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Author Topic: Accordion design ideas  (Read 2666 times)

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odonovanchris

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Re: Accordion design ideas
« Reply #20 on: March 27, 2020, 03:27:15 AM »

Ok I found it. See this link and scroll to near the bottom. Nice explanation of the free reeds being built and voiced. Would be interesting to see this implemented in a melodeon.

http://www.dobsonorgan.com/html/instruments/op76_philadelphia/op76_construction.html
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Rog

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Re: Accordion design ideas
« Reply #21 on: March 27, 2020, 07:06:08 AM »

I’ve worked on several bandoneon, with the single long reed plate, as well as on Nick's Organette, ditto. Broken reeds can be replaced by sending the plate to Harmonikas, at €25 a pop, plus postage. I actually like the idea of a single plate, because they are lighter and a lot more compact than single reed plates. You need delicate little reed chambers. I have some pix somewhere of a bandoneon's innards. You obvs have to be v careful when tuning, and getting at inside reeds, esp the little ones, is nigh on impossible. On the plus side, the plate is easy and quick to lift on and off.
A skill I’ve not yet acquired is to replace the reeds myself. You can actually buy just the tongues from Carini, which would give you a head start, or maybe recycle from a regular reed plate. But for compactness and if you wanted a small, light but two voice instrument, it might be one possible way to go.
Another (probably crazy) idea I had was to mount a harmonica (or parts thereof) where you would have a reed block, or maybe two reed plates, for a super small instrument. But....how to manage either tiny tiny little pallets and then the levers fanning out to a decent size, like on a typewriter, or have a sort or air channel system to feed to air into the harmonica chambers. Dunno on that. I think the alarm went off I got out of bed. It occurred also that you could use a melodica reed plate, but that only works in one direction...

diatonix

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Re: Accordion design ideas
« Reply #22 on: March 27, 2020, 09:53:39 AM »

I too like to experiment and try to be innovative, but I must say I largely agree with Lester as to most of your suggestions being unfeasible, unpractical and/or counterproductive, so I needn't go into details. All I want to add is that during my career I have built 1 vegan melodeon, which turned out to be one too many. Leather is a wonderful material and definitely not unsustainable. If the vegan community has a problem with accordions there are plenty of other musical instruments to choose from.
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odonovanchris

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Re: Accordion design ideas
« Reply #23 on: March 27, 2020, 04:02:45 PM »

Another (probably crazy) idea I had was to mount a harmonica (or parts thereof) where you would have a reed block, or maybe two reed plates, for a super small instrument. But....how to manage either tiny tiny little pallets and then the levers fanning out to a decent size, like on a typewriter, or have a sort or air channel system to feed to air into the harmonica chambers. Dunno on that. I think the alarm went off I got out of bed. It occurred also that you could use a melodica reed plate, but that only works in one direction...

I really like the harmonica idea. 3 of them for musette would be cool to hear. A professional childrens box!
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Dennis Steckley

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Re: Accordion design ideas
« Reply #24 on: March 28, 2020, 01:59:25 AM »

As a pipe organ aficionado, the idea of a "roller" changing the tuning immediately make me think of pipe organ reeds.  They are tuned by moving a wire up and down the reed tongue to some extent.  They are also tuned by making adjustments to the resonators on the pipes.  However, in an accordion/melodeon I would think such an arrangement would be very fussy--especially since the box would be moved/shaken/jiggled a good deal more than the average organ pipe.
Dennis S.

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odonovanchris

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Re: Accordion design ideas
« Reply #25 on: March 28, 2020, 02:16:50 AM »

As a pipe organ aficionado, the idea of a "roller" changing the tuning immediately make me think of pipe organ reeds.  They are tuned by moving a wire up and down the reed tongue to some extent.  They are also tuned by making adjustments to the resonators on the pipes.  However, in an accordion/melodeon I would think such an arrangement would be very fussy--especially since the box would be moved/shaken/jiggled a good deal more than the average organ pipe.
Dennis S.

Agreed. And the reed tongue would have to be clamped tightly by the tuning mechanism while being played while maintaining the ability to move back and forth when tuning. Not an easy feat by any measure. Especially for 200 reeds in 1 box.
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Anahata

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Re: Accordion design ideas
« Reply #26 on: March 28, 2020, 07:46:31 AM »

Yes, this is because organ reeds are not free reeds. The pitch is determined by the pipe. The reed wire therefore only has a small effect on pitch, so its adjustment is less critical. I'm not even sure whether  those wires are for pitch or to set the reed's operating pressure, response or tone.
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Mike Averill

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Re: Accordion design ideas
« Reply #27 on: March 28, 2020, 01:24:07 PM »

the diagram in my post (18)is a free reed, the resonator is as much about balancing the tone . very much like the sized chambers in a concertina. The picture in the following post is a single beating reed, and is much more dependent on the pipe for pitch.
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Dennis Steckley

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Re: Accordion design ideas
« Reply #28 on: March 28, 2020, 03:21:21 PM »

All those things are true to some extent.  However, organ reed resonators ("pipes") are not always full-length, so pitch may be primarily determined by the tuning wire in the case of what are known as "fractional length reeds."  The reed itself, known as the tongue, is "voiced" by adjusting the curvature.
Dennis S.

Yes, this is because organ reeds are not free reeds. The pitch is determined by the pipe. The reed wire therefore only has a small effect on pitch, so its adjustment is less critical. I'm not even sure whether  those wires are for pitch or to set the reed's operating pressure, response or tone.
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Québécois

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Re: Accordion design ideas
« Reply #29 on: March 28, 2020, 04:09:55 PM »

 Roland went through this and came up with the V-Accordion  ;)
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IanD

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Re: Accordion design ideas
« Reply #30 on: March 28, 2020, 06:03:19 PM »

An artist as well! Blow me down!

No, the original is here: https://xkcd.com/386
Well worth checking out daily: there's a new cartoon every 2 or 3 days and some (like this one) have become absolute classics.
My all time favourite... <sob> https://xkcd.com/695/
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