Tony Peri, Sydney, Australia

All Types Of Chromatic & Diatonic Accordion Repairs:

Like any quality musical instrument, accordions need servicing, re-tuning and maintenance to work properly. Like a harmonica, they have brass reeds which create a sound, or timbre, when air is pushed through them. And unlike a piano, they do not have strings - but they do have keys, pallets and many mechanical parts inside them. 

 

Accordion repairs can be costly. They certainly can take many, many hours of work, as there are often two, three, or four separate reed blocks; tremolo and musette tunings; plus the bass mechanisms and all their reeds. In all, there are hundreds of parts in an accordion. Just one thing going wrong can make it sound pretty bad at times.

 

So, they are very delicate instruments and they can require a lot of time and work to get going. Especially as there are hundreds for sale online these days and people would love to have them playing again. But there is a lot that can be done, at an affordable price, to improve the sound and playing of your instrument.

 

So, in sending an accordion in for repair, you must have realistic expectations of :

 • the age and condition of the instrument;

 • the brand and quality of the instrument as it was made;

 • the time it will take to work on the instrument to get it to playing condition.

 

 

There are a lot of things I can do in a cost effective way to improve what you've got, before you get into paying big bucks. Cleaning out the dirt and dust, adjusting reeds and valves and straightening pallets etc. can make an instrument play properly and get it going nicely again.

 

After this, the big cost is tuning the reeds. For this reason, a cap is usually put on repairs and as much as possible is done within this price range. This could be from $150 to $800 depending on the work and parts required. After that, the amount of time and money spent can be like restoring a classic car. You can spend a lot of money getting it fixed. You have to decide a what level and point you want to stop.

 

As new student accordions range from the $700-$4,000 mark, and professional models go for $5000 to $25,000, and up to $60,000 for a custom hand-made Gola model, the amount of work required will depend on the quality of the instrument and playing level you are at. This can be discussed before hand. If however, you just really like your accordion and want it fixed up nicely, I am am happy to do that for you. 

 

The size of the accordion - a 48 bass or 120 bass for example - will determine costs involved. As will the number of reed blocks in each unit. Diatonic button accordions are smaller, and concertinas are smaller with less reeds again. Each job however is priced on work done and for parts used. If you would like a repair made, please contact Tony Peri for further information.

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The advantage of getting a good old accordion fixed up AND properly tuned, is that we can set the tremolo to how you like it (wet, dry or in between; and adjust the tuning to the concert pitch of your choice (A443 to A440 for instance). If you know what you want, I can help you fine tune the setup of you instrument, so it sounds sweet and in the zone that you like.

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