New to the accordion, is my accordion a dead duck?

[The_English_Bear]

Hi! Im new to the accordion, Ive purchased a second hand hohner bravo 2, just working my way through a beginners book and sturgerling with Ode to the joy, Not sure if its my timing but when using the keyboard Im running out of air to create the sound, what I have noticed is that the Bellows makes a noise if no keys are pressed is this right? Ive included a you tube video link to show the noise

 

[JIM D.]

From the video it's hard to tell if it's an open pallet on the bass or treble side. Try pressing all your treble keys one at a time to find a match to the note that is sounding. If you don't find it on the treble side, try pressing the bass buttons one at a time to match the note that is sounding. Then get back to us.

 

[The_English_Bear]

Does this mean the Accordion SHOULD BE making a noise when when no keys are pressed and bellows are being opened?, I guess this was my question, probably badly phased in my first post.

 

[debra]

From what I hear I think the problem is on the bass side. Typically the bass side has two valves that open when you push a key. One is for the base notes, one for the higher notes in the chords. (When you press a base note both valves open, with a chord only the chord valves open (3 at a time). The problem accordion sounds like the leather or felt of the valve for the Es (Mi b) note in the chords has fell off. It's probably laying loose inside and can be glued back on but it's not really easy to get to. The good news is you don't have to open up the accordion: you only have to first unscrew the strap you use to pull (it has a wheel you turn until the strap comes out. Then likely some small screws to remove the plate the left hand is on while pushing or pulling. Then you get access to the bass mechanism and hidden behind that are the valves. So getting to the place where you need to glue back the part that fell off is kinda hard.
But generally speaking this is a very minor problem unless more of these felt valves start falling off. (I have had this happen in the middle of a performance. It meant introducing an unscheduled 10 minute break to fix the accordion... and of course as an accordion player you need to bring your "toolchest" with tools and parts to repair accordions on the go.)

 

[The_English_Bear]

Thanks a lot, solved the problem of the sound! Still suck at playing it though, It seems I run out of air when playing?

 

[Stephen Hawkins]

Bear,

Welcome to the forum.

Don't worry too much about running out of air at this stage. Practice and familiarisation will sort all that out for you, sooner or later.

Stephen Hawkins.

 

[Matt Butcher]

I can think of two reasons for running out of air - one could be that the accordion is leaking somewhere. If you put it on your lap, put your hand in the left hand strap with the bellows vertical and let go of the right hand side, the faster the right hand side drops the less airtight it is.

If that isn't the problem then it is probably unfamiliarity. It's true, it is the kind of thing where one day you can't do it and then suddenly you can, but there are a couple of tricks to help manage the air, we could put a thread on for it if that helps. Or it may just come naturally to you with a bit more practice.

 

[bocsa]

I wouldn't worry about running out of air, it's a very common problem for most learners, take heart, it usually improves over time. It's all good fun if you don't weaken

 

[debra]

Your accordion is pretty small. As a result the bellows and total air volume inside is also quite limited. So even when no air is leaking anywhere you will run out of air.
I have accordions of different size and my favorite small one (Bugari 540) also runs out of air long before my bigger one (Bugari 505). The difference in bellows size is quite substantial!