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Jason:
Hiya!
I’ve meandered through a trail of instruments up to this point but woke up a couple weeks ago and needed a button accordion. By the end of day I had 2! A Hohner, I believe it’s a pokerwork, and an Italian 10 button - bussulaccio I think ... I’m not at home. They both need work but the Hohner is good enough for me to learn on : )
Tone Dumb Greg:
--- Quote from: Jason on June 02, 2020, 10:13:38 AM ---Hiya!
I’ve meandered through a trail of instruments up to this point but woke up a couple weeks ago and needed a button accordion. By the end of day I had 2! A Hohner, I believe it’s a pokerwork, and an Italian 10 button - bussulaccio I think ... I’m not at home. They both need work but the Hohner is good enough for me to learn on : )
--- End quote ---
Hello Jason and welcome to the MAD house.
Jason:
Thanks. I see you have a Hohner 1040c and it seems his is what I have bought. It says made in Germany on the backside of the keyboard and "marca registrada" with anchors on the front emblem ... and what I can gather is it's possibly a 60's model. I have owned everything from harmonica to hurdy gurdy up to now and the harmonicas have allowed me to be able to approach the melodeon readily what with the in-out diatonic situation ... it is actually tuned exactly like my g harmonica's second hole up so i just have to transfer my muscle memory from my lung bellows to my fingers and hands.
I've taken both apart. The Hohner is in need of tuning and the "D chord" is now reduced to a single note but the bellows seem to be not horrible leaky (if i hold it up and let it go it opens but very slowly). The Busilacchio is leaking too much but that seems to be around the area where the bellows meets the rest of it. They both have the same sloppy wax job and their reed blocks are both waxed into place (a couple of tacks in as well). I'll probs buy a new one before i get around to fixing either.
Tone Dumb Greg:
--- Quote from: Jason on June 03, 2020, 02:14:10 AM ---... I'll probs buy a new one before i get around to fixing either.
--- End quote ---
This is probably wise. Otherwise you can waste a lot of time and effort fighting an instruments defects, rather than learning to play.
It would be worth getting someone who knows to take a look at the boxes you have and work out was is needed to do to make them sound (and sounding good). It may be not a lot. It may be more than it's worth.
There are some people here (they know who they are) who have done their own fettling from the start. Nothing wrong with that, but you might find yourself spending more effort on making them work than playing them.
The other thing I would say (cautiously) is, a two row might be a better starting instrument than a one row. And take advice on what to buy.
Any half decent melodeon is likely to be easier to play than a hurdy gurdy, though :D. The harmonica background will give you a kick start, as well.
Jason:
Thanks for the advice! I have some holidays coming up will give me time to peruse the forum here (don’t want to ask anything that might have been answered seven thousand times already).
The gurdy is actually harder to tame than actually play but I had a head start with that as well as I have played flamenco guitar for many years and some of the rhythm hand techniques (continuous rasgueados) are very similar to the wheel part ...
I’ve had harmonicas in my gob since the late 90’s and absolutely loathe tuning them which I figure is what you mean by fettling. But it’s not easy in Australia wanting a slightly uncommon instrument at all let alone finding someone to fiddle with it under a bajillion dollars.
Anyway, I am just avoiding the main forum right now as I said coz I’m pretty sure I’ll get more answers than I have questions after I read a few hundred posts - thanks again for the advice. The Hohner is working well enough that I practice running up and down the octaves and play he tunes I know from the harmonica and it is no more out of tune than a honkytonk piano. Thanks again : )
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