Bellows pins, a lack there of ?

[Geoff de Limousin]

I thought this could go in the ' how do I do this' but as I'm not sure I want to do anything with a 'lack of Bellows Pins' .. more gain some knowledge of other ways that have been used to attach the Bellows to the ends.

I've just bought an old accordion, on line, and I notice from the vendor's pictures, or rather did not notice any bellows pins. I found a very similar model in Laurent Jarry's book "Trésors de Lames" and that too appears not to have the bellows retained by the usual Pin method. So as I await delivery of my new (old) box I ponder on the different ways the makers have used to hold the ends onto the wind maker.

I have accordeons with screws ( going into metal inserts in the bellows frames) instead of pins and very old ones with external 'latches'. I even owned one huge beast that employed long bolts going right through the end boxes vertically, when looked at with the accordion standing on its feet ... the metal feet being the outside end of these long bolts.

Looking at the pictures I have received I can only assume that my new purchase has some form of this long bolt attachement method. Just a wee bit worried that someone has given my purchase a 'make-over', lost the pins and glued the bellows on.... stranger things have happened.

What other ways of holding the bellows and ends togther have been used ?

 

[george garside]

I think some morinos had the bellows retained by a leaver behind the grille

george

 

[Soulsaver]

In addition to some Morino model years, several Hohners have/had an internal latching on the treble side and bolts/screws on the bass side accessed when the bass board is removed..
Atlantic, Virtuola, Lucia (which are metal bodied) maybe more - I think I've seen an Imperator with similar, 1950s to 1970s. Usually come with a bellows internal locking mechanism (no bellows straps) too.

 

[Soulsaver]

Bellows pins are easy enough to find, so it's more the ignorant amateur fettler plus glue, oil, & the nails & candle wax :roll: I found once...etc to fear.

 

[Geoff de Limousin]

As I wait for the arrival and solution to the missing pins mystery I am suddenly aware that Murphy's Law has been invoked; only an hour after I posted the cheque for my purchase I was looking again at what was on offer today ( big mistake) only to see another accordion of this ( rare) make for sale , only an hour's drive away, at a cheaper price and complete with PINS.!!!!... agggggh......

The moral of the story, of course, is the oft quoted " only buy an accordion that you have played and liked...... I'm only doing this because I have one of this make and I like it soooo much... and they don't make them anymore... and I've been looking for a five row version for quite a while.

Thanks for the comments , if I find something very different in the fastening department of my purchase I will endeavour to describe it here.

 

[Geoff de Limousin]

Well, further to this story; the long distance purchase arrived just in time for a warm spell of weather and , for a change , it was bettter than described by the seller (who knew nothing about accordions) in fact it was a bargan... even with no Bellows pins. It has the long bolts going though the right and left hand boxes for attaching to the bellows. They act as feet on the left and are under under the grills on the right. All very neat with original chamois leather gaskets..

I am very pleased with my latest purchase although it looked to be 2 or 3 voice Musette with Basson ( in the old Comb operating method) it turns out to be just 3 voice Musette, the rear Comb connects the keys to a third Flute voice. Oh well, I'll get used to it no doubt and its condition , it must have had a complete overhaul in recent times, makes it very playable.

One gripe , and this I have experienced on two modern accordions as well; with warm weather I notice the back of my left hand was sticking to the strap... funny because it does not do this on any of my other accordions.... a close examination of the strap shows it is lined with an imitation leather covered pad... damp skin sticks to Vinyl....!! I removed the offending pad and solved the problem. Checking my other boxes show they all have 'Leather only' left hand straps... one has Velour leather pad but the others are just nap side to player's hand... it works, why try to improve it.