I found and bought a used Acadian in C, and it's beautiful! I think it is curly maple with a walnut stain, though I'm certainly no expert on this.

Question: The stops seem to be strictly decorative. Is this common? Does it lessen the value of the accordion? Will this be a problem for me later? Also, it didn't come with a case, or apparently, a shoulder strap. Does a strap from a keyboard accordion work okay? Or do most people not use a shoulder strap?

Don't worry, I'm sure this is just the beginning of my questions. I think the next series will be about RH thumb playing position.

Cheers, Jamey

Stops; i used them for tuning, and occasionally for changing the sound a little by taking out the high reed row; cats love me for that as do subtile fiddlers ....

As for straps, you should know as experienced britches-piano player, that one has less bellows control when you stand with a squeezer. But some players are exeptionally good at playing standing up; maybe you are one of 'em? Best, Nout

Congratulations. non-functional stops might make resale a bit lower, but the majority of players never close a stop, so you shouldn't be concerned. If you want another sound, say for zydeco or blues, pick up your piano accordion.
I use a strap most of the time, even sitting. I find it quite necessary while standing. I found a really neat belt-leather banjo strap that is a perfect lengtn and looks good too. Many (most?) LA accordions are sold without strap brackets, so you have to add them if you desire them.
I'm sure your new box sounds fabulous...enjoy.

So if the stops don't work, it begs the question: How do you know if you actually have 4 reed banks? The truth is, I don't hear 4 notes when I depress some of the keys. So because of my curious nature (feel free to take all meanings from that description), I want to take it apart and look and see if I indeed have 4 reed blocks. But Cajun accordions are different than Piano accordions; on them, I just pull the escutcheon pins. But I don't see pins on this box. Do I have to pull those metal tabs? Surely not. That looks way too involved and problematic.

Thanks for help, Jamey

Wait a minute, it must be the Phillips screw I see on either side of the front and back face of the box (facing the same direction as the valves on the RH side). Am I right?

-Jamey

Hmm .. Opening a Cajun accordion is a big secret that
is not usually shared

Just kidding, yes .. it is those Phillips wood screws.

Only two of 'em hold a whole side to the bellows.

But, if you wreck anything, I will deny having told
you this!

It is difficult to hear all 4 reeds because, first of
all, several of them are tuned one-octave apart, and
voice as one. And two of the reed banks are (usually)
tuned to the same pitch.

In piano-accordion-land, we call 'em bassoon, clarinet,
and piccolo reed banks.

I don't know if Cajun makers share the same nomenclature

Best of luck in your new endeavor .. let us know how
it works for you. There are many, many supporters
on this forum

--Biggeroo

No springs went flying, nothing uncoiled, there wasn't a grumpy cottonmouth inside. Yes, all 4 reed blocks were there; actually 3 "blocks", but one held two sets of reeds. I've never seen this arrangement of reed blocks, I'm guessing it's standard on Cajun boxes: two singles lying flat, one double standing straight up.

Something interesting: there do seem to be functional slides inside. The inside-the-box portion of the stops are attached to little blocks of wood that seemed to be attached to what look like slides or shifts, but they don't move with pretty significant pressure on my part. Since I'm loath to take a hammer to them, I think I'll call Marc and ask about them. I don't want to pester him with questions, though, since he didn't sell me the box new; I bought it used elsewhere.

Thanks for help and encouragement, Jamey

I have a La. made accordion and the stop slides are very stiff to operate and I usually do not use them anyway. You have a good one there, way better than Chinese! Congrats.

Thanks brother. I talked to Tina at Marc's shop, and she said humidity had probably made the stops stuck, and that I didn't need to move them anyway. All the same, I'd like to get them unstuck so that I can easily diagnose if I have a problem. For instance, how would I ever know if one of the reeds was stuck and not sounding if I couldn't isolate the reed banks?

Anybody know the best way to "unstick" the shifts?

Thanks, Jamey

My guess is that there's nothing wrong with them at all. My new Martin is the same way; it takes an Act of Congress to move the stops at all. But they do move under extreme pressure.

The thing about loosening them is that, once they get loose, there's no going back. Then you may run into a problem because your stops will keep dropping when you don't want them to.

Jude

That rather sucks. Sounds like an inherent design flaw. Seems like they would do them the other way around - push them down to open, pull up to close. That way if you ever had a problem with looseness, at least gravity would work for you instead of against.

And ****, now I'm scared to try and force them down; what if they don't come back up? Sounds like a situation ripe for tragedy . . .

-Jamey

Jamey ~ This is odd.. because iF A guy Like me kNew how stops funCtiON better, I'd ofFer some Advice. Luckily, I've never COme across aN issue like this with a Falcon box.

I Figure the thing to Ask is; does it pLay? And if so, does it sound COrrect? If it souNds good, pull it!

Congrats on the four-stopper!

R!CK

Thanks Cap'n, loved the post! BTW, how about e-mailing me your phone #? I wants to chat . . .

-Jamey

I would not work them more than needed. I too was worried about moving the stops on my Crown accordion, but they are TIGHT.

Really Jamey, relax. I was the same way about my LeCapitaine when I got it...worried about little things. Then I finally relaxed and simply enjoyed it. I've been learning Back Door tonight, that two note high D/F chord (6/7 button on pull) sounds soooo cool.

Yeah you right! I finally got the stops squared away (and not to be messed with again for months, maybe years, to come) and started playing with my DVD buddy Dirk Powell. OH yeah. Man that accordion has a GREAT sound. Marc Savoy sure knows what he's doing.

BTW, John, you being in Austin and all, do you know a gal named Wendy from there? She's about the sexiest Cajun dancer I ever saw, and that's saying something. I got to see her dance at Festival Acadiens. The "W" stands for "Wow".

Jamey, if you really need to get the stops moving; I had the same problem with a Martin, which i bought from someone in the dry Texas climate. Took the keyboad off and reeds out to reach the holes properly. Then bit by bit got them moving. Kept dropping tiny squirts of graphite lubricating powder on the edges of the holes, then carfully tapping it to spread out, and pushing the slide a liitle further. The slides are stil stiff, but i can use 'em now when needed. Afterwards clean the surplus and eventual spills of powder thoroughly off: they'll mess up the internals and also the white leathers of the flappers. BUT this job is delicate; leave it to a craftsman if you don't know how to wax the reeds back in and fix/replace the reed-leathers when needed etc. And when a slide breaks you're in for worse troubles than before .... besides you will need the slides to work only for tuning mainly, so you'll need an expert maybe anyway later on.

Reed stops are like any other mechanical part... if they never move, they might jam.
I say try to move them from time to time. It's wood after all. If your climate is rather humid, the wood migh expand a little and the stops harder to move. But that would be extreme. So I say without applying extreme pressure (you don't want to break anything), try to get your stop to move up and down. Over time, it should work fine.
Good luck and congratulations on your new box. We are all expecting a YouTube clip soon!

Many thanks, Max and nout. I pushed one of the stops down last night, with much effort, and then discovered I couldn't get it back up for love or money! Panic! So I took it apart and very forcefully coaxed it back up. After that harrowing experience, I've decided to leave well enough alone, save my energies for learning how to play this work of art, and leave the internal medicine to the Louisiana accordion doctors.

Youtube in a year!

-Jamey

I don't think there is really anything wrong with the accordion. I have a friend with a Cajun accordion that was quite old and his stops were very stiff to open and close. I have a feeling that it is due to the wood seasoning over time. Anyway, I think if you open and close them enough the wood will wear enough to move the slide. I can't imagine that it is totally impossible to get them to move (that is unless the former owner applied glue somewhere, keep an eye out)

Yes, over years of constantly pushing them down and pulling them up will make it easy for them to drop, but all my Cajun accordions (I have messed with the stops a ton on mine) they still stand up. Although my first accordion's stops can easily be bumped down, I always make sure they're standing up.

Now Hohner accordions, on the other hand, are an f'n trip. The stops on the German and the Chinese versions all have stops that fall.

I melted some reed wax above the blocks in all my Hohners, inside and pulled them up and let it dry. The stops will stand up and won't fall... But if I push them down enough the reed wax will come loose. Then I gotta start over... But I don't mind doing these kinds of things for my Hohners. I find it a hobby to tweak crappy accordions

Jim, You wouldn't believe how stuck these are - so much so I was afraid I'd pull the wood off when I was trying to pull mine back open. And I'm not a small guy.

Like I said, I think I'll leave well enough alone and leave'em open. Sounds like I can't go wrong there.

Thanks, Jamey

It looks like a horror film for me, but not for all those technicians on the forum.
I don't like it either to open my accordion.
And after doing it a few times, I'm allways afraid to damage it.
I realy understand your fear to make it open and I hope that the instrument will work out fine.

Yeah, I have met her and Oh Yeah. You are right.

J.the Obscure... you're right about that falling down business.
I have seen (as others have) rubberbands wound and entwined to keep them up. Blocks of wood with four notches just to keep them up and more.

Years ago I why wondered why stops were up on hand made boxes and down on the German or Chineese boxes. So naturally, I wound up asking the obvious question; Why is that? Gotta funny humorous ans. typical of Cajun/Creole humor.

"Cause the Cajuns and Creoles were smart enough to figure out how to make a dandy carrying handle by leaving up." I suppose some may cringe at the thought of carrying boxes around with their fingers between the stops, but it's a thing for sure and it seems practical to me. Ha

I've got it !!! maybe Gayland plays the one row the right way - his stops will never close accidently - and if we all should practise playing the thing upside down from now on. then we can stop complaining .... regs, nout