I have 2 of these and mine are also short of breath, tho maybe not as bad as yours? Might be the humidity? I'm in San Diego. The one I mainly use was hung on a door knob over night a couple times when I first got it in order to get the bellows to stretch out- they were so stiff! I bought the second one new for $160 just to have in case some friends here wanted to mess around.
The great thing about the Ariettes is that they allow a newbie like me to do two things without spending big bucks on a good LA built box. One is learn where the notes are on the push/pulls, BUT just as important, they let people try one of these accordions to see if they want to stick with it. You get to find out first whether you WANT to play one, then whether you CAN play one.
My Arriette is crap, but I was so thrilled to pick it up and bring it home after waiting so long to get a Cajun type box. Literally had tears in my eyes over a piece of crap. I bought 6 or so smaller ones before that just to learn about them.
Got another accordion on the way now! An old 3 stop Eagle in G.
CHEERS!

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