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Author Topic: Morgane B/C or ?  (Read 7775 times)

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Hasse

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Morgane B/C or ?
« on: September 01, 2008, 09:38:01 PM »

« Last Edit: September 02, 2008, 11:31:56 AM by Hasse »
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RoyFromGeorgia

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Re: Morgane B/C or ?
« Reply #1 on: September 02, 2008, 12:09:12 AM »

I looked into the Morgane as well as a bunch of other makes,  I bought an Irish Dancemaster, and I am delighted with it.  If you would like a C/C# , I am sure that Michael will build one for you that way.  He is very easy to work with, and will help you figure out what you really want.  Give him a call.
www.irishdancemaster.com
Roy
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Hasse

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Re: Morgane B/C or ?
« Reply #2 on: September 03, 2008, 07:07:25 PM »

Hi Roy! Thanks for the tip about Irish Dancemaster, I'm certainly going to look into that. My only worries is that custom taxes here in Sweden (European union) are going to make every thing more complicated and expensive...

 :)
« Last Edit: September 03, 2008, 07:16:57 PM by Hasse »
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RoyFromGeorgia

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Re: Morgane B/C or ?
« Reply #3 on: September 03, 2008, 10:28:14 PM »

Hi Roy! Thanks for the tip about Irish Dancemaster, I'm certainly going to look into that. My only worries is that custom taxes here in Sweden (European union) are going to make every thing more complicated and expensive...

 :)

I understand.  Things seem always to get more complicated and expensive when governments get involved.  My Dancemaster with my customizations and upgraded reeds, cost just slightly more than the Hohner Double Ray.  Now that I have been playing it for some time, and have decided how I want it to sound, he will retune it for me under the warranty.  Good luck in your search.  Here is a sound clip of Martin Quinn playing my accordion.http://www.supload.com/music/Irish-Dancemaster-Gander-In-The-Pratie-Holehag-At-The-Churn-ringtone-download-Z9D4NWSMLB0R.html

Roy


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Skipy

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Re: Morgane B/C or ?
« Reply #4 on: September 12, 2008, 10:06:38 PM »


My box choice is probably going to be a B/C box, and after lots of listening and reading around it seems like a Morgane B/C box would be a good choice.

Is every Morgane B/C box owners still pleased with their choice?


Hi Hasse,

I can assure you that I've been very pleased with mine since I bought it new in April 2007, I chose a B/C simply because it suited me and I play mostly Irish music. No problems (touch wood) with it at all and the other players and listeners seem very happy with it.

The only thing I would advise, is NOT to wear a watch on your left hand whilst playing (which many players will agree with) I used to, until I noticed the watch was scratching and marking the wood. No fault of the box tho'!

Skipy
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triskel

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Re: Morgane B/C or ?
« Reply #5 on: September 13, 2008, 12:28:44 AM »

I can assure you that I've been very pleased with mine since I bought it new in April 2007, I chose a B/C simply because it suited me and I play mostly Irish music.

Skipy,

I haven't seen a Morgane B/C yet in Ireland, so can you tell me if they still have a stepped keyboard on them, like the regular models?

(If so, that'd be enough to put most Irish players off them.)

Skipy

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Re: Morgane B/C or ?
« Reply #6 on: September 13, 2008, 08:33:20 AM »

I can assure you that I've been very pleased with mine since I bought it new in April 2007, I chose a B/C simply because it suited me and I play mostly Irish music.

Skipy,

I haven't seen a Morgane B/C yet in Ireland, so can you tell me if they still have a stepped keyboard on them?


Hi Triskel,

Guess where I bought my Morgane?........... Variety Sounds, Killarney, IRELAND and no, it doesn't have a stepped keyboard, although it is very slightly sloped.

I must admit that I personally, have NEVER seen any Irish musicians using a stepped keyboard whilst I've been over there.

Due to the amount of 'cross rowing' I am doing, I tend to steer very clear from them, why make life any harder than it already is?  ;)

Skipy
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george garside

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Re: Morgane B/C or ?
« Reply #7 on: September 13, 2008, 09:29:28 AM »

I can assure you that I've been very pleased with mine since I bought it new in April 2007, I chose a B/C simply because it suited me and I play mostly Irish music.

Skipy,

I haven't seen a Morgane B/C yet in Ireland, so can you tell me if they still have a stepped keyboard on them?


Hi Triskel,

 

Due to the amount of 'cross rowing' I am doing, I tend to steer very clear from them, why make life any harder than it already is?  ;)

Skipy
   

just being pedantic - should we   use the term  'cross rowing'  in respect of semitone boxesas doing so is an integral and necessary part of playing in anything other then the home keys of the 2 rows eg B & C . or C & C# (aadmittedly the C#D is something of a hybrid having a useful capacaity to play D on the row).  I think the trm cross rowing has come into wide use amongst Dg players because it offers a slightly different approach to playing the home keys of D & G  instead of  just going up & down the rows & tends to be used mainly to facilitate a more harmoneous bass accompanyment.  On the BC its just playing the thing normally!

george
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Lars

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Re: Morgane B/C or ?
« Reply #8 on: September 13, 2008, 10:26:32 AM »

Hasse - depending on your budget - there's a Paolo Soprani B/C for sale here in Denmark at the moment. 6500 DKK (900 euro'ish). It's one of the newer models, but it may be a chance to find a second-hand box in scandinavia.

http://toms-acc.dk/dia_tabel_brugt.htm

From

www.toms-acc.dk

The store is about to close, due to the owner being in his late 70's and just suffering from a major stroke, so there may be chance that they'll allow some discount.

//Lars
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triskel

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Re: Morgane B/C or ?
« Reply #9 on: September 13, 2008, 01:15:55 PM »

just being pedantic - should we   use the term  'cross rowing'  in respect of semitone boxesas doing so is an integral and necessary part of playing in anything other then the home keys of the 2 rows eg B & C . or C & C# (admittedly the C#D is something of a hybrid having a useful capacaity to play D on the row).  I think the trm cross rowing has come into wide use amongst Dg players because it offers a slightly different approach to playing the home keys of D & G  instead of  just going up & down the rows & tends to be used mainly to facilitate a more harmoneous bass accompanyment.  On the BC its just playing the thing normally!

george,

I'd often find the need to use terms like "across the rows" and "on the straight row" in connection with the semitone-tuned boxes. It may be normal to play across the rows on a B/C or C/C# to you, and the majority of other players, but (being in the accordion business here in Ireland) I've met lots of older people who've been playing them on the straight row since the 1950s, and still haven't worked out why they can't play with anybody else - and I met another one of them only in the past week!

Indeed, after I finally persuaded Hohner to change the Black-Dot basses to Paolo Soprani system, I actually had a guy complaining that the new ones didn't have basses for the B row any more!!!  ???

Then again, "Sir Jimmy" was known to sometimes play across the rows on a C#/D, to play it in "the Scottish keys" of A and E, whilst Dermot Byrne plays one very much that way to play in D and G, and Brendan Begley often plays a C/C# on the straight row...

triskel

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Re: Morgane B/C or ?
« Reply #10 on: September 13, 2008, 01:43:22 PM »

... it doesn't have a stepped keyboard, although it is very slightly sloped.

Slightly sloped? I'm not sure what you mean, the regular ones are usually described as "slightly stepped".  ???

Any chance of a photo?

Quote
I must admit that I personally, have NEVER seen any Irish musicians using a stepped keyboard whilst I've been over there.

Well there's always Sharon Shannon (I sold her her first Castagnari Tommy, when my shop was in Dublin), but she would be the exception rather than the rule, and she can get away with it because she doesn't play rolls!

Skipy

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Re: Morgane B/C or ?
« Reply #11 on: September 13, 2008, 03:04:49 PM »

Right, Yes, I think that maybe slightly stepped would be a good description, you can feel and see a slight bevel to the keyboard between the rows which slightly raises the inner row but no more than 1.0mm, see the photos (I hope they work, it's all new to me).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16746370@N02/?saved=1

And Yes, Sharon Shannon, Mmmmmmm  ::) She is an exception to the rule but then she is Exceptional!

If she were to walk into a pub I was playing in and there were no seats, I would gladly put down my box for a few moments so she may sit on my knee!............. what a Gentleman I am, eh?
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Bill Young

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Re: Morgane B/C or ?
« Reply #12 on: September 13, 2008, 05:45:44 PM »

Right, Yes, I think that maybe slightly stepped would be a good description, you can feel and see a slight bevel to the keyboard between the rows which slightly raises the inner row but no more than 1.0mm, see the photos (I hope they work, it's all new to me).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16746370@N02/?saved=1


Yes, those photos make it quite clear. I see it has mushroom buttons like a CBA; no chance of them disappearing down the holes.
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triskel

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Re: Morgane B/C or ?
« Reply #13 on: September 13, 2008, 06:25:06 PM »

Right, Yes, I think that maybe slightly stepped would be a good description, you can feel and see a slight bevel to the keyboard between the rows which slightly raises the inner row but no more than 1.0mm, see the photos

Thanks for the excellent photos, though I'm afraid that, to me and most Irish players, that wouldn't be considered a suitable keyboard. In fact it's frustrating to see it done that way as it's closed (good!), but stepped (bad!), like some French boxes (and that is the market the regular Morganes are built for).

I wonder if I could persuade Hohner to get the B/C version made flat, after all, the factory that's actually building them (not Hohner!) does make boxes that way...

Or maybe I'll go direct?  ;)

... no chance of them disappearing down the holes.

Nor any chance of playing rolls...  :(

finnhorse

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Re: Morgane B/C or ?
« Reply #14 on: September 13, 2008, 08:38:29 PM »

Quote
Thanks for the excellent photos, though I'm afraid that, to me and most Irish players, that wouldn't be considered a suitable keyboard. In fact it's frustrating to see it done that way as it's closed (good!), but stepped (bad!), like some French boxes (and that is the market the regular Morganes are built for).

In spite of the praise I've heard about the Morgane series, this appears to be business as usual from Hohner.  I understand the concept of interchangeable parts and streamlining production to reduce costs.  I've yet to try one myself; but from this standpoint it would seem that instead of catering to their market (read: players' needs) Hohner has again designed one cookie cutter model to solve 85% of the problems universal to all markets in the last generation of Vienna models, and now swaps out the tunings to reach different buyers.  Am I wrong about this?   

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Hasse

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Re: Morgane B/C or ?
« Reply #15 on: September 14, 2008, 06:17:04 PM »

Hasse - depending on your budget - there's a Paolo Soprani B/C for sale here in Denmark at the moment. 6500 DKK (900 euro'ish). It's one of the newer models, but it may be a chance to find a second-hand box in scandinavia.
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triskel

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Re: Morgane B/C or ?
« Reply #16 on: September 15, 2008, 03:26:55 AM »


Hasse,

Actually, there are lots of old C/C#s around, though lots of them have got converted to more "useful" keys like B/C or C#/D.

So are you going to play it in Eb or C#?  ???

Hasse

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Re: Morgane B/C or ?
« Reply #17 on: September 15, 2008, 06:44:02 PM »

Actually, there are lots of old C/C#s around, though lots of them have got converted to more "useful" keys like B/C or C#/D.
So are you going to play it in Eb or C#?


/Hasse
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risto

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Re: Morgane B/C or ?
« Reply #18 on: October 21, 2008, 08:18:32 AM »

Quote
Is every Morgane B/C box owners still pleased with their choice?

Cheers
/Hasse


Hello Hasse,

I was very pleased with my Morgane B/C for a few months after I bought it in spring 2007. I was satisfied as I never had a good accordion to make a valid comaprison. After I had played it a few months I noticed several things which made me dissatisfied.

I now have Italian Voci Armoniche B/C reeds in it and I can tell you that makes a world of difference. I also had ordered C#/D reed blocks from Hohner and they were first retuned in England but that didn't work out too good so I had get the job done again here in Finland. The tuning is now OK but after I have played with the Italian reeds there is no way I can return back to Hohner reeds so these extra reed blocks are now sitting comfortably in the closet.

Also the springs on the treble were too heavy for faster playing and they were made lighter. After these changes I am now satisfied with the treble side at the time being. All these jobs were done by Viljo, who is also a member here in Melnet. He has been studying accordion building in Ikaalinen and will graduate sometimes at the end of this year I think. He really did an outstading job.

The bass side will receive a total treatment and changeover later. For one thing, the button force required on the bass side in my Morgane was over 400 grams which is way too heavy to anything else than weight lifting. Some will want to tape off the 5ths from the chords but in Morgane that is not possible as notes/reeds are shared with multiple chords. However, these are not the only reasons why and how the bass side has to be changed for my purposes.

For Triskel: The treble KB is about 1.5 mm stepped.
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