The Shop > Wood & Stuff
The Mouldy Accordion.
S. Heslop:
Went to the Wednesday bootsale since it's such a hot day I didn't want to spend it all in the house. Ended up picking up an accordion for £35, and it seemed suspicious at that price but I decided to go for it.
Anyways it didn't take long to find out what was wrong with it.
Mould!
The leather check valves look like they could do with replacing too.
But there's so much mould.
A couple of the reed plates have fallen out too.
I like the way it's built though. Reminds me of a bee hive, and most of it comes apart with either pins or little levers.
So i'm looking up how best to kill the mould. People are saying to use alcohol mixed with vinegar, but i'd expect the vinegar fumes to rust the reeds and make the situation worse. I'm assuming with the mould that the inside must've gotten fairly damp, so it's surprising that the reeds aren't that rusty at all.
S. Heslop:
Got a fright taking off the bottom of the bass side. It's alot more complicated than i'd expected.
Plenty of mould in here too. I might try taking all of the machinery out to clean underneath. The glue is fairly crumbly and it might just pull right off and hopefully stay together. With it that weak i'd like to try re-gluing it.
the mould seems to mostly be attacking the glue, which i'd suspect to be animal glue. Couldn't find an exact date of this accordion, or much info at all, but I found one guy selling a similar one and claiming it was made in the 1930s. If that is how old it is, then it probably will be animal glue.
Anyways I cleaned the bellows up with a mix of methylated spirits and a little bit of vinegar. Vinegar for the smell and the alcohol to hopefully kill the mould. The plan is to knock most of the mould off and then keep the thing dry enough that it doesn't come back. My understanding of mould is that the spores are everywhere, all the time, and only become a problem in the right conditions. But even if I dry this thing out, it's still gonna smell bad, and that's mostly what i'm hoping to fix.
awemawson:
Get yourself a hand spray bottle of Milton to kill the mould.
S. Heslop:
--- Quote from: awemawson on July 01, 2015, 04:28:27 PM ---Get yourself a hand spray bottle of Milton to kill the mould.
--- End quote ---
Thanks for the suggestion. Not sure how it smells but it's gotta be better than the vinegar and methylated spirits.
hermetic:
I reckon Andrew has got the right stuff, most mould and mildew sprays are bleach based, and I am pretty sure milton is too, and it should give lasting protection. It needs to thoroughly dry out.
phil
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