I have three Bon Cajuns and it has happened to me twice. The block that the stop is attached to is in turn glued to the wooden slide mechanism. As an aside the Gabbanelli system with aluminum slides is so much better. With changes in weather etc. the glue sometimes dries out. Remember that the design of these things is in many ways archaic. To repair open up the box and put some Gorilla glue on the parts. Push the slide up from the bottom so it is open and the knob is all the way up. Apply the glue carefully so as not to get any leakage around the sides. Then clamp and let dry. I have done this to the Bb and C and have never had another problem including playing out with them in a Zydeco band where they get banged around pretty good on stage. By the way, this leads me to another thought. I saw Curley Taylor Last week and he is playing a new Roland Midi accordion with no reeds. Why aren't there reedless one, two and three rows? You could probably make them so you could change keys with a push of a button, have a choice of sounds, (Old Sterling, Monarch, Cajun, Wet) and be able to practice silently. While the Reedless PA's don't require belows movement to get a sound you could program the diatonics to require a slight bellows movement so you keep it diatonic. YOu would only Need one single row too so it would be cheaper in the long run. Just a thought.
Johnny all this sounds like a great idea.....but....there is just one problem. Just who would put the money up front for development and how long would it take to get a return on investment. Firstly there is not enough demand for that type of diatonic accordion and there is a key word that you included in your comment. Cheaper!! Everyone wants wants high quality and convience for cheap. There are cajun groupes around the country who don't play in certain places because the owner of the establishment wants someone to play for cheap. So you see it is a two sided sword. When everyone wants cheap the market sorts things out. Hence, no reedless diatonic accordions.
Maz you can fix this yourself. Try this. First remove the stop knob and rod from the small block inside the accordion. Now use an exacto knife or someting similar to remove most of the old glue from the slide and block. Then using that same knife rough up the slide and block surfaces which were glued making small scratches on each so that the glue will have something to hold on to besides slick surfaces. After this glue the block back in the same place it was using Elmers carpenters glue or similar glue. You may have to apply some weight to hold it in place. Let dry and screw the knob and rod back in place. Voila!! cest tout.
I would suggest the same as John, only thing that might be difficult is if there was glue applied to the rod before it was threaded into the block or the knob. The one thing that I am doing with the stops that I am installing, is in addition to gluing the block, I try to put 3 nails into it also so that I hopefully won't run into this problem.
Interesting thread...my suggestion is never pick
up the accordion with the stops....if you 'pull' it
out of the case by the stops, or do a jerk with your wrist,
something bad could happen. I always use two hands
to remove it from the case or the left hand strap to carry mine....
Thanks for your input guys. I'll take a new look at it. I might fix it myself, or bring it to a buddy who's a luthier. He's good with that type of work.
I think that the Luthier can handle it Maz. The most critical thing is to ruff up the gluing surfaces so that the glue has something to bite onto for lack of a better term.