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CAJUN ACCORDION DISCUSSION GROUP

 

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Re: IS YOUR BUTTON SPRING TENSION RIGHT FOR YOU?

Thanks Greezy!

And yeah, I forgot how to loosen the springs. I guess because I never had a reason to do it. I remember now that it was explained by someone on the forum how to separate the coils with a knife blade.

I might actually try that sometime soon on my Master Bb. Way way back, I tightened the springs for various reasons.

But that box has been sidelined for a few years because the flapper rod broke for the second time. Can you guess which one broke? If you guessed button #5 you be correct. I hit it too dang hard with my index finger all the time.

I did fix that rod with some West System Epoxy, but I don't really trust it. It's just been sitting around while I used my Bon Temps Bb (on which I broke the #5 flapper rod eventually) and then my Acadiana Bb. I'm down to one working Bb! Can't have that.

So last week I arranged to drop it off with my buddy to fix it up. Before I packed it up, I played it a bit and I noticed how tight the springs were compared to my other accordions. I had forgot all about that. Once I get it back, I might do some comparing with the looser Acadiana and see if I notice any advantages/disadvantages/preferences between normal and tight.

That's why this topic was very timely because I had been asking myself some of these same questions during the last week. If I decide I don't prefer it tight, now I have been reminded how to loosen it up. Kewl!

Re: IS YOUR BUTTON SPRING TENSION RIGHT FOR YOU?

Are you talking about the bent and contorted highly visible brass rods that hold each wooden finger flapper in place? It doesn't seem possible to break those things by hard button presses.

My Grandfather once let another man come up on stage and play a song. I'm told that the man kept asking him to play. Well, the jack a$$ plays his song and politely grabs and bends two of those finger flapper rods back and way out of place so that my Grandfather couldn't play any more songs. Jealousy and who knows what made that man do such a thing. But those rods didn't break, just got bent to all hell.

If I could travel back in time to that particular night at that particular dance, I would have let some air out of one of that man's driver's side tires, waited for him to leave the dance hall, followed behind him at a distance until he stopped to check the tire and change it out with the spare. Then, I would have turned off my lights and sped towards him at a considerable speed and .......................................? Hey, wait a minute, this is starting to sound very familiar.

Re: IS YOUR BUTTON SPRING TENSION RIGHT FOR YOU?

Yes, that's what I'm talking about. And yes, I have broken several of them over the years. Sometimes they have only bent, not broken. And it's always on button #5.

I think it is an inherently weak design, subject to bending or breaking due to metal fatigue.

As to the material they are made from, that varies from one builder to the next.

I have an Acadian in D, and that one seems to use heavy gauge copper electrical wire. On that one, I never broke the wire, but I did bend them to the point it was causing air leaks.

On my Master Bb, the rods are square in cross section. I have been told that they are some kind of welding rod, not copper, but a silver colored metal, which is an alloy of some kind. The alloy is more stiff or brittle than copper and that is why they break rather than bend.

I also broke one on my Guerrini triple row, and those are made of aluminum alloy, and are also more likely to break rather than bend.

Usually the place where they break is where they go into the small pivoting wooden blocks in the keyboard. In one case, it broke on the screw hole where it is attached to the wooden flapper pallet itself.

There should be a hot place in Hell reserved for that dude that messed up your grandpa's accordion like that! Hard to imagine where he was coming from to do something like that.

Octa Clark Unleashed!

Dave, I handle my accordion like a fragile baby, constantly trying to keep from scratching them. You should handle yours like that. Don't play football with them. LOL, I still can't imagine what is happening to those rods. Nothing is really ever supposed to touch them. Do you have a brat kid running around? He or she might be the culprit. LOL, Just joking.

Take out that "D" accordion Dave if it ain't broke. This is Octa Clark's version of J'etais Au Bal in the key of "A" on a "D" accordion. Live at Mulatte's.
Donkey Trot Tempo..........

Re: Octa Clark Unleashed!

Nothing is touching the rods - they are breaking due to metal fatigue. I assume it is happening when I release the key and the pallet slams back into the face plate.

It's true, I do not have a light touch. In addition to playing accordion, I play electric bass as well. Time was that I would get so fired up playing that I was breaking bass strings on a regular basis. That is not something that usually happens - it takes a lot to break a bass string. But I did.

I know I should try to play with a lighter touch, but I don't know. The die is cast.

Beau Jocque was a big man, and was known to play so hard that he was ripping up the bellows, breaking reeds, etc. Larry Miller told me how he was always picking up the pieces of wreckage and putting them back together.

Re: Octa Clark Unleashed!

I would think that new felts and skins would ease a good bit of that slap back. Or a higher grade of rods, wood, and screws. In my mind, it's a got dam conundrum that those rods/screws would come apart just from hard button pressing and releasing. Are you sure there's no young kids messing with your accordion? Because I know first hand, that when you put your accordion into the hands of a toddler, the first thing they go for are the flappers. They love to catch one or two of them and push, pull, or bend them for some reason. "You're never too young to learn Cajun accordion"?? LOL, yes, you can be too young to learn Cajun accordion. That's why the old men dared us to touch their accordions. Didn't want us to mess them up. There's two kinds of players.....wild or smooth. If you choose to be the wild player, be ready to spend a whole lot more money to keep your accordions playable. Ok grasshopper? LOL. Or, you can learn to play the drums, symbols, or the cowbell.



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