What is an accordion?

The best way to care for your Accordion is to constantly play it!  Look after your Accordion and it will serve you well for years and years, and its tonal quality can only improve.

• Always have your accordion polished and looking its best. You will find you will give a better performance with it, even at home.
• Always keep your accordion in a dry warm place (body temperature) and never leave it to freeze in a car or boot of car on frosty nights. This is specially damaging to handmade reed instruments as the heavy reed plates contract and may damage the reeds, especially if you attempt to play it while cold. Indoors, never leave it in or out of the case on cold concrete, ensure it is on carpet or something warm.
• Be most careful removing or replacing the accordion in the case. If you are not sure ask your teacher how to do this without the risk of bending bass notes or lifting treble keys. Generally the treble keyboard goes in first and the bass end follows, with the straps lying along the keyboard, or some advise leaving the straps at back of accordion and tucking them up one end (nearest chin) and then placing in the case as stated.
• When taking the accordion off, put it down carefully and gently. Do not allow it to more or less drop the last two or three centimetres, as this can cause misalignment of valves and bass mechanism, resulting in leaks and bass notes murmuring.
• Many people take the accordion off and put it down, intending to play a little later, stand it up in its open case and the bass buttons catch on the rim of the case, thus bending one or more of the diminished bass buttons, causing the notes to stick down when they go to play again. This should be avoided at all times.
• Do not leave the accordion on the floor where people are moving around and liable to kick it and cause faults, such as damaging bellows corners or bending bass buttons or treble keys.