cestjeffici
Active member
The Ins and Outs of the Accordion
by famous French accordion repairer and tuner Thierry Benetoux
by famous French accordion repairer and tuner Thierry Benetoux
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Looking for an opinion on this Repair Manual
- Thread starter cestjeffici
- Start date
Interesting - I too would like to hear opinions from those who’ve bought the book.
I see it’s available on Amazon too, but yikes, for $74. There are two reviews.
JKJ
I see it’s available on Amazon too, but yikes, for $74. There are two reviews.
JKJ
cestjeffici
Active member
if the book is useful and saves one visit to the repair shop it would be worth it. And it could be really interesting to know more about the innards of the accordion. I have one key, an E flat that doesn't sound immediately when I push in on the bellows. have already had one person "fix" it for me. It's a Hohner Bravo III 96 bass. It came new with this defect. The shop offered to replace the accordion with another new one but based on what I've read on this site I decided it would be best to fix one probably simple problem than chance getting a box with more serious issues.
Dingo40
Been here for ages!
Judging by similar previous posts on a similar issue, it could well be a "voicing " issue.
Search for "voicing " on the forum .
Does it cover "voicing " in this book!
cestjeffici
Active member
Thanks, good tip. Plenty of information there.
boxplayer4000
Prolific poster
The book's approach is to guide the person with an accordion fault to the solution. eg. for an air leak half-a-dozen suggestions might be made as possible causes, one by one those causes are eliminated by deduction eventually leading to the source of the fault. Without a doubt it's a useful book for repairers. An annoying feature is the translation from French to English. Technical terms being translated (in any language) can be difficult. However with a bit of patience and care it is usable.
I have a copy, most of which I've digested, to pass on now. I am located in the UK.
cestjeffici
Active member
Thanks. This is useful information. I'm in Baltimore, Maryland until Friday and then I'll be in Paris until January. A couple of days in London will be part of my trip.
cestjeffici
Active member
I just checked amazon.fr for the French copy thinking I'd be better off without the intermediary of a translation but it is over 100 euros for a used copy!
boxplayer4000
Prolific poster
cestjeffici: This French site appears to offer the book at 37.48 Euros and 8.30 Euros post to the USA. (I studied french language 60+ years ago so my translation of the site may not be totally accurate).
The Ins and Outs of the Accordion by Thierry benetoux
Vous recherchez le livre Comprendre et réparer son accordéon par Thierry Benetoux dans sa version anglaise ? Contactez le Piano à bretelles
www.accordeons.fr
cestjeffici
Active member
Thanks for checking! The blurb is in French but the book for sale is the english version.cestjeffici: This French site appears to offer the book at 37.48 Euros and 8.30 Euros post to the USA. (I studied french language 60+ years ago so my translation of the site may not be totally accurate).
The Ins and Outs of the Accordion by Thierry benetoux
Vous recherchez le livre Comprendre et réparer son accordéon par Thierry Benetoux dans sa version anglaise ? Contactez le Piano à bretelleswww.accordeons.fr
Nice find!
Hey boxplayer (or anyone), I tried to order the book but am stuck.
With help from google translate I put one in the cart then filled in the name, email, and phone boxes under “Create a quote”. But I can’t click on an answer to the question “Is the delivery address in France?”. I tried using an apple pencil on this iPad in case the web page didn’t like my fat finger but no success. I tried combinations of my phone number with snd without the international code for the US in case that was the problem. I exited the web site then restarted but still can’t get to the next page. Any ideas?
cestjeffici
Active member
You are dealing with a French site so expect strange. Here's what is going on. Fill out the form. Use this telephone number in the phone field 0683521805. (It's one of my old french phone numbers, don't worry, they won't use it they connect by email). Don't worry about the in France field. Click on the "creer mon devis" button. What you are doing is asking for an estimate which includes shipping which they will send you by email. That email will instruct you on how to pay. You will get the form below on your screen. Click the "CLIQUEZ ICI POUR ENVOYER LE DEVIS". You should get back another form by email in about a day where you cam specify a shipping address and will find out that it is practically impossible to pay by any normal means such as a credit card. They will probably ask for a check or a bank transfer. You'd be much better off just buying it at Amazon for a few dollars more. As an aside, I could only get this far on a Safari browser, Chrome wouldn't work.
Bon chance!
cestjeffici
Active member
Got this email this morning with an attachment:
Bonjour Monsieur
Merci pour votre demande, afin d’obtenir le livre
Merci de bien vouloir régler la somme de 44,97€ plus 5€ de frais de port soit la somme totale de 49,97€
Le paiement peut se faire soit par PAYPAL. Avec l’adresse lisa.thierryb@gmail.com
Soit par virement bancaire selon le RIB ci dessous
N’oubliez pas de nous donner votre adresse de livraison
Avec nos remerciements
Cordialement
Thierry benetoux
It seems they will take PayPal.
Thank you. I‘ll try to skip the website and email lisa.thierryb@gmail.com directly. PayPal would be perfect for me.
I understand no French. As I often do in communications with friends in other countries if I am unsure of their fluency in English, I send email in English and attach a copy translated by Google Translate. I realize it might not be perfect but perhaps it will help.
The book looks like it will be useful. I believe it’s impossible learn too much. I have worked on and repaired a variety of instruments over the years and as a 73-year-old beginner with my first accordion I’ve already made some minor adjustments, with instruction and advice from an excellent local accordion repair person and suggestions from the accordionrevival web site and this forum.
I’m currently scheduled for extensive left shoulder surgery which has put my accordion practice on hold for so this might be a great time to open and make some more internal adjustments: key leveling, adjust a reluctant reed, and maybe even try tuning a reed or two. I am building a test bellows and I think I can make any tool I need in my tiny machine shop and the welding/metalworking shop. (I love playing in the shop!)
JKJ
I understand no French. As I often do in communications with friends in other countries if I am unsure of their fluency in English, I send email in English and attach a copy translated by Google Translate. I realize it might not be perfect but perhaps it will help.
The book looks like it will be useful. I believe it’s impossible learn too much. I have worked on and repaired a variety of instruments over the years and as a 73-year-old beginner with my first accordion I’ve already made some minor adjustments, with instruction and advice from an excellent local accordion repair person and suggestions from the accordionrevival web site and this forum.
I’m currently scheduled for extensive left shoulder surgery which has put my accordion practice on hold for so this might be a great time to open and make some more internal adjustments: key leveling, adjust a reluctant reed, and maybe even try tuning a reed or two. I am building a test bellows and I think I can make any tool I need in my tiny machine shop and the welding/metalworking shop. (I love playing in the shop!)
JKJ
jollyrogeraccordions
Member
I've got both his books. If you have a reed issue the other book, 'Sounding out the Accordion' is probably more appropriate. But, you know, both books are more like text books for technicians, rather than a solid 'how to'. I'm sure you'd get the answer by working through the accordionrevival website, which is very compehensive. Or get someone on here to guide you through. As someone else has mentioned, it sounds like a voicing issue, or some other problem that ought to be easy to track down for an accordion technician. But if you are new to accordion repair there is a raft of stuff you need to know e.g. how to get inside, how to identify the reed, then diagnose the problem, then fix, test, reassemble etc.
FWIW Thierry is on FB and is quite approachable. I've pinged him about something and he was very helpful. Also, he makes wonderful little see-through acrylic accordions.
FWIW Thierry is on FB and is quite approachable. I've pinged him about something and he was very helpful. Also, he makes wonderful little see-through acrylic accordions.
Just my opinion... not worth 50 Euro. What that book has inside it is nothing more than what is available in other books or on the web. Now, if you don't have access to getting some questions answered or do not care to do some web research, then perhaps it is good for you, but I'd prefer to pass on this book... especially considering that pre-covid this book was available on amazon for half that amount.
Thank you for the reply.
As I mentioned I’ve been working with a an excellent technician who has been teaching me much about the internals and has been very encouraging. I do have experience working on other instruments including some with reeds - my hope is this book will be an asset.
BTW, my life-long approach to learning something new has always started with reading as much as possible from a variety of sources, including magazines and journals. I am fortunate to have a library room. When we bought this place 20 years ago I was thrilled that it had a separate library room with built-in floor-to-ceiling shelves on every wall - nirvana! (The house was built by a scientist apparently with a similar book fetish
) In addition, the accordionrevival and this web site are goldmines!While i keep hundreds of books on a kindle I far prefer books made of paper that I can bookmark, underline, make notes in the margins, etc. I have are more music books than fit gracefully in my piano/music room. I keep a separate library in my shop office, mostly books on woodworking, wood and tree/plant ID, animal care, incubating eggs (we live on a farm), microscopy, video production, welding, machining, electronics, small engine repair, and shop manuals for the excavator, skid steer, and every other vehicle and piece of equipment on the property (some duplicated electronically for ease of searching.) No wonder friends come here when they need something fixed or built - I love it, one of my reasons for living!
Thanks for the suggestion of the book “Sounding out the Accordion”. I’ve inquired about purchasing that as well. I treasure book recommendations from people who have actually read them.
JKJ
As a note aside: the usual cause is some piece of lint caught at the reed. First order of business is pressing Master on the bass side, a register with just the responsible reed bank on the treble (if possible), press a flat hand full of bass buttons and the right key on the treble, and then pump the bellows with full force. Often the vibration is enough to get rid of the offender.
Next step is to open the instrument, identify the responsible reed, use a brass tool to let it "pling" a few times and be done. For some reason, that tends to cover more cases.
I'd hesitate to call it a "defect" unless its nature is less temporary, like a broken reed or bad voicing.
Ventura
Been here for ages!
well, it is a modern Bravo, so i will fall on the side of it just being a crappy reed
that would be way too much trouble to finesse into correct position and keep
it there maybe
so Jeffi, when you are back in town, if you want to come down sometime and find
an Eb reed the right size in the spare parts pile(s) you can and just tune it close
then swap it out
i have a weller soldering gun (trigger type) with a flat tip.. plenty of spare wax..
piece of cake even if you have never done it before
that would be way too much trouble to finesse into correct position and keep
it there maybe
so Jeffi, when you are back in town, if you want to come down sometime and find
an Eb reed the right size in the spare parts pile(s) you can and just tune it close
then swap it out
i have a weller soldering gun (trigger type) with a flat tip.. plenty of spare wax..
piece of cake even if you have never done it before
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