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[Adam-T]

Hokay folks just HAD to ask, someone Must have before and I`m sure everyone knows this except me - so here goes ..

Whats the whole "Black Dot" thing about with the Double Ray ? . normally a funny feeling (or looking) button on button boxes denotes a Unisonoric button or "Gleichton" but the curvy shaped pearloid Double Ray is just semitone tuned Erica, Right? (I`m sure I`ve seen semitone tuned actual Ericas but not in B/C) so why the confusing black button? , it's not even the Start button, in fact it`s exactly where the "Gleichton" would be if Hohner were to put one on the outer Row.....

BTW don`t lose the "Gleichton" off your Club-3 , it could be mistaken for a lemon flavoured Rowntrees Fruit gum..

[Bill Young]

It's the start button of the B row. Cf the Hohner Trichord, which has black buttons on the B,C and C# buttons on the respective rows. Better than the colour is the cross hatching - it just lets you know where you are. Possibly the brainchild of Charles Forbes, Dundee, who commissioned the Double Ray from Hohner in the 1930s.

[strad]

Have found the cross-hatched buttons useful locators, no matter what state I'm in!!

Nigel

[Adam-T]

I didn`t realise that the B row was button SIX Start, but then I never got on with the B-Row when I had a B/C hence the D/G pokerwork and a 1 row in C ..

Funny how they used the black dot for the start of the B row and not the C row and the Erica doesn`t have anything .... Clubs of course have cross hatching on the "Gleichton". it`d be more use on the Start buttons given the extra accidentals on the 30 button Club models but it`s useful wherever it is.

[mory]

It is the second octave B on the B row and nicely placed as the centre button visually ( which it couldn't be on the 10 button C row), you get the same on the double ray deluxe AtB mory

[Adam-T]

It is the second octave B on the B row and nicely placed as the centre button visually ( which it couldn't be on the 10 button C row), you get the same on the double ray deluxe AtB mory

Double ray deluxe being a Corso .. still odd why the different naming and the black button - why aren`t they all just Ericas and Corsos and all have (or not) a black button ? .

[Bill Young]

The Double Ray Black Dot was introduced in the 1930s; the Erica in 1955,  so what's your point here? Have you tried addressing your question to Hohner?

[FlatNote]

An indication of the central key button on a row with an odd number of buttons is a good idea, particularly if it is tactile as well as visual.  So making the 6th button on the outside row of a 21 button Erica in some way distinct might, indeed, not be a bad thing from a player's point of view.  Perhaps Hohner don't do it precisely so that an Erica will look different from a BlackDot. Although very similar in all other respects they typically do have quite different types of tuning system and a visual indication of which class the box falls into is not a bad idea from the marketing point of view.

[Adam-T]

The Double Ray Black Dot was introduced in the 1930s; the Erica in 1955,  so what's your point here? Have you tried addressing your question to Hohner?

The Erika was "Erica" of the square original Double ray period so the two lines have run side by side from early days. my point is merely one of curiosity .. I guess the answer really is that no one really knows why the difference between the respective models, I just thought there`d be some history to it or something especially as you can buy other Hohner boxes in a host of different keys without visible difference . I have Emailed Hohner in the past and got no reply..

I know that Hohner do all sorts of things, there are numerous PAs from their past which are the same model but a different name and they mix and match parts wherever too (for instance my Atlantic has Morino reeds in but not all did) but the Black dot business always intrigued me ..

[mory]

It is the second octave B on the B row and nicely placed as the centre button visually ( which it couldn't be on the 10 button C row), you get the same on the double ray deluxe AtB mory

Double ray deluxe being a Corso .. still odd why the different naming and the black button - why aren`t they all just Ericas and Corsos and all have (or not) a black button ? .

double ray deluxe being a double ray deluxe, if it was a corso it would be a corso 

[Theo]

The Erika was "Erica" of the square original Double ray period

Not really, they are different models with almost every component being a different size. True there is a family resemblance, buy probably the only interchangeable part between Erika and Erica is the buttons, and the strap brackets.

Hohner's naming scheme is a complete shambles with isolated areas of logic, but trying to learn anything useful from similar names is a waste of time.

[Ebor_fiddler]

We humans eh?

[Adam-T]

Hohner's naming scheme is a complete shambles with isolated areas of logic

LOL - great explanation . PA models are a total mixup. and Yeah, Ebor, I`m as human as it gets to my disadvantage sometimes.

[rees]

There was a tutor book (probably by Forbes of Dundee) for the B/C Double Ray.
It was called "The Black Dot System" - so there you have it 

[Mutt]

. . . in fact it`s exactly where the "Gleichton" would be if Hohner were to put one on the outer Row.....

I read, years ago, that originally it WAS a Gleichtone. I wish I could remember my source. 

[Stiamh]

It's worse than a useless ornament in my opinion: ugly for starters and I hate the feel of the cross-hatching under my fingers. Do they come off easily?

Mike R is doing a spot of after-sales tweaking on my Rowbotham special D-R at the moment, and I've asked him to move the black button to the highest note of the outside row. (Get it out of the way _and_, since it will be invisible there, make the rows look symmetrical with the extra low button Mike retrofitted to the inside row.)   

[Adam-T]

You should be able to get a normal button from Charlie Marshall, Theo may even have a few yellowed old ones about to match the others (depending on how old your box is of course) ..

I didn`t know the later ones (the ones without the swastika) had a cross-hatched button, I thought they were just like the rest but black.

The comical thing is that Club boxes which actually have a button which behaves different to the rest make do with a same colour button ! (Cross hatched of course but the same colour)

[Christopher K.]

That's a nice looking keyboard. Those might be real MOP buttons and so the gleichton is only cross-hatched, not dyed. I have an old 30s Club with MOP buttons of uniform color and no hatching on the gleichton at all.

Personally, I like the Double-Ray's single black key. There's something pleasingly deliberate about its placement and I enjoy its visual effect, the way it is set off by black keyboard cover, gold tape and paint, red celluloid and white buttons. A black DR Deluxe with black pearl keys and a red dot would be cool, too. I've seen photographs of a few accordions, I want to say they were Jorginas, that had darker buttons for the accidentals at the end of the keyboard. Those looked cool, too.

[Adam-T]

That's a nice looking keyboard. Those might be real MOP buttons and so the gleichton is only cross-hatched, not dyed.

I honestly don`t know what they`re made of, whatever it is, it seems to go all the way through the button . Regarding the Black Dot, I guess there`s one really good excuse for it - you can tell which box is B/C and which is D/G in a dark pub after a few pints when writing is a blur so you don`t grab the Erica by mistake 

[malcolmbebb]

I have an old 30s Club with MOP buttons of uniform color and no hatching on the gleichton at all.

What (in this context!) is MOP?