Found a great accordion technician in VT

[xocd]

My best (certainly biggest) accordion is a Pigini converter that was not converting: it was stuck in Stradella. I had taken it earlier to a well-known, relatively local technician who was very helpful, but who could not fix it. Nathan Longo in Montpelier VT (https://thefreereed.com/) had it converting very quickly. The trip was three hours each way, but well worth the trouble. On top of that, I had a very pleasant visit.

 

[Tom]

My best (certainly biggest) accordion is a Pigini converter that was not converting: it was stuck in Stradella. I had taken it earlier to a well-known, relatively local technician who was very helpful, but who could not fix it. Nathan Longo in Montpelier VT (https://thefreereed.com/) had it converting very quickly. The trip was three hours each way, but well worth the trouble. On top of that, I had a very pleasant visit.

You are one lucky accordionist, congrats!

 

[Big Squeezy Accordions]

I will second this. Nathan does great work and is a great man. He did all my repairs for years when I lived in Vermont, and was my first accordion repair mentor. Also, he can fix pretty much any machine, not just accordions!

 

[debra]

My best (certainly biggest) accordion is a Pigini converter that was not converting: it was stuck in Stradella. I had taken it earlier to a well-known, relatively local technician who was very helpful, but who could not fix it. Nathan Longo in Montpelier VT (https://thefreereed.com/) had it converting very quickly. The trip was three hours each way, but well worth the trouble. On top of that, I had a very pleasant visit.

I'm not surprised that your relatively local technician could not fix it. Problems with bass mechanisms are a topic many beginning accordion repairer struggle with and even moderately experienced ones still struggle with convertor mechanisms, especially Pigini. (Pigini uses its own design convertor whereas almost everyone else uses the same design and outsource its production.)

 

[Pipemajor]

it was stuck in Stradella.

That's a long way from Somerville. Had it got lost?

 

[RTW]

Excellent find! I wish this site had a category "Find an accordion repair person" for a listing of repairers based on geographical location

 

[debra]

Excellent find! I wish this site had a category "Find an accordion repair person" for a listing of repairers based on geographical location

Much better would be: "Find a really good accordion repair person"...

 

[Tom]

Better would be “Go to Accordion Craft Academy and do it yourself.”

 

[debra]

Better would be “Go to Accordion Craft Academy and do it yourself.”

The ACA courses are not cheap, and you need to add to that the trips to Castelfidardo.
Definitely worth it for someone who wants to become a professional repairer. But if you just have a bit of a problematic accordion, getting a good repairer to fix it will end up a much less expensive solution.
And in the ACA courses you do learn the basics, and much more than that, but convertor mechanisms (and certainly Pigini) are not topics that are covered in these courses (unless they added the topic after I completed the whole series).