What to do when parts are unavailable? 🤔

[Dingo40]

A.bit of a metaphor for some issues with older accordions!

 

[pitzelberger]

Yeah, luckily so far none of my accordion repair attempts reached the point where something broke and was not restorable given my limited skill set and equipment. Even there is of course this constant risk, e.g. if you are bending metal parts on the treble or bass mechanics.

 

[debra]

Luckily many things inside an accordion can be replaced by new parts made out of wood or metal. You may need some good skills with metal especially. Some repairers have a CNC machines, laser cutter and welder so they can create things like new register sliders, reed blocks, catorcetti (or "rakes" as my friend Edwin Ericson calls them), etc. I have none of these (actually, I have a welder I have yet to use) but so far I have not needed any of them. A lot of things that are most likely to break in an accordion are from aluminium and that is a relatively soft metal you can work on without complex expensive tools. It just takes time. The most difficult job I'm hoping never to need to tackle is reed replacement on a Russian bayan. For Italian and German accordions you can buy almost all parts, even for older ones. (But not for accordions of over 70 years old.)