Why Should You Replace Old Leathers in Irish Made Accordions?

Proper maintenance of Irish made accordions includes checking reed leathers periodically and replacing the ones’ that aren’t in perfect shape. But what’s the perfect shape? Well, the leather must be pliable and soft and must return to its position tight against reed place after every use.

The reed leathers are basically small leather check vales, which are mounted on reed places. There are mainly two on each of the reed plates-one on side facing into reed block and one on side that faces outward, out into bellows. Their main function is preventing the bellows air from being leaked through reed vents that aren’t in use. The leathers must close under the own power whenever they aren’t forced open by the air coming through reed vent, which is behind them.

When bellows expand, reed tongues on inside of reed block get used, as air is basically drawn into accordion through the open note valves. Leathers on inside of reed block adjacent to reed tongues close off adjacent reed vents for preventing air to leak into the bellows through the vents and through reed tongues that are behind them on outside of reed block.

While bellows is compressed, air flow is basically reversed, bring reed tongues on outside face of reed block into the play. Here leathers on outside of reed black basically remain closed for preventing air from leaking out past reed tongues on inside of reed block. The air that rushes out from accordion via open note valves actually force interior leathers on specific reeds to open, whilst higher pressure in compressing bellows closes leathers forcefully on outside of reed block.

When leathers are hung open quite far, they might not close resulting in air leak and throwing adjacent reed tongues basically out of the tune. This may make you give a feeling that your musical instrument actually requires tuning, but replacing bad leathers is likely going to bring it back into proper tune.

On other hand, leathers that are hung slightly open about 1/8 inch, may be compelled to close by the air pressure before adjacent reeds start to sound but not before the air has leaked via vents they are presumed to seal. The leaking air relieves pressure on adjacent reed tongues momentarily, delaying the response slightly. Although these bad reed leathers might not sound that bad, they are going to sap the performance of the Irish made accordions, causing the reeds to respond a lot more slowly and causing it to use more air than needed.

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Created on Dec 31st 1969 18:00. Viewed 0 times.

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