Accordion Cleaning

Here are a few pictures of the cleaning process, and the unending filth coming out of my poor old accordion.

I have the keyboard detached now. I must have spent almost seven hours cleaning, yet am barely half-way done.

The detached keyboard and the inside of the front of the accordion, caked in grime:



The pads that prevent the air from flowing into the 'giant harmonicas' when the keys are not pressed:


Some of the keys still stick and it is hard to tell what is causing it as the springs seem ok. The springs are just wire, with a loop in it, to make a kind of sprung hinge. The stiff keys do spring back far enough to, perhaps, just close the holes but I'm not convinced the pressure is enough to prevent air getting to the reeds when it isn't meant to. I'm concerned that there's something stiffening the actual pivot of those keys, but there does not seem any way to take them out.

Here's a pile of dust and rotten loose felt extracted from beneath the keys:



These are just a few of the cotton wool buds I've got through. Great tools: