Strap repair

[bruce1530]

I had noticed the top buckle on one of my straps seemed a little loose. It was one of those "I'll look at tomorrow" jobs...

I lifted the accordion by the straps yesterday, and the right hand one came apart - both of the rivets around the top buckle had come away.

The straps themselves are quite nice ones, about 40 years old, good condition generally, apart from that one buckle which takes most of the weight.

Spent a little time looking at websites for suppliers of new straps, then went to visit John in the town.

He runs an old fashioned cobbler's business, repairing shoes, cutting keys, and other similar things. He was just closing the shop, said "no problem, Leave them and I'll look at them in the morning".

Back today. Buckle repaired, a couple of brass rivets, bigger heads than the older ones. I reckon they'll last another 40 years. I then got a guided tour of the workshop, some incredible leather stitching machines that are over 130 years old.
I cleaned and treated the straps with the leather protector I use for my car seats. Came up lovely, put them back on the box.

The bill for this repair? About the same as a pint of beer.....

Highly recommended - The Studio Cobbler, Manse St, Saltcoats, Ayrshire (Scotland).

 

[Dingo40]

I lifted the accordion by the straps yesterday, and the right hand one came apart - both of the rivets around the top buckle had come away.

Never, ever lift an accordion only by the straps !

 

[Ffingers]

Never, ever lift an accordion only by the straps !

True.
I think that Paul De Bra has posted several references to the dangers of that practice.

 

[debra]

True.
I think that Paul De Bra has posted several references to the dangers of that practice.

Indeed! The narrow leather strips at the end of the shoulder straps are the weak point of the straps and as they are also bent in a tight loop they are the first to break. You should never ever lift an accordion by just a single strap, but even with both straps it's dangerous because both straps are the same age and will break around the same time. (It's similar to people who buy a small NAS for their computer, buy two large hard drives and put them in raid 1 (meaning they work in parallel and mirror each other). As both drives are the same age, when one breaks you still have the other one but should replace the broken one quickly because the still good one may break soon after the first.
A few years ago I got a fairly recent Weltmeister CBA that was a barn find and still in good condition... but I was careful not to lift it by the straps and that was a good thing because both straps broke when I pulled them a bit.

The tip here was a very good one: take broken straps to an old fashioned cobbler's business. (We have one in our city, in fact part of a chain of stores that do shoe repair and other leather stuff.) They tend to be friendly people, very good at their job, and not expensive.

 

[A Tryer]

“Skate Sharpening” - not something you see everyday! Only on the Accordionists Forum. Wonderful!

 

[Tom]

“Skate Sharpening” - not something you see everyday! Only on the Accordionists Forum. Wonderful!

Sharper skates make a cleaner cut…. Are you a hockey fan? The skate blade is actually concave, rounded, not flat so you can’t just hit it with a file. Kind of like a chainsaw. Makes a big difference. Oh, those were the days, when the ponds froze over all winter and you could sit around the fire playing the Snow Waltz and other things generally, maybe munching on a little vegemite sandwich and swapping lies about how a mano your reeds are. I miss those days.

 

[tcabot]

take broken straps to an old fashioned cobbler's business.

YMMV.
Took my traditional-style hand-made leather cycling shoes to the local place when the sole separated from the rest of the shoe. Some feckless young guy behind counter. "Not worth repairing, put them in the bin" he said.
I glued it back myself in 40 minutes and it's still holding a year and thousands of miles later.
Kids these days are not made from the same stock, I tell you what.

 

[Dingo40]

Kids these days are not made from the same stock, I tell you what.

Most things are not what they once were: the world has changed and moved on. It's a disposable society!

 

[Dingo40]

Around here, you could also go to a saddler.

 

[debra]

...
Kids these days are not made from the same stock, I tell you what.

You are right about that. You know you have come to the right place when the shopkeeper looks like he should have retired a decade ago... Then you have the experienced craftsman willing to repair anything you can throw at him. We live in too much of a "throw away and replace" society. With accordions that mentality just doesn't work. The instruments are way too expensive to just toss. Almost everything about an accordion can be repaired.

 

[tcabot]

Almost everything about an accordion can be repaired.

True, but there's certainly an economic factor to consider too. Labour is expensive. How many hours should you throw into repairs before it's easier to make a new one from scratch? Truth is - not many, because with accordions most of labour goes into set-up rather than manufacturing. If you are going to spend days setting everything up, you might as well do it on a brand new box.

Reeds on the other hand are great candidates for re-using. It's tragic that factories are wasting resources producing barely-usable machine-stamped rubbish these days. I'd rather they focused on highest quality reeds. But the market's not there I guess.

 

[debra]

True, but there's certainly an economic factor to consider too. Labour is expensive. How many hours should you throw into repairs before it's easier to make a new one from scratch? Truth is - not many, because with accordions most of labour goes into set-up rather than manufacturing. If you are going to spend days setting everything up, you might as well do it on a brand new box.

Reeds on the other hand are great candidates for re-using. It's tragic that factories are wasting resources producing barely-usable machine-stamped rubbish these days. I'd rather they focused on highest quality reeds. But the market's not there I guess.

I'm not suggesting to repair everything in or on an accordion. But I'm suggesting to consider repair before considering replacement. Getting a strap repaired by a local craftsman can be a better deal (not just in terms of money but also quality of the workmanship and materials) than ordering a replacement.
And you are right about most of the labour going into set-up rather than manufacturing of accordion parts and whole accordions. Sadly to keep costs down (and profits up) not nearly enough labour goes into set-up which explains why accordions leave factories with defects that should have been found during quality control...