According to an Accordion

Here is a discarded accordion I found beside the rubbish bin the other day.  These types of street music instruments were an extreme irritation to Charles Baggage. 

To quote the man himself, "It is difficult to estimate the misery inflicted upon thousands of persons, and the absolute pecuniary penalty imposed upon multitudes of intellectual workers by the loss of their time, destroyed by organ-grinders and other similar nuisances."

There were some bits knocking about inside so it was apparent it need some care.  I invited my very talented musician friend, Mike, over to participate in the tear down with the promise that it was his to take home.  I've got less than zero musical talent so I wanted it to go to a good home.

This accordion is called an "Acmette" and is apparently a student model made in the 1930's.

We removed the front grill and exposed the pallet mechanisms.

Ms. Lovelace was interested in the pallets and tone holes.

We removed the pins from the chord assembly to reveal the reeds on the other side of the tone holes.

Oh and we found the bits that were knocking about.  The reeds had fallen out.

The reeds were held in place with pine resin and beeswax and by the pattern of the broken wax we were able to sort out where each reed had dislodged from.  We borrowed my wife's "heat-gun" to soften the resin and seat each valve.

We put it all back together, and although Mike claimed he had never played an accordion before, he was instantly able to carry a tune.  We'll have Mike back soon and record a short video showing how amazingly talented he is.

Thanks for helping with the tear down and repair, Mike!  Enjoy your refurbished accordion.