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Author Topic: Flat v. stepped keybords.  (Read 3409 times)

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MikeK

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Re: Flat v. stepped keybords.
« Reply #40 on: March 17, 2020, 01:31:20 PM »

......and whether to have the bottom strap on the  bellows open or not ???
« Last Edit: March 17, 2020, 01:33:03 PM by havaLaff »
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alexalexander

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Re: Flat v. stepped keybords.
« Reply #41 on: March 18, 2020, 05:39:24 PM »

Where does the idea of a stepped keyboard come from?  I read somewhere ages ago that it was from the continental chromatic design where players also use the thumb and this isn't easy on the inside rows on a flat keyboard.  Is that right?
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Dick Rees

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Re: Flat v. stepped keybords.
« Reply #42 on: March 18, 2020, 05:43:57 PM »

Might have to do with ease of setting up the pivot points of the inside vs outside rows.
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Peadar

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Re: Flat v. stepped keybords.
« Reply #43 on: March 18, 2020, 09:30:20 PM »

Where does the idea of a stepped keyboard come from?  I read somewhere ages ago that it was from the continental chromatic design where players also use the thumb and this isn't easy on the inside rows on a flat keyboard.  Is that right?
It would be as well to ask where does the idea of the flat 2 row keyboard come from. /in her doctoral thesis on the integration of the accordeon into Traditonal Irish music Maire NiChaoimh mentioned that 2 row accordeons were available in Dublin by 1843 - but what type they were (they could have been flutinas for all I know) I have no idea.

I suspect that the open keyboard might have preceded the closed keyboard - certainly in the 1920's Hohner English Language catalogues included open and closed keyboard models of what were otherwise identical instruments. 
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Chris Rayner

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Re: Flat v. stepped keybords.
« Reply #44 on: March 20, 2020, 01:04:33 PM »

Where does the idea of a stepped keyboard come from?  I read somewhere ages ago that it was from the continental chromatic design where players also use the thumb and this isn't easy on the inside rows on a flat keyboard.  Is that right?

I have owned both flat and stepped CBAs.  My first was flat, a Hohner, others since stepped.  I was apprehensive about the change.  It was almost entirely without event.  I have both flat and stepped melodeon keyboards.  With my burgeoning CBA practise I find my thumb occasionally creeping up on to the melodeon keyboard.  The flat or stepped nature appears to be of little influence.
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mselic

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Re: Flat v. stepped keybords.
« Reply #45 on: March 20, 2020, 01:17:43 PM »

I may be erroneously associating stepped keyboards with the mushroom-type of treble button. I just played a vintage Hohner the other day that had cylindrical buttons and a stepped keyboard and I couldn’t notice any difference in playing.
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richard.fleming

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Re: Flat v. stepped keybords.
« Reply #46 on: March 20, 2020, 02:20:49 PM »

Is it easier to make a box with a flat keyboard if you use metal levers which can be so much thinner and can be bent individually?
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Tone Dumb Greg

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Re: Flat v. stepped keybords.
« Reply #47 on: March 20, 2020, 06:35:17 PM »

I may be erroneously associating stepped keyboards with the mushroom-type of treble button. I just played a vintage Hohner the other day that had cylindrical buttons and a stepped keyboard and I couldn’t notice any difference in playing.

did it have a wooden mechanism?
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mselic

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Re: Flat v. stepped keybords.
« Reply #48 on: March 21, 2020, 04:29:12 AM »

I may be erroneously associating stepped keyboards with the mushroom-type of treble button. I just played a vintage Hohner the other day that had cylindrical buttons and a stepped keyboard and I couldn’t notice any difference in playing.

did it have a wooden mechanism?

No.
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Chris Ryall

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Re: Flat v. stepped keybords.
« Reply #49 on: March 21, 2020, 01:29:41 PM »

I had to look to see whether my  "other" melodeon was stepped or flat!  Don't think it matters much after a few plays. 

Ditto exact fingering (not true of eg flute or clarinette)?  After a few years my brain sort of "knew" that a certain button had the note I wanted and it became a matter of which finger I could physically get to it.

Breaking my right index finger (fiddling with a lawn mower) … also "freed things up" in this respect!  :-\
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Peadar

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Re: Flat v. stepped keybords.
« Reply #50 on: March 22, 2020, 11:34:30 PM »

Is it easier to make a box with a flat keyboard if you use metal levers which can be so much thinner and can be bent individually?

I don't think that's it Richard. The old International semitone baxes have flat keyboards and wooden actions.  Even with a wooden action the pallet arm is metal.
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Re: Flat v. stepped keybords.
« Reply #51 on: March 25, 2020, 01:32:09 PM »

I remember when I moved from a flat keyboard Saltarelle to a stepped keyboard Castagnari that I found I was more "precise", I didn't do as much "unwanted" notes (when your finger inadvertently presses one key in addition to the one you actually wanted to do) as I did with the flat keyboard, as the other rows are not at the same height.
I find, and it's really a matter of taste, that buttons on flat keyboards tend to have a smaller stroke than on stepped keyboards, which is more to my liking. That also explains that I would go for a flat keyboard if I had to buy a new accordion. And, IMHO, it may be the source to the tell tale that flat keyboards are better for speed.
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