35 degrees C is 100 F, a car in the sun with the windows rolled up can easily reach 150 F (that's 51.3 C). and it doesn't have to be in Louisiana, Windows crack from the heat in South Dakota.

If you live in the South don't leave your accordion in your car during late spring, summer, or early fall. Winter, only for a short time.8-)]

Yes, I can attest to stories about *both* diatonic and
piano accordions loosing their reeds from being left
in a hot place.

(One story involves a chicken-coup!)

Also, if you're up-north .. if one takes an instrument
out of a case after it has been in a cold van for a
while; I've read that if you see a blue-ish hue of
condensation on the instrument, immediately close the
case and let it acclimate for several hours.

I've seen the unpleasant results of the finish
"checking" into a ba-zillion little cracks in the
finish!

--Big

I (also) have a Larry Miller box. Melting temp of Miller- wax is low, I understood. Can I leave it -out of the sun of course- in a place where it is 45 degrees Celsius? (Ron, is it about 113 F?)
((O, yes tuned in D, so smaller reeds than the C boxes = less weight, less gravity, ahum ))

Gus

I don't know what the lowest temperature is, but I did have a meltdown that happened at an outdoor gig in Las Vegas two years ago. We played for about an hour, and I was told later that it hit 116 degrees! Later, when I picked up the accordion I heard that horrible rattling sound of loose reeds. So, the ambient air temperature combined with direct sunlight was enough to loosen the wax.

I sent it to Larry Miller to fix, and he added screws to fasten the reed plates so there is less likelihood of having the problem in the future.

-David

That's a good thing, David. I think the reeds of my Acadian are screwed too. But I have to open it to see if my memory is still as good as it was. My Miller, I don't know.
If the wax gets soft, the screws will keep the reeds in place. If it is not for too long, the wax will harden again at the right spot, but I don't know if it affects the wax quality. (Some builders screw them only and use leather hide for the air tightening, as I mentioned some months before in another discussion.
I think direct sunlight can raise the temperature more than we think. I did some measurements on heathland in the very past and the temp on the surface could rise to 90 degrees Celsius because of direct sunlight. Like the sand on the beach.... or the broadwalk ("when the sun beats down..... you wish your tired feet were fire proof" ).

Gus

It all depends on how long you leave your accordion in your car and also depnds on what the temperature is in the car.

If you leave it in there too long, of course the wax will eventaully seperate from the reeds, but it'll take a long time. If you have a handmade they are screwed in anyway.

But if the wax seperates enough that there are internal leaks, melt it back in place. It's not hard, but you obviously have to be careful not to touch the reeds or leathers.

All you need is a heated implement.

Thanks, Jim,

so there is no reason NOT to take my accordion with me on holidays (except the neighbours and the sea).

Gus

Wax seperating from reeds could cause internal leaks. Easily fixed. No problem.

That is NOT considered "breaking" or even hurting your accoridon anyway, alls you have to do is melt the wax back so it connects with the reed plates

If it's a handmade, then the wax is ideally quality enough to not even worry about. It takes years for seperation to happen.

In my experience,three years of play outside, inside, wherever made the wax crack a little bit, but melting it back is easy, like I said.