In 2019, I returned to Italy for Tier 3 – Advanced Repairs at Accordion Craft Academy. This time, my spouse joined me, and we explored a bit of Italy before making it to Castelfidardo for classes. There is a separate post about our adventures in Southern Italy.
The advanced training for this tier included more familiarity with different accordion designs. Including differences in reed block layout and mechanisms.
We also learned how to make needed parts, replace reed tongues, replace bellows and how to address many other in depth repairs.
One of the most interesting things I learned this time around, was how to reprogram registers.
This course also included much more in depth training on tuning. Theory, tools, and proper methods. This definitely increased the quality of my tuning, as well as my efficiency and confidence. At this point, I was still a bit afraid of picolo reeds still. A good reason to look forward to Tier 4, which focuses on tuning only!
If you’d like to see more photos from this trip, visit the Tier 3 and Southern Italy Adventures galleries.