Bellingers Button Boxes is offering another workshop on accordion restoration and tuning this year. We have provided a number of workshops prior with participants from coast-to-coast in the US and Canada. My shop is located near Rochester NY, USA. We will follow the same basic format as previous sessions. The first day is focused on diagnostics and repairs. We cover tuning on the second day and end with a solid block of hands-on personal project time. Beyond instruction, each student will get 30 minutes one-on-one with me for help and/or advice on any accordion subject or specific project desired. Topics will include:

Reed work:
valve replacement
reed problem diagnostics
tuning
tuning strategies & recipes
reed gap setting
rewaxing
reed block flattening & repairs

Case repairs:
gluing joints
glue selection
fixing cracks
leak detection & elimination
repadding pallets
aligning button heights
button travel limiting (Hohners)
keyboard repairs
minor bellows repairs
sticking buttons
button replacement
strap fabrication
straps & bracket installation

Other topics can be added (or some eliminated) based on the interests of the participants. General format will be a discussion and demonstration by me or my son Eric followed by hands-on activities for each participant. I can provide practice instruments but attendees are encouraged to bring your own instruments for repair, tuning and improvements. Tuning in particular requires many, many hours of practice and learning before proficiency and excellence is gained so expect to receive an overview of strategies and methods with some fundamental hands-on practice. I have tuned more than 400 button accordions (>50,000 reeds) and will gladly share my experience and insights. I will also provide demonstrations so participants will gain an understanding of what tools and equipment can be used for tuning and voicing of reeds.

There will be morning (9-noon) and afternoon (2-5:00) sessions with a break for lunch (included). A homemade dinner will also be provided both days. There will be opportunity to play music and try out instruments after dinner the first night up in the renovated barn loft concert space. Due to space limitations, the workshop will have between 4 to 6 participants.

This is early in the planning stages so I would like to find out the level of interest at different times during the year.

Possible dates have been narrowed to:

Please send me a note via Shop Visit contact page to let me know of your interest.

Cost will be $360 including lunch and dinner meals both days. Attendees will go home with a new tool such as reed pinger or magnetic reed lifter, a list of common materials and tools and a BBB T-shirt.

If you are traveling a distance there are numerous lodging options in the area including bed & breakfast spots, motels and hotels. We live in Spencerport NY 14559. The Rochester airport (ROC) is 15 minutes away and the Buffalo airport is less than an hour. Toronto is less than a 3 hour drive. If you are driving we are easy to get to north off of the NY Thruway, Interstate 90.