storage

[jurkbox73]

how do you store your accordion through the year I have read that many ways of caring for your box and all are different I keep mine off the floor in its zipped up bag ? {}

 

[JerryPH]

When not played, either in it's case or on the top of my desk under a plastic cover. In either case it's a tempurature and humidity controlled environment.

I learned that due to how the reed blocks are placed it is often better to store them "standing up" instead of sitting in their normal "resting" positions.

In all cases, however, it really isn't good to store them for long periods. No matter how they are stored, they degenerate over time. Play them every day if you can!

 

[JeffJetton]

I learned that due to how the reed blocks are placed it is often better to store them standing up instead of sitting in their normal resting positions.

Thats my understanding too. Most accordions have feet on their bass strap side, and thats what they should stand on when youre not playing them. This keeps the valves on one side or the other of the reed block from curling out while it rests (and, over time, possibly staying that way!) This rule doesnt necessarily apply to cassotto accordions.

As far as environment goes, my rule-of-thumb is if you wouldnt be comfortable there, your accordion wont be either.

 

[debra]

I learned that due to how the reed blocks are placed it is often better to store them standing up instead of sitting in their normal resting positions.

Thats my understanding too. Most accordions have feet on their bass strap side, and thats what they should stand on when youre not playing them. This keeps the valves on one side or the other of the reed block from curling out while it rests (and, over time, possibly staying that way!) This rule doesnt necessarily apply to cassotto accordions...
[/quote]
Putting the accordions on their feet is fine for instruments that do not have a cassotto and no winkelbas. With cassotto or winkelbas there are rows of reeds at a 90 degree angle and there you will have valves being pulled open by gravity. Placing an accordion in the playing position is best for cassotto instruments but doesnt hurt with any accordion.
Storage for a longer term is ideally a non-issue: the best treatment an accordion can get is being played regularly! We buy accordions to use them, not to store them or use them as decoration.

 

[JerryPH]

I must admit, when I first pulled out my accordion after a looooooooon hiatus, it didn't sound too healty. After a short while things started to loosen up and sound noticeably better after I started playing a little more regularly.

The one thing that is not improving is that even after 24 hours of no use, the registers stick slightly. One run through all the registers and all is well again.

I am wondering would a little well placed spray of Elmer's Dry Lubricant solve that issue for me? I know better than even look at a bottle of WD40 and the accordion at the same time.

 

[debra]

I must admit, when I first pulled out my accordion after a looooooooon hiatus, it didnt sound too healty. After a short while things started to loosen up and sound noticeably better after I started playing a little more regularly.

The one thing that is not improving is that even after 24 hours of no use, the registers stick slightly. One run through all the registers and all is well again.

I am wondering would a little well placed spray of Elmers Dry Lubricant solve that issue for me? I know better than even look at a bottle of WD40 and the accordion at the same time.

Yours is a Morino VI N right? Go gently on the lubricant! The Morino N and S series have no latch or notch on the register mechanism. The slides shift left or right (up or down in playing position) but only friction is holding them in place. Make the mechanism go too smoothly with lubricant and the slides will droop down as you play. I am attaching a picture from a Bugari to show the latch I mean. It is the friction in the whole register mechanism on the Morino that makes that this latch is not needed. But you need to keep some of that friction!
I just fixed a Morino VI M that had not been played for a few years. (It has a much worse more primitive register mechanism.) I must say that indeed it too didnt sound too healthy either. Playing it a bit helped but at that age (the instrument was 52 years old) the wax had become brittle so a few reed plates had come loose (just held in place only by nails and thus leaking air). But oddly enough there was no sign of the valves in the cassotto leaking after being pulled open by gravity even though the instrument had been stored on its feet. So while we keep on saying the instrument should be stored in the playing position that is mostly what is theoretically better but the problem does not appear to be severe in practice.

 

[JerryPH]

Thanks Paul,
I've not used any lubricant at all to date and that initial stickiness is there only until the first couple of register presses, after that it is smooth as silk. Maybe all that is needed is just a minor cleaning in between the register sliders somewhere.

This is truly minor and doesn't affect my playing pleasure at all.

The ritual I have adopted before playing is that at the start of each time that I play, I "air out" the accordion, then press each register once ending with the master chin switch, then on the right hand play an entire keyboard chromatic scale in one direction pulling only and then the other direction pushing only. I then do the same thing with the free bass buttons and finally just bellow shake each bass/counter bass and chord button option.

After I started doing this, the accordion just woke up again, the few stuck reeds freed right up and air losses pretty much disappeared. My accordion is just around 43-44 years old, so still plenty of many good years left in her, I hope.