Tips, tricks and videos please!!! Rookie here!

[Jason]

So I happened across a really decent Scandalli Brevetto 40 120 at work a few months back. Was gonna just sell it but the more I read and watched I have decided to keep it and learn. First I'd like to give it a thorough once over so if anyone has some feedback on preferred maintenance or things to watch for while I have it open. Probably not gonna tune it myself if it needs it but a good cleaning and check up on everything should be safe. Any advice is appreciated. Photos of my progress once I start.

[Bill Palmer]

Before you do ANYTHING to this instrument, you are going to need a few things. First, get a copy of John Reuther's book Accordion Repairs Made Easy. This is available from Busso Music. Second, Join the Accordion Freedom Forum on yahoo.com. There are a lot of accordion repair people on that forum. Third, go to http://www.accordionrevival.com/ and download the material. Bear in mind that John Reuther's book was written by a man who had been repairing accordions for a very long time. Work slowly, and don't try anything without really being careful about it. If you have any questions, please e-mail me directly at [e-mail]. My credentials -- my dad wrote the Palmer-Hughes accordion course. He taught me how to repair accordions more than 50 years ago, and I have taken refresher courses from Dr. Helmi Harrington.