Decatur accordion repair shop's meticulous work keeps a musical tradition alive

Drexel Avenue in Decatur is a quiet neighborhood with historic homes. One home in particular stands out if you look close enough. If you spot a mounted accordion, that means you've found the home of Accodionology.

Accordionlogy is a one-of-a-kind experience started 12 years ago by Jack Brantley. The business developed after his years of fixing accordions as a hobby. Later down the line, Brantley partnered with Kyle Turner, who now manages the business with plans to step into Brantley's role once he retires.

"There is nothing like an accordion," Brantley said. "It's like a piano on one side, but it has lungs.

The upstairs serves as a showroom and museum with items showing the evolution of the accordion. The downstairs serves as a repair shop, where the magic of music restoration happens.

"I don't do this for the money," Brantley said, laughing. "I do it for the pleasure of working with people and fixing something that sometimes they thought was going to be unfixable."

The shop in the basement is where you can immediately spot dental tools, a stethoscope, and other instruments that require meticulous precision and attention to detail.

"It's very delicate work," Turner said. "It's kind of like dentistry. It's pretty similar to an antique car mechanic repair, where you have a machine that needs all of its parts to function to go down the road. Accordions are similar to that. You have this airtight box, and there's so many components that go into it."  

Accordionology is known as the only specialized accordion repair shop in the Southeast and one of only a handful in the United States. Accordionology utilizes sought-after parts from Italy and other areas. Pair that with their craftsmanship, decades of combined knowledge, and passion for the job, and it has become a preferred place for celebrities, common accordion collectors, and players. Clients from across the country drop off or ship their accordions in need of repairs. The shop also offers services to transform unfixable accordions into mountable or displayable art pieces.

"A lot of people buy them without having played them before, so it's not always a family heirloom," Turner said. "It could be something they got into as a new hobby, and we're the people that help them get that eBay buy to actually work."

The duo has recently provided repairs for members of Kacey Musgraves' band, for a member of Fleetwood Mac, Randy Cohen with "Sesame Street," and Sheryl Crow, among others. They do a lot of internal microphone installs on top of their other list of repair capabilities.

"We pride ourselves on professionalism, and we don't want people to have to come back to us with issues, and a lot of our work ends up on stage or in the recording studio," Turner said.

Some repairs take weeks, while others may take several months. Turner and Brantley both said making sure their customers are 100% satisfied is always the end goal. They also receive a lot of family heirlooms to repair, so they understand the sentimental value that each accordion can carry.

"Accordions have beeswax inside holding reeds in place with leather valves," Turner said. "These are all natural, replaceable materials. When you get your grandpa's accordion, for example, you're hearing the sound he made. I think that when you play music on it, it's sort of like having a conversation with him. You're hearing that person still. To see something that was collecting dust and had no music coming out of it suddenly make noise again, there is a particular smile you get from the customer."

You can learn more about Accordionology, or schedule an appointment to visit or for a repair by clicking here.