I had never heard of Karpek. I never heard of Patti Bros. until I got this one. I wonder how many others there were. Most of the other Milwaukee-attributed accordions I've seen were rebranded imports.

@@KC9UDX I was a young boy when our family was still living in Milwaukee on the south side. Accordions and concertinas were everywhere. My sister Donna learned to play accordion and played pro for a while before she gave it up.

@@HD7100 when I was young, it seemed like everyone had them in their basements, attics, and on the top shelf of closets, untouched for years. I suspect the vast majority just ended up in landfills.

How incredible that accordions should be so plentiful. Although I am fascinated by them, I have never actually seen one. People round here don't have them lying around in their houses not being used ... but it would be great to learn that I'm wrong.

Things have changed; they aren't so common anymore. I do see them in second hand shops and music stores on occasion. But they're always undesirable models in undesirable condition, with undesirable prices. I saw a really nice one on Craigslist the other day, with a very, very low price. Someone else got there before me though. I've heard that you can find them on Facebook Marketplace around here; but I'm not on Facebook so I can't say for certain. If nothing else, there's eBay.

If I ever get ambitious, I'd like to modify a "concrete nippers" into a safe escutcheon pin pliers. But surely there must be pliers for this purpose for sale somewhere. In the meantime, a cheap pliers does work. I wish you success in your repairs. I suspect you will find stuck reeds (as you know) and a lot of wax that isn't sealing anymore. I wish I had time to make a video showing how to fix the wax problem. But there are probably already videos on KZfaq about this. It's actually very easy to do. All you need is a cheap low-power soldering iron. You simply melt all the wax with the soldering tip, and let it re-solidify.

@@KC9UDX There are accordion pin pliers on line, relatively cheap, like $5. I do not buy online though and there are no accordion stores close by. I found a cheap pair of needle nose pliers that I did not know I had. The first three pins came out no trouble. The other three won't budge. It also looks like I deformed one pin and scratched up the surface around the pins with pliers some how where the pins that would not budge. Unless they were like that previously, but looking at all other pin areas, I am going to say no, I did it. =/ I think I will just wait to come upon the right pliers before doing any further damage. It is not like it is brand new, but the simple fact that I caused the "superficial" damage to such a wonderful piece of machinery that could be several decades old, now frustrates me... =/

That's odd to find them that way. But considering how many of these things were in people's houses in the 50s, and how many there weren't by the 70s, it shouldn't be surprising. You might find yourself interested in accordions if you ever have the opportunity to play something "classical" on one. There's really nothing like it.

Yeah he found a ton of them. Another even more common thing to dig up is harmonica reeds. I even managed to find one in a field by a grade school in the Milwaukee / Greenfield area.

You're welcome! Thank you for watching. I wish I had time to make some videos showing how to do a little more work on these. I would not say that it's a bad sign. There are two reeds for each note of each register. One of the reeds on it is incorrectly gapped (probably). In a couple of hours I'll post a reply with what you can do about it.

Okay, there are two reeds and leathers per "reed" (per note per rank). One reed tongue and leather are on the outside of the reed block. That is the reed that sounds when you push the bellows together. The other reed tongue, and the leather that you can't see from outside the reed block, are on the inside. That is the reed that sounds when you pull the bellows apart. Find the reed that corresponds to the note that doesn't work. You can usually find it by following the key to the reed. Otherwise you might need to sound the reed, and for that you'll need a source of air pressure/suction. Get a small plastic screwdriver or a toothpick or something. Carefully push on the reed tongue. Don't push it hard enough to bend it. But it should freely move in and out of the slot, and be fairly close to the slot. I expect you'll find one that is stuck in the slot. Else it might be sprung away from the slot. At this point, *carefully* bend it so that it freely moves, and is parallel to the slot but close to it. Do as little distortion as possible. You'll be affecting the tuning, but it almost has to be a little off anyway, and the amount you're affecting it isn't too critical. At least it will play. To make sure it works, you'll have to fully assemble the accordion, or try to sound the reed outside the accordion. If you need to do that, I don't know what to recommend. I've used a small benchtop vacuum cleaner that would both vacuum and blow, but I don't know where to buy one like that, and you have to be extremely careful with the air pressure so as not to damage the reed.

@@KC9UDX Thank you for the detailed explanation. I'll open it up and hopefully it will be pretty clear what the problem is. I have five buttons on the treble side of the accordion, so I'm assuming there will be three reed blocks. I'll start by checking the reed tongues and wax on all of them and go from there. I'll let you know how it turns out. Thanks again! Liked and subscribed.

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@@KC9UDX Thanks again for your help. I took it apart and you were right, the reed tongues were simply stuck. It had't been played in a long time and the more I play it, the better it responds and sounds. You saved me a lot of trouble trying to get a refund for the accordion because I had purchased online. All of the reeds work now. Here's another question, my keys are a little hard to push down for my taste. They play smoothly, but I think the springs might be too strong. Is that possible to fix? Thanks again!

I've seen them, but never handled one. I suspect what you are describing is the air valve, which all accordions otherwise have. There should be a button or lever that uncovers those holes. I'd take the bass side off the bellows and see what's in there.

I wonder if you have inadvertently acquired a bass accordion. These have no bass buttons or reeds and only have bassoon reeds on the right (occasionally they may also have clarinet reeds, which enables the bandoneon sound). An accordion band I used to play in had one of those.

😣 Just saw one on eBay listed as "defective" and the reed blocks are missing. But he reeds are all just laying in there... Incidentally the accordion in this video came with a few missing reeds. I have a spare accordion that a cat ruined which made for a good parts trove, unfortunately or fortunately, depending how you view it.

I bought a Tula one new so it will be here soon

@@dmitrykaranov1347 nice! 😊 Hopefully it arrives before the piano that I ordered in March. 😟