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[malcolmbebb]

I have noticed on my Erica that the sound of the notes on the D row is different from those on the G row (for the same note, of course! ). Not a tuning issue, just the reed sounds different. Also on the Liliput, sounds harsher to my ear.

My fellow musician for Morris was playing a tune in G with a short excursion down south to the D row, around the A/C# area, and I could hear the sound change as she changed row - quite a marked change. Again harsher and more strident. She plays a Pokerwork.
(The tune just needs a C# but it's easier to play the next few notes on the bottom row. C# A D D, so same direction.)
<pedantry> note case for readability, not for ABC </pedantry>

Also on the Dino, just played a D, sounds "sweeter" on the G row, but much less marked.

Am I just cracking up - or is there a reason for this? 

[Stiamh]

Over the years there have been a good number of threads about the difference in sounds between rows - I'm surprised you've missed them. The outer row is often thought to sound freer, louder, and the inner one to sound muted, muffled. It's all to do with the geometry of levers and pallets, which on most boxes result in the pallets operated by the inner row of buttons not opening as far as the those operated by the outer row. There are other factors though. Ferret around and you'll find the threads.

[malcolmbebb]

I've seen a number of threads about bigger more complex boxes, usually three row (or so I thought) but I hadn't really thought it would apply to fairly basic Hohners and hadn't taken that much notice.

From memory - not always reliable, I was thinking in terms of the lower row being quieter or muffled, which doesn't seem to be the case on the boxes I was listening to. 

[Stiamh]

Ah well, now your ears have been opened as it were you'll find that it applies to just about any box with more than one row - especially Hohners - and the difference will jump out and smack you round the head. As it has started doing... 

[gettabettabox]

I have noticed on my Erica that the sound of the notes on the D row is different from those on the G row (for the same note, of course! ). Not a tuning issue, just the reed sounds different. Also on the Liliput, sounds harsher to my ear.

My fellow musician for Morris was playing a tune in G with a short excursion down south to the D row, around the A/C# area, and I could hear the sound change as she changed row - quite a marked change. Again harsher and more strident. She plays a Pokerwork.
(The tune just needs a C# but it's easier to play the next few notes on the bottom row. C# A D D, so same direction.)
<pedantry> note case for readability, not for ABC </pedantry>

Also on the Dino, just played a D, sounds "sweeter" on the G row, but much less marked.

Am I just cracking up - or is there a reason for this? 

don't listen to what they tell you on this forum....you are quite likely ''cracking up.'' (you've probably got a good ear which doesn't bode well for melodeon playing?)   

[gettabettabox]

ooops...just seen stiamh's post!

[malcolmbebb]

Yes, very likely  The point that led me to post, on reflection, was the lower row notes on the pokerwork sounded noticeably more raucous from two or three yards away, which reminded me of the previous observations. 
I suppose I could start up Audacity and compare the spectra.
Or I could just make some fresh coffee.

[Steve_freereeder]

The different sound quality from the two different rows is certainly a real phenomenon for the reasons explained earlier in this thread and in others on this forum. However, it is very easy to get paranoid about it, which can lead to it spoiling one's playing enjoyment.

I have found the following:

1. Once noticed, it is far more noticeable to the player rather than the listener, although as Malcolm has pointed out, some listeners do hear the difference especially once their ears are attuned to it. But most people do not hear it or are not bothered by it. It is also worth recording oneself playing on the two rows to hear objectively just how much the effect is present.

2. If you are playing a 3-voice LMM box, any difference between the two rows is further masked by the generally richer sound.

3. Removing the grille often leads to a marked evening out of the sound on a box which is otherwise prone to this effect.

4. Different instruments exhibit this effect to a greater or lesser degree. If, as a player, you are really bothered by the effect to the extent it spoils your enjoyment, then seriously consider getting a different instrument and ask a helper to play it for you while you listen.

[Thrupenny Bit]

I notice Malcolm has found a similar but less pronounced phenomenon on his Dino.
I popped up to Yeovel to catch up with Theo a couple of years back and pointed out the slight difference between the two rows  on my Tommy.
I remembering him saying I had a good ear to detect it, but for the life of me I can't remember his explanation 
Q
With good ears but rubbish memory 

[Anahata]

The outer row is often thought to sound freer, louder, and the inner one to sound muted, muffled. It's all to do with the geometry of levers and pallets, which on most boxes result in the pallets operated by the inner row of buttons not opening as far as the those operated by the outer row.

It's partly the fact that the pallet holes for the inner row are at the outside edge of the grille, whereas the inner row holes are closer to the keyboard so sound can't escape in so many directions (and my be partly absorbed by the player's hand). In boxes with double action levers the pallets can be half buried in the works, making them particularly muffled. Some boxes mitigate the effect by having a wider keyboard with extra grille perforations near the grille to let more sound out from the inner row reeds.

[Theo]

It tends to be worse, at least in boxes I've listened too carefully, when the reed blocks are really packed in with not much room to spare. So particularly affects compact three voice and full size four voice boxes.  Paolo Soprani 4 voice boxes are among the worst.  Hohner pokerwork and Erica are usually pretty good.  Another factor to check on these boxes is the state of tune.  A lot of Morris boxes spend the greater part if their playing time being played on the G row, and being played pretty hard.  I often find that such boxes that I've been asked to tune  have the G row much more out of tune than the D row, which contributes to any audible difference between the rows.

[Christopher K.]

The different sound quality from the two different rows is certainly a real phenomenon for the reasons explained earlier in this thread and in others on this forum. However, it is very easy to get paranoid about it, which can lead to it spoiling one's playing enjoyment.

I have found the following:

1. Once noticed, it is far more noticeable to the player rather than the listener, although as Malcolm has pointed out, some listeners do hear the difference especially once their ears are attuned to it. But most people do not hear it or are not bothered by it. It is also worth recording oneself playing on the two rows to hear objectively just how much the effect is present.

2. If you are playing a 3-voice LMM box, any difference between the two rows is further masked by the generally richer sound.

3. Removing the grille often leads to a marked evening out of the sound on a box which is otherwise prone to this effect.

4. Different instruments exhibit this effect to a greater or lesser degree. If, as a player, you are really bothered by the effect to the extent it spoils your enjoyment, then seriously consider getting a different instrument and ask a helper to play it for you while you listen.

Steve, I like your emphasis on the player being the only one who really notices. It's funny but it's simply the truth. When I play the accordion for other people, they just listen and they don't hear a thing wrong. All the noise, and clack, and honk, and wheeze, and out of tune tremolos.... it's a bewitching instrument, the listeners don't hear one bit of it. I think even if they do, as noted above that some can hear it, any 'abnormality' in the sound of an accordion is chalked up to it being, well, an accordion.