April 29, 2016
I just got a call from Julie, my “accordion doctor” that my Hohner Morino VI N is ready for pickup… unfortunately, she cannot be there for the pickup immediately, but she suggested that we make it later tonight. It’s near 6:00pm now as I write this and I will be able to go pick it up at 9:00pm tonight (Friday August 22, 2016).
That’s another example of why I love dealing with her. Any other store would tell you to come in on Monday leaving me to wait the entire weekend. On top of it all, she took several pictures during her process for me that I am going to add here for posterity. Suffice to say that I saw a few “previews” of the bass system just inside, and it is absolutely incredible that she took it all apart down to the last rod, button and lever, replaced EVERY piece of felt on all the pads and assembled it back together.
Same Day (April 22, 2016), at 10:00PM:
I just got back from Julie’s… and no Hohner Morin VI N.
When I started testing the accordion, we found a few issues still with an air leak somewhere, the piccolo reeds and maybe even a bad reed flap and several new free bass buttons refused to work and some that were sticky. Now the bad news, she is booked solid all weekend and won’t be able to get back to the accordion until Monday or Tuesday.
Inside I was very disappointed, because I was really looking forward to getting the Hohner back, and now nothing happens until the start of next week and likely it is going to cost a little more too. The good news… the bass register that was stiff is working wonderfully. The treble register sliders that were sticky also work fantastically, all the low free bass buttons work and I felt the vibrations as I hit the deeper notes with a few chords on the free bass.
The G-major chord button is also working on all reeds and at least I had a chance to hold and play the accordion a bit as we tested it. I felt a bit like a hungry junkie trying to get a fix… lol She was nice enough to share a few photos that she took for her documentational purposes, here they are:
Complex as heck! I am twice as convinced now that I did not try to do anything myself! Next week I might even get a few more pics and a well running accordion. More to come as I find out
April 29, 2016, at 11:00AM:
This morning I am going to pick up my baby… FINALLY. Now, I was told that it still does need a tuning and that can cost anywhere from $500 to $1,000 for a full tune. Yes, it is a lot of money, but honestly, for the amount of work involved, it is very reasonable. A full tune can involve as much as 70 hours of work if every reed needs attention (and there are 690 reeds in my accordion!), but more importantly, the amount of knowledge and experience needed to do this job properly is not something for a lightweight to do. I’m starting the piggy bank fund for this job and hopefully will be able to do it in the near future.
As anyone that has read this blog in the past will tell you, I really… REALLY… want the Morino to be back to 100%. It just is going to take more time and more disposable income than I have available at this point.
Now, back to the important moments… putting on the straps and taking that traditional breath and smelling my Hohner’s unique smell made me very happy and the first few seconds I passed air through the bellows to warm things up, and then, gently, I played a few chords and tested out every button of the bass in both directions. I did hear a few issues, and I will write them down, but for the most part… it sounds incredible. It’s like a home coming to me.
Now… FINALLY NOW… I can start to play and study again!