One Bass Button out of tune on the draw

[Steve Daily]

Hello. I have a Cajun one row diatonic accordion (melodeon). I've had it for 8 years, and it's been great, but suddenly, the bass note (not the bass chord) is out of tune, only on the pull. Everything else works great. I've tried different stop positions, but that does not affect it. I have never opened up my button box, but would this be an easy fix to tune it? Thanks in advance for any ideas offered.

 

[Jose EB5AGV]

I would open and inspect the offending reed. You may find something physically damaged or altered. How many cents is it out of tune?. Is there any uncommon noise?. Maybe that reed used a weight and it has fallen. Be very careful when opening the instrument and check before if something sounds loose inside when rotating it

 

[Steve Daily]

I would open and inspect the offending reed. You may find something physically damaged or altered. How many cents is it out of tune?. Is there any uncommon noise?. Maybe that reed used a weight and it has fallen. Be very careful when opening the instrument and check before if something sounds loose inside when rotating it

Thanks for responding Jose. I would estimate that it's about 50 cents sharp. But that's only on the draw. On the push it is fine. I don't hear anything loose as I move the accordion around. Before I open it up, I plan on studying a bit on accordion structures. If worse comes to worst, the maker (Junior Martin) could fix it up for me, but he lives 1000 miles away, and I hate shipping something this delicate, but I'll start studying the problem more. Thank you so much for your insight!

 

[debra]

When this happens in most cases (may 90% or more) it means a leather valve has fallen off. Could be the valve inside the reed block.

 

[Steve Daily]

When this happens in most cases (may 90% or more) it means a leather valve has fallen off. Could be the valve inside the reed block.

Thank you Paul. I am trying to find some instructional material on accordion construction prior to opening my box for the first time, but checking for a fallen leather valve will be one of the very first things I check for. Sincere thanks!

 

[debra]

Thank you Paul. I am trying to find some instructional material on accordion construction prior to opening my box for the first time, but checking for a fallen leather valve will be one of the very first things I check for. Sincere thanks!

www.accordionrevival.com
That's the number one resource to go to for anyone who wants to know more about how their accordion works and how to fix things.
It is often mentioned on this forum.

 

[Jose EB5AGV]

One book which has lots of very interesting information on accordion repairs is Accordion Repairs Made Easy by John Reuther. It is published by Deffner currently but I have seen it available on-line

 

[Steve Daily]

www.accordionrevival.com
That's the number one resource to go to for anyone who wants to know more about how their accordion works and how to fix things.
It is often mentioned on this forum.

Thank you Paul!!! I'm new to this forum, so this is the first I've seen of it. I WILL check it out. Thank you sir!

 

[Steve Daily]

One book which has lots of very interesting information on accordion repairs is Accordion Repairs Made Easy by John Reuther. It is published by Deffner currently but I have seen it available on-line

I will check that out for sure Jose! Thank you sir!