Piano Accordions without registers/couplers

[wirralaccordion]

How do you know how many voices/sets of reeds there are in vintage piano accordions where there is only one sound, i.e. there are no registers/couplers on the treble keyboard to allow the sound to be changed and none under the treble keyboard either where you would switch the sound with your wrist.
Are such piano accordions still being made today?

 

[Zevy]

I own one such accordion. It is a replica of the accordions that were popular in the 30's. These were played by the likes of Pietro Frosini. It has 4/5 reeds, as most full size accordions have, but there is only a single toggle on either side. There are 3 middle reeds - all tuned dry (!) and a bassoon reed. The bassoon reed is turned on and of with a single palm master switch. Here's a picture:

 

[wirralaccordion]

I own one such accordion. It is a replica of the accordions that were popular in the 30's. These were played by the likes of Pietro Frosini. It has 4/5 reeds, as most full size accordions have, but there is only a single toggle on either side. There are 3 middle reeds - all tuned dry (!) and a bassoon reed. The bassoon reed is turned on and of with a single palm master switch. Here's a picture:

So your accordion has two sounds which are MMM and LMMM. If there was only one it would presumably be the LMMM sound, otherwise there would be no point in having the L reed?

 

[Glug]

I've got a 1935ish Santianelli with no couplers.
Bass has 5 sets of reeds, treble has M, M-.

The violin on the treble is fairly obvious, but the only way to confirmed this was looking at the reed blocks and measuring the tuning.

 

[oldbayan]

A very large number of accordions without couplers have MM reeds on the treble side. The bass is usually simple too with 48 reeds. Many "entry-level" accordions are built like that.

 

[TomBR]

In the absence of anything else I'd assume an accordion without switches/registers to be MM on the treble and two sets of reeds each in octaves for chords and basses on the bass end. That goes for diatonic boxes too.

 

[wirralaccordion]

In the absence of anything else I'd assume an accordion without switches/registers to be MM on the treble and two sets of reeds each in octaves for chords and basses on the bass end. That goes for diatonic boxes too.

In which case if all such accordions were dry tuned then any differences in the sounds produced would be down solely to the materials used in manufacture. Do our experts concur?

 

[TomBR]

Zevy said that the one switch on the Borsini pictured above turns the L on and off.

In which case if all such accordions were dry tuned then any differences in the sounds produced would be down solely to the materials used in manufacture. Do our experts concur?

I don't get how this relates to your initial question and the replies to it including mine! Is it a completely new question?

 

[wirralaccordion]

Zevy said that the one switch on the Borsini pictured above turns the L on and off.


I don't get how this relates to your initial question and the replies to it including mine! Is it a completely new question?

My comment "in which case" relates to your post, not Zevy's as Zevy's accordion is not one sound but two!

 

[Zevy]

My comment "in which case" relates to your post, not Zevy's as Zevy's accordion is not one sound but two!

I guess I didn't read the first post in its entirety.

 

[Corsaire]

How do you know how many voices/sets of reeds there are in vintage piano accordions where there is only one sound, i.e. there are no registers/couplers on the treble keyboard to allow the sound to be changed and none under the treble keyboard either where you would switch the sound with your wrist.
Are such piano accordions still being made today?

Yes ! I have a Brandoni Piccolo MM 72 bass with only one sound.

 

[Zevy]

So your accordion has two sounds which are MMM and LMMM. If there was only one it would presumably be the LMMM sound, otherwise there would be no point in having the L reed?

I don't understand your question.

 

[wirralaccordion]

Not a question, more like a statement. If your accordion only had one sound it would be either MMM or LMMM. If it was MMM there would be no need for there to be a built-in L reed. Your accordion has two sounds which are MMM and LMMM and you can switch from one to the other.

 

[Paul vdV]

I was given a Hohner Starlet 40. (The Stadella needed a repair and it had a broken reed. I was able to repair it.) It has no couplers and MM, tuned to Hohner's standard musette tuning. Fun little accordion. Pretty loud, too.

 

[wirralaccordion]

Yes ! I have a Brandoni Piccolo MM 72 bass with only one sound.

Strange that the model is called a Piccolo when there is no H reed?

 

[Scuromondo]

Perhaps it is a compact accordion. “Piccolo” means “small” in Italian.

 

[Corsaire]

Perhaps it is a compact accordion. “Piccolo” means “small” in Italian.

Exactly ! The Brandoni Piccolo 72 bass is a compact MM and only weighs 6,5 kg. Mine demi-swing tuned as I didn't want a musette sound.