Bellows Patterns

[Glug]

Hiya,
I'm about to retape an old Orfeo bellows and I'm wondering about what pattern to use. Is it 'ethical' to change the pattern on a vintage
accordion ? I'm guessing yes in this case because it's not an iconic Orfeo pattern as far as I can see.

I want to keep the colour scheme because it matches the body (and I've already got the new tape) but the original pattern is a bit minimal:


Or as a Open Office table:


I've looked at patterns on Ebay and I'm thinking of doing this:

But maybe that's too complicated for the decoration on the body of the accordion.

Does anybody have a comment or a better pattern I should consider ?

Cheers,
Gareth.

 

[debra]

Its entirely a matter of taste what pattern to use. I have an old Crucianelli which had a black V pattern on silver bellows and I changed it to all black.



I think it looks good on the accordion...


In your case you can go for more or less white as desired. Even all white wouldnt be bad as the bellows turn red when you open them...
In terms of bellow patterns anything goes!

 

[Glug]

Cheers,
Guess I'll probably go with my current plan then

I like what you've done with those bellows.  Unfortunately my bellows are currently old linen coloured with several stains.  I did try cleaning them a bit but nothing too dangerous.

Is there a way of painting/staining them to red ?  Or maybe I should pimp it out with gold bellows and red tape

 

[Glug]

And here's how it turned out.
Not 100% but it was my first go at bellows taping and corners, and it is airtight.
The sides and back are plain red.





In theory I could trim the white tape at the corners to make it more even.
But I swear I cut the lengths correctly, I think the tape can compress a bit when you wipe it.

 

[Tom]

Beautiful!

 

[debra]

Absolutely stunning! Great job, and not just boring monocolor like what I did.

 

[Glug]

Thanks everybody

I do like the look, and the colours match nicely.

 

[losthobos]

Impressed... Don't give ne ideas

 

[jozz]

This reminds me of a past TV show about a Dutch accordionist, that gets to glue his own bellows tape.

The older guy coaching him, is an experienced builder/repair dude and they know eachother well.

First (at 17m00s) he explains that you shouldnt mix up the order in which the diagonal patterns run, like Paul did, and that you can trash the lot if you do.

Two minutes later (18m09s), he starts taping and the older guy judges the tape the accordionist just glued on. Its 3 millimeters from the next so its also not in a straight line at the corners, like Glug did, and bluntly tells him immediately to do it again.

Mind you, Im not judging! Great jobs and I couldnt do it better or at all, but I thought the video is just so funny and appropriate! 


(btw the whole series De Nieuwe Stradivarius is awesome about Dutch artists, getting to build their own custom instrument, of course its better when you can understand Dutch..)

[video=youtube]

 

[Glug]

Very interesting video, english subtitles would have helped me a lot though
I can do a bit of french and german, but no dutch so far.
Searched on Kodi but couldn't find it (people do free subtitles).

Similar in a way to 'The Repair Shop' but more in depth and technical.

 

[stickista]

And here's how it turned out.
Not 100% but it was my first go at bellows taping and corners, and it is airtight.
The sides and back are plain red.




In theory I could trim the white tape at the corners to make it more even. 
But I swear I cut the lengths correctly, I think the tape can compress a bit when you wipe it.

You definitely should square up the white corners. Its the little things that make a job right, not the big ones. You know the Japanese woodworking principle that the back that no one sees should be just as finished as the rest.