When closing the bellows the air pressure tries to force the pallet
open. There are 3 factors that can cause this -- a misaligned air button pallet -- a weak air button spring -- or the valve padding
on the pallet has hardened and will need replacement.

 

[Glug]

I had an intermittent creaking sound on a Lucia which I thought was the bellows, turned out to be the bass strap adjuster.
Just a thought, might be worth checking.