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Author Topic: My ideal box  (Read 21202 times)

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Bob Ellis

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Re: My ideal box
« Reply #80 on: January 30, 2014, 04:47:01 PM »

I suspect you won't be the only one - and, of course, you are welcome!
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Bob in beautiful Wensleydale, Les Panards Dansants, Crook Morris and the Loose Knit Band.
Clément Guais 3-row D/G/acc.; Castagnari 1914 D/G; Karntnerland Steirische 3-row G/C/F; Ellis Pariselle 2.6-row D/G/acc.; Gabbanelli Compact 2-row D/G with lots of bling, pre-war Hohner Bb/F; Acadian one-row in D.

Lester

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Re: My ideal box
« Reply #81 on: January 30, 2014, 04:54:16 PM »

However, I have decided to change my layout for the four bass buttons at the bottom end (i.e. nearest the knee) so that I have F# minor on the push and F natural on the pull on the outer pair of buttons and B flat on the push and E flat on the pull on the inner pair.


I suspect/hope you meant nearest the chin otherwise you will be removing the G/D and C/C basses/chords??

Bob Ellis

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Re: My ideal box
« Reply #82 on: January 30, 2014, 04:56:21 PM »

Thanks, Lester. You are, of course, right. I would say that it was  a senior moment if I wasn't such a child!  :|bl
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Bob in beautiful Wensleydale, Les Panards Dansants, Crook Morris and the Loose Knit Band.
Clément Guais 3-row D/G/acc.; Castagnari 1914 D/G; Karntnerland Steirische 3-row G/C/F; Ellis Pariselle 2.6-row D/G/acc.; Gabbanelli Compact 2-row D/G with lots of bling, pre-war Hohner Bb/F; Acadian one-row in D.

Thrupenny Bit

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Re: My ideal box
« Reply #83 on: January 30, 2014, 05:11:46 PM »

Yes, well done Bob to finally arrive at a decision after a long time thinking and planning.
I'd like to form an orderly queue behind ukebert's if I may  ;)
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I think I'm starting to get most of the notes in roughly the right order...... sometimes!

Bob Ellis

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Re: My ideal box
« Reply #84 on: May 09, 2014, 12:25:59 AM »

I shall be spending the next month in northern France (but I shall have Wi-Fi access, so you can't escape my inane comments!)

I have just arranged to visit Clément Guais' workshop in Château-Gontier in early June, just before heading home. If he is happy for me to do so, I will take some pictures of his workshop and post a report here on my visit.

Clément is still saying that my new box should be ready in July so, although it won't be ready when I visit him, I am hoping to have it in time for Sidmouth and Whitby. My fingers are very firmly crossed (which makes typing this post - and playing the melodeon - somewhat difficult.)  ::)
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Bob in beautiful Wensleydale, Les Panards Dansants, Crook Morris and the Loose Knit Band.
Clément Guais 3-row D/G/acc.; Castagnari 1914 D/G; Karntnerland Steirische 3-row G/C/F; Ellis Pariselle 2.6-row D/G/acc.; Gabbanelli Compact 2-row D/G with lots of bling, pre-war Hohner Bb/F; Acadian one-row in D.

george garside

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Re: My ideal box
« Reply #85 on: May 09, 2014, 11:34:16 AM »

If you're not interested in having vibrato tuning (MM+, not sure about the proper English term, maybe tremolo is more idiomatic ?), you could also consider LMH tuning, which with appropriate couplers may give you even more sound possibilities. Personally, I rather like a slight vibrato (tremolo?) and therefore my ideal box would be a 3 rows 4 voices LMM+H (possibly with cassotto for the low voice).

Musette is usually used, but I'm not sure how appropriate that is, since musette is a kind of tuning itself. Tremelo would make more sense perhaps. I would love LMH, but LMM+H with cassotto sounds stunning!


Without bothering with the cassotto  ( which to me  sounds like  a trapped fart trying to get out)  the LMMH  could be had by stuffing the innards of two one row 4 stops into  one casing   i.e. a 2 row 8 stop!  It would weigh less than 2 one rows  and not a great deal more than a standard 2 row particularly if the casing was built of lightweight materials.  I quite fancy the idea!

george

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Chris Ryall

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Re: My ideal box
« Reply #86 on: May 09, 2014, 01:08:43 PM »

May I look forward to a little play in the Elsinore, please :|glug
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Owen Woods

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Re: My ideal box
« Reply #87 on: May 09, 2014, 01:31:28 PM »

I shall be spending the next month in northern France (but I shall have Wi-Fi access, so you can't escape my inane comments!)

I have just arranged to visit Clément Guais' workshop in Château-Gontier in early June, just before heading home. If he is happy for me to do so, I will take some pictures of his workshop and post a report here on my visit.

Clément is still saying that my new box should be ready in July so, although it won't be ready when I visit him, I am hoping to have it in time for Sidmouth and Whitby. My fingers are very firmly crossed (which makes typing this post - and playing the melodeon - somewhat difficult.)  ::)


Very excited for you Bob! Please do let us know how you get on and I look forward to playing it in Sidders :P
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Bob Ellis

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Re: My ideal box
« Reply #88 on: June 05, 2014, 04:58:05 PM »

I have just returned from the month's tour of Normandy and Brittany I mentioned earlier in this thread. On one occasion, after I played the tune An Dro Nevez in Raguenez, which is only two kilometres from Nevez, a local person asked me if it was an Irish tune! (It's the way I play 'em!)

When I visited Bernard Loffet at his workshop in Caudan, he was his usual affable self and we had an interesting discussion about the different effects metal, solid wood and plywood grilles have on the sound. Bernard will be in England again this October, playing for a bal and running workshops at the Festival des Panards at Hebden Bridge: not to be missed!

I also paid a visit to Clément Guais in his workshop at Château-Gontier. Those of you who have been following this thread will know that he is building one of his three-row, three-voice, twelve-bass Clém' 12 boxes for me in D/G/acc. It will be very similar to the one he is playing in the first of the attached photos, which has three switches to take out different banks of melody reeds and a stop to remove the low notes from the basses, although his is a G/C/acc. instrument. Mine will have an additional stop to remove the thirds from the bass chords. Clém still hopes to have it completed by the end of July, but he warned me that it might not be ready until August, so I may not have it in time for Sidmouth. Still, it will be worth the wait.

The instrument was the best I have ever heard. It sounded gorgeous whether playing one set of reeds, two sets of MM reeds, the LM bandoneon combination or all three reed banks. It also looked stunning and had a light responsive feel to it. Looking at the workmanship of the completed box and the various components I saw in the instrument he is constructing at the moment, his training as a cabinet-maker, his craftsmanship and his attention to detail were clear to see. I came very close to drooling in anticipation and I am now very impatient to have one of these wonderful instruments all to myself.

While he speaks hardly a word of English, Clém was extremely helpful and good-natured, showing great patience while I searched for the correct word or phrase in my less-than-perfect French. Despite having got married only a few days earlier, he took the time to show me round his workshop, to play me a few tunes and to listen intently to my style (such as it is!) while I played him a few tunes.

The accordion he is playing in one of the photos (and the one he is making for me) are in walnut. The discussion I had with Bernard Loffet about material for grilles was continued with Clém. He has come up with an interesting arrangement which, he claims, combines the brightness and volume you get from a metal grille with the softer tone that wooden grilles impart. He makes the fondo/sounding board from aluminium (which imparts the brightness and volume and provides a stable foundation for the slides), but the grille is made from wood to take the sharp edge off the sound. I have already noted, the sound is gorgeous, so his system clearly works well.

His workshop comprises two rooms on the ground floor of his home in Château-Gontier. The smaller room in which I photographed him playing an accordéon diatonique is where he does the finer tasks and the tuning. His tuning bench can be seen on the left with (encouragingly) his copy of the layout for my instrument on top of it. The larger room depicted in the second photo houses his power tools and larger pieces of equipment. The other guy in the photo is his assistant.
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Bob in beautiful Wensleydale, Les Panards Dansants, Crook Morris and the Loose Knit Band.
Clément Guais 3-row D/G/acc.; Castagnari 1914 D/G; Karntnerland Steirische 3-row G/C/F; Ellis Pariselle 2.6-row D/G/acc.; Gabbanelli Compact 2-row D/G with lots of bling, pre-war Hohner Bb/F; Acadian one-row in D.

Bob Ellis

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Re: My ideal box
« Reply #89 on: July 09, 2014, 11:12:20 AM »

Those people hoping to get their hands on my new Guais box at Sidmouth or at Whitby are going to be disappointed. I have just had an e-mail from Clément informing me that there will be a delay because he is still waiting for some parts from Italy. He is now saying that the box should be ready for September, so the first times the melodeon-playing public are likely to see it will be at the Festival des Panards at Hebden Bridge in October and then at Melodeons at Witney in November.
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Bob in beautiful Wensleydale, Les Panards Dansants, Crook Morris and the Loose Knit Band.
Clément Guais 3-row D/G/acc.; Castagnari 1914 D/G; Karntnerland Steirische 3-row G/C/F; Ellis Pariselle 2.6-row D/G/acc.; Gabbanelli Compact 2-row D/G with lots of bling, pre-war Hohner Bb/F; Acadian one-row in D.

Thrupenny Bit

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Re: My ideal box
« Reply #90 on: July 09, 2014, 12:06:23 PM »

Thanks for the heads-up Bob, it'll save us pestering you and asking the inevitable question.
As my mum used to say, it'll be all the better for waiting I'm sure!
Q
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Thrupenny Bit

I think I'm starting to get most of the notes in roughly the right order...... sometimes!

Owen Woods

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Re: My ideal box
« Reply #91 on: July 10, 2014, 05:27:45 PM »

Sorry to hear that Bob :( Well, sorry that I won't be able to play with it! It will be fantastic when it comes and well worth the wait.
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Bob Ellis

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Re: My ideal box
« Reply #92 on: November 06, 2014, 12:09:34 AM »

Il est arrivé! My new accordéon diatonique arrived today from the workshop of Clément Guais and I can't stop smiling. It looks gorgeous, the craftsmanship is superb and it sounds fantastic. The attached photo just doesn't do it justice.

I will post a video when I have got sufficiently used to the new layout to stop making embarrassing mistakes. I keep forgetting that I have altered the positions of the F natural, F# minor and E flat basses, so bass disharmonies are quite frequent at the moment. However, I am sure that I will soon get used to the altered layout.

For those who are interested in the details, it is a D/G box with a full octave below the key note in each key and a full row of accidentals. The case is walnut and the reeds are Binci a mano. They have a gorgeous tone and are very responsive. There are stops to take the thirds and the low notes out of the basses. The eagle-eyed may also notice the three switches at the side of the grill that enable me to switch each set of reeds in or out. At the moment, I am playing mainly with all three reed banks sounding because I like the sound so much.

I will be taking it with me to Witney, where anyone who wants a closer look or a quick play on it will be most welcome.
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Bob in beautiful Wensleydale, Les Panards Dansants, Crook Morris and the Loose Knit Band.
Clément Guais 3-row D/G/acc.; Castagnari 1914 D/G; Karntnerland Steirische 3-row G/C/F; Ellis Pariselle 2.6-row D/G/acc.; Gabbanelli Compact 2-row D/G with lots of bling, pre-war Hohner Bb/F; Acadian one-row in D.

Steve_freereeder

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Re: My ideal box
« Reply #93 on: November 06, 2014, 12:26:40 AM »

Congratulations Bob! It looks gorgeous!
I will join the queue at Witney for a squeeze pleeze.  (:)
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Chris Ryall

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Re: My ideal box
« Reply #94 on: November 06, 2014, 06:26:58 AM »

I met Clément at Ch.d'Ars last summer, and his kit was frankly ... luscious :P He's a good friend of Bertrand Gaillard, down the road, nearer Nantes. Actually this young maker has come on so fast in just 3(!) years of lutherie that I suspect some tutelage might have been in play.
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Thrupenny Bit

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Re: My ideal box
« Reply #95 on: November 06, 2014, 07:52:01 AM »

Bob, that looks lovely! I do love wood and it has to my mind a lovely understated 'woody' appearance that appeals to me.
I'm pleased it's living up to your expectations. Not sure when I'll bump into you, but I'd love a go as-and-when.
Am waiting in anticipation for a sound clip  ;)
Q
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Thrupenny Bit

I think I'm starting to get most of the notes in roughly the right order...... sometimes!

Roger Howard

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Re: My ideal box
« Reply #96 on: November 06, 2014, 12:27:05 PM »

Congratulations on the new arrival. I bet it sounds as good as it looks! :D

Roger
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robotmay

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Re: My ideal box
« Reply #97 on: November 06, 2014, 01:36:49 PM »

That looks like a lovely box Bob. I'll look forward to hearing it at Witney! :D
It'll be nice to hear how it sounds in an English tuning, as Clément's still on my list of potential makers to eventually get a bigger box from.
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Mike Carney

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Re: My ideal box
« Reply #98 on: November 06, 2014, 01:39:17 PM »

Il est arrivé!
I will be taking it with me to Witney, where anyone who wants a closer look or a quick play on it will be most welcome.

As long as you will be ready to wipe off the drool... ;)
M
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Owen Woods

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Re: My ideal box
« Reply #99 on: November 06, 2014, 02:54:55 PM »

Fantastic Bob! Looks like a great box, many congratulations.
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