Hard Bellows of new accordion (4 months old)

[Gajanan]

I am Gajanan from India.
I live in Pune in India and have bought a brand new Fisitalia Accordion 41x120 LMMM in March 22 from Castlefidardo, Italy.

I am facing a huge problem of hard bellows.... I have to apply hell of a lot of pressure to get desired out put from treble registers...

I had made a complaint to the manufacturer but I was told that this problem is always with new accordion but after some use bellows will be easy to operate.

However, I am not getting that easy feeling after the use of 4 months. I am playing accordion for last 25 years and have bought quite a few new accordions like Vignoni, Weltmeister, Bugari, Hohner... But didnt face this hard bellows problem....

Kindly advise whether :
1.This problem is due to poor quality of reeds?
2. Is it because the reed valves are not flexible enough to open with bellows normal air pressure?
3. Can this problem be solved?

4. Has any one faced such problem for long durations?

5. Can bellows become softer over time?
6. Do i get reed valves checked by accordion repairer locally?

I can not send my accordion from India to Italy for repairs as its very costly and cumbersome process of customs clearance etc in my country...

I would appreciate advice and solution from this elite forum of experienced accordionists and competent repairers and experts..

GAJANAN Nawathey
Pune, India

 

[godgi]

Gajanan.
I am not an expert on this. Sorry you are worried about it. But one of my accordions requires more push and pull pressure that the others. It is not really a problem for me as i got used to it. Our resident expert Paul or some others will have a definitive opinion for you. Fisitalia appears to be a very good brand. Years ago i changed from a very loud honer Atlantic to a quiet sounding pigini and I thought there was something wrong with it but over time i got used to it. Where you have come from instrument wise is perhaps not what your fisitalia will sound like. Just an idea to consider.

Godgi

 

[debra]

Not sure I fully understand the issue.
What happens if you press the air button? Is the bellows hard to open and close when you use the air button, or when you push lots of notes and buttons at once? By doing this you can find out whether indeed you have a "hard bellows" that doesn't open and close easily.
If the bellows work normally but you get weak sound this can be caused by reeds (you should know what quality reeds you ordered), valves or pallets (if there is too little key travel then pallets do not open very far). If the accordion has no cassotto it will sound less loud than if it does. The whole construction of the accordion influences how loud it can sound.
The bellows will become a bit softer over time, but that has no influence on the maximum volume you can produce.
When you have the impression that your accordion isn't loud enough, you should get the opinion of a listener. A good accordion will not sound very loud to the player but should sound loud to the audience. If the player experiences the accordion as being loud this may in the long run cause hearing problems (professional musicians now often use ear plugs to protect their ears).

 

[JIM D.]

Pauls suggestion is one I often give. Try to get together with another accordionist. (1) Sit your guest 10 ft. from
you and the accordion as you play it. (2) Do this again with the guest playing the accordion and you10 ft. away.
(3) Discuss what you both fell & hear from the accordion.

You must be patient for & with a new quality accordion. Most low quality accordions (like the Chinese junk sold today).
don't require a break in. New quality accordions require some break in
A new low quality mediocre accordion will start to 'wear out' with the first note played on it.
On the other hand a new quality accordion will start to 'wear in' with the first note played on it.
Have patience with it !!

 

[Gajanan]

Not sure I fully understand the issue.
What happens if you press the air button? Is the bellows hard to open and close when you use the air button, or when you push lots of notes and buttons at once? By doing this you can find out whether indeed you have a "hard bellows" that doesn't open and close easily.
If the bellows work normally but you get weak sound this can be caused by reeds (you should know what quality reeds you ordered), valves or pallets (if there is too little key travel then pallets do not open very far). If the accordion has no cassotto it will sound less loud than if it does. The whole construction of the accordion influences how loud it can sound.
The bellows will become a bit softer over time, but that has no influence on the maximum volume you can produce.
When you have the impression that your accordion isn't loud enough, you should get the opinion of a listener. A good accordion will not sound very loud to the player but should sound loud to the audience. If the player experiences the accordion as being loud this may in the long run cause hearing problems (professional musicians now often use ear plugs to protect their ears).

 

[Gajanan]

Dear Debra,
Thanks for your reply.
You hit the nail. It is not the sound but the stiffness in bellowing and stiffness in playing the key board is my major concern apart from low volume on treble compared to bass.
The accordion sounds louder on bass rather than treble... But I am not worried much about volume as I have multiple registers on bass to choose tge quieter ones.... But it is the stiffness of playing and exerting more pressure on bellows is killing...
As regards reeds and reed valves, I will get it checked after a few weeks of usage with local repairer.
Could you please elaborate what do you mean by key travel and movement of pallets so that I can address it with my repairer and try to fix it if possible.....
Thanks a ton for your advice...
Finally what you said is right I have to give more time to open up the instrument...
Best regards
GAJANAN

 

[Gajanan]

Pauls suggestion is one I often give. Try to get together with another accordionist. (1) Sit your guest 10 ft. from
you and the accordion as you play it. (2) Do this again with the guest playing the accordion and you10 ft. away.
(3) Discuss what you both fell & hear from the accordion.

You must be patient for & with a new quality accordion. Most low quality accordions (like the Chinese junk sold today).
don't require a break in. New quality accordions require some break in
A new low quality mediocre accordion will start to 'wear out' with the first note played on it.
On the other hand a new quality accordion will start to 'wear in' with the first note played on it.
Have patience with it !!

Thanks very much... Yes I do believe I have bought Fisitalia which is a quality accordion and it will only some more time to get seasoned to perform at peak...
Will have patience and will keep playing it...
Best regards...
GAJANAN

 

[debra]

Dear Debra,
Thanks for your reply.
You hit the nail. It is not the sound but the stiffness in bellowing and stiffness in playing the key board is my major concern apart from low volume on treble compared to bass.
The accordion sounds louder on bass rather than treble... But I am not worried much about volume as I have multiple registers on bass to choose tge quieter ones.... But it is the stiffness of playing and exerting more pressure on bellows is killing...
As regards reeds and reed valves, I will get it checked after a few weeks of usage with local repairer.
Could you please elaborate what do you mean by key travel and movement of pallets so that I can address it with my repairer and try to fix it if possible.....
Thanks a ton for your advice...
Finally what you said is right I have to give more time to open up the instrument...
Best regards
GAJANAN

The bass sounding too loud versus the treble is something you cannot judge as the player. You need to get someone else to play the accordion and listen from a distance. Accordions are designed so the sound moves away from the player (to prevent the player from going deaf over time). A bayan does this even better than a piano accordion (because it has the keyboard further away from the player and the keyboard blocks the sound from reaching the player).
The stiffness of the bellows will go away over time. It all depends on who made the bellows and how it was done. (Fisitalia most likely does not make its own bellows so it's an issue with one of the major bellow makers.)
The key travel is unlikely the problem if you have not yet noticed anything wrong there. Some people ask for less key travel in order to play faster, but if you didn't then it should be normal.

 

[Gajanan]

The bass sounding too loud versus the treble is something you cannot judge as the player. You need to get someone else to play the accordion and listen from a distance. Accordions are designed so the sound moves away from the player (to prevent the player from going deaf over time). A bayan does this even better than a piano accordion (because it has the keyboard further away from the player and the keyboard blocks the sound from reaching the player).
The stiffness of the bellows will go away over time. It all depends on who made the bellows and how it was done. (Fisitalia most likely does not make its own bellows so it's an issue with one of the major bellow makers.)
The key travel is unlikely the problem if you have not yet noticed anything wrong there. Some people ask for less key travel in order to play faster, but if you didn't then it should be normal.

I agree with you on all suggestions dear Debra.
In fact, I am going to be playing it now everyday and will not play other accordions.
I will share and let you know after a fortnight about the condition of my bellows.

Thanks and regards
GAJANAN

 

[JerryPH]

If the bellows are a bit stiff a good side result is that your muscles becomes stronger over time, so it’s no so much that the bellows becomes looser, which it does some small amount, but arm/shoulder/back strength increases a little as well.

 

[Scuromondo]

I have never experienced anything like this—certainly not to the extent that it would have any significant impact on playability. I have picked up some cheaply built accordions with bellows that seemed to be made more of a stiff folded plastic, more like a toy, rather than the typical cardboard and leather-ish construction. But I would not expect to find this sort of thing in any genuine Italian product.

 

[dunlustin]

"muscles"
Given he's been playing for 25 years he's probably done any muscle-building that is to be had.
Four months seems more than enough time to stay patient.
Gajanan, you must be really disappointed. I hope things improve.

 

[jozz]

I am Gajanan from India.
I live in Pune in India and have bought a brand new Fisitalia Accordion 41x120 LMMM in March 22 from Castlefidardo, Italy.

I am facing a huge problem of hard bellows.... I have to apply hell of a lot of pressure to get desired out put from treble registers...

I had made a complaint to the manufacturer but I was told that this problem is always with new accordion but after some use bellows will be easy to operate.

However, I am not getting that easy feeling after the use of 4 months. I am playing accordion for last 25 years and have bought quite a few new accordions like Vignoni, Weltmeister, Bugari, Hohner... But didnt face this hard bellows problem....

Kindly advise whether :
1.This problem is due to poor quality of reeds?
2. Is it because the reed valves are not flexible enough to open with bellows normal air pressure?
3. Can this problem be solved?

4. Has any one faced such problem for long durations?

5. Can bellows become softer over time?
6. Do i get reed valves checked by accordion repairer locally?

I can not send my accordion from India to Italy for repairs as its very costly and cumbersome process of customs clearance etc in my country...

I would appreciate advice and solution from this elite forum of experienced accordionists and competent repairers and experts..

GAJANAN Nawathey
Pune, India

only on treble side?
- check if your register slider strips are fully open?

if one or more somehow got stuck partly shut or came detached from it's register button linkage, leaving your treble side with too small of openings to the reeds...