Stagi Repair In Northern New Jersey

[mthatcher61]

Hello,

I was a bad concertina owner this summer and left my Stagi 30b C/G in my car one day and the wax got too warm and some of the reeds were released. Does anyone know of a local shop that can sort the reeds and wax them back in? I am in northern New Jersey near the NY State border.

Is this a procedure that a rank amateur like myself can do?

Thanks

Mark

[Wolf Molkentin]

Any accordion repairman (or -woman) will be able to do that.

[Bruce Thomson]

mthatcher

 

You're doing the right thing by asking, and considering fixing it yourself.

You can save a lot of money and time that way.

 

I would certainly try to get some beeswax and repair it myself.

Not sure how I'd melt the wax and quickly bed the reed before it melted.

Maybe have a heat gun blowing, to slow the setting of the beeswax.

I've used a soldering iron on mine to tidy beeswax once.

 

If that failed, I'd grimace for a moment, but ponder about why and try again.

All the while I'd be learning - useful for future economical repairs.

If that failed, I'd consider getting a repairer to do it.

 

Good luck!

[Stevie D]

you might try robbies music on rt 46 in the wayne area, just east of willow brook mall.... if he's still there

[mthatcher61]

Thanks guys. I am hesitant to try and do it myself because there are like 4 reeds rattling around in there. I dont know how I would know which one goes where, so if possible I would rather hope to have someone with some experience do it. I called Robbies and he didnt seem to enthused to work on a concertina. We'll see I guess.

[Stevie D]

that old goat's never enthused to do anything!

[Dana Johnson]

While it looks similar to plain bees wax, wax for this purpose has a small amount of rosin content which stiffens the wax and also helps it adhere to the metal reed plates. While the job can be done yourself, an accordion repair person will do a neater job of it and is less likely to get the reeds on backwards. Blow driers are not a good idea, since they will heat and possibly wreck the flap valves for any reeds in their range, not to mention possibly loosening the remaining reeds. Localized heating below the point where the rosin /wax mixture starts to decompose and enough speed of application so little heat is transferred to the reed plate is what is called for. Perhaps there is a you tube video of reeds being waxed in place you could watch. Recipes for the wax are also likely available.

Dana

[mthatcher61]

The only other thing I would be confused about is there are four reeds out of their place. How do I know which one goes where? I have seen jigs where air can be blown/or sucked through the reed to determine what note it is, and then one can figure out where it goes, but I dont have anything like that. I dont think I could figure it out. I would rather leave it to someone with the proper tools and experience.

Edited October 7, 2014 by mthatcher61