Imported a cheap Soviet children's accordion from Ukraine, but it needs a lot of work...

[OrganicLifeform]

This is my first experience with an accordion. I want to learn on this one before I move on to anything more expensive, but I need to get it in working order. All the reeds seem to be in tune, but the gasket has a leak in it. The leather gasket that is currently on it is 5cm wide and 1cm thick, but I cannot seem to find gasket tape that thin. Some of the reeds are very delayed when playing, I am unsure if it is due to the bad gasket, or the bent leather seal, or both.

 

[Dingo40]

the gasket has a leak in it. The leather gasket that is currently on it is 5cm wide and 1cm thick,

Hi OL,
What are you calling the gasket?
I've never seen a gasket with such dimensions
BTW, I'm probably wrong, but this looks more like a melodeon than a bandoneon ?
You may find melodeon.net more appropriate to your situation?
See here:

Melodeon.net Forums

Melodeon.net Forums

forum.melodeon.net

 

[Ben-jammin]

Most currently available bellows gasket tape is foam and will likely compress more than the leather that was used (which likely not at its original dimensions). I might try the 5x2 foam gasket tape and see if it will work without having to force anything. Looks like you also need some bellows tape. I believe accordion revival.com has some good documentation on doing some of the work that instrument will need.

While it frequently seems advantageous to get an instrument that “needs some tlc” to learn on. As a general rule I don’t recommend people go that route. It’s so easy to end up with something that needs way more work than they anticipated. It’s a noble thing to repair an old instrument, but if the goal to learn how to play it’s best not to put additional hurdles in your way.

This forum has a section for diatonic accordions, but most of the crowd here has a focus on chromatic instruments. I know next to nothing on diatonic accordions but the layout on yours doesn’t seem to be as common as some others. I’m not sure what your overall goals are but it may be worth identifying if learning this accordions layout will be a stepping stone to where you want to be.

 

[OrganicLifeform]

Most currently available bellows gasket tape is foam and will likely compress more than the leather that was used (which likely not at its original dimensions). I might try the 5x2 foam gasket tape and see if it will work without having to force anything. Looks like you also need some bellows tape. I believe accordion revival.com has some good documentation on doing some of the work that instrument will need.

While it frequently seems advantageous to get an instrument that “needs some tlc” to learn on. As a general rule I don’t recommend people go that route. It’s so easy to end up with something that needs way more work than they anticipated. It’s a noble thing to repair an old instrument, but if the goal to learn how to play it’s best not to put additional hurdles in your way.

This forum has a section for diatonic accordions, but most of the crowd here has a focus on chromatic instruments. I know next to nothing on diatonic accordions but the layout on yours doesn’t seem to be as common as some others. I’m not sure what your overall goals are but it may be worth identifying if learning this accordions layout will be a stepping stone to where you want to be.

Even if it is way more work than the instrument is worth, I still want to fix it, I like having projects to work on. I also did not realize this community was specifically for diatonic accordions. I could not even find the name of the company that made this accordion, and most of this model I could find online were grey with a red secondary color on the bellows. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction, I'm completely lost when it comes to these things.

 

[OrganicLifeform]

Hi OL,
What are you calling the gasket?
I've never seen a gasket with such dimensions
BTW, I'm probably wrong, but this looks more like a melodeon than a bandoneon ?
You may find melodeon.net more appropriate to your situation?
See here:

Melodeon.net Forums

Melodeon.net Forums

forum.melodeon.net

The white leather rim on the edge on the bellows, it leaks from one of the corners. I don't really know the difference between a melodeon and a bandoneon, I'm completely new to this.

 

[Dingo40]

The white leather rim on the edge on the bellows, it leaks from one of the corners. I don't really know the difference between a melodeon and a bandoneon,

The rim around the pleats of the bellows is "bellows tape".
The metal corners are "bellows corners ".
The "gasket" usually means the seal between the bellows and the wooden boxes at each end which contain the reed blocks and the bass and treble mechanisms.
A bandoneon is a kind of concertina, a melodeon a kind of diatonic button accordion. ( "Diatonic" means one note sounds on the pull of the bellows and a different note on the push)
There are videos on YouTube demonstrating how to replace bellows tapes and bellows corners.
A piano accordion is a chromatic musical instrument which sounds the same note for both the pull and the push on a given key.
What they all have in common is that the tone (sound) is produced by air (provided by bellows) flowing over one or more sets of reeds known as " free reeds ": they are all "free reed instruments ".
Knowing how to play any one of these types is of little help to playing another...and there are still (many) more types and sub-types!
Amazingly, every one of these variants is capable of playing a given tune ( though not always in a given musical key.)
Good luck with it!