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5-th voice register slider for Hohner Morino V S

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debra

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We have seen attempts in at this before... the 5 voice Hohner Morino (M, N, S) accordions only let you choose between M and MMM, so no MM possible. WIth the M there is nothing you can do about it (besides permanently disabling the 5th voice by taping it shut)). On the N and S it is theoretically possible to change the registers and operate the M+ and M- independently.
I have added a slider for the M- on the Morino V S.
The first pic shows what it looks like.
The second pic shows whats on the back off the grille.
The third pic shows the disconnection between the regular register slide and the connector to the register slides inside.

Works very well. There is enough friction to not need any blocking mechanism (for on or off).
When playing on is up and off is down, so there is no danger of the tremolo becoming engaged all by itself (due to gravity).

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Good work Paul!
 
That is so cool, and an ingenious way of getting something new out of these accordions! :D
That said, I would not be one of the people that would want that done to my accordion, as it takes away from it's original looks.
Must be a bit of a challenge to line things up when removing/replacing the grill?
 
JerryPH said:
That is so cool, and an ingenious way of getting something new out of these accordions!  :D
That said, I would not be one of the people that would want that done to my accordion, as it takes away from it's original looks.
Must be a bit of a challenge to line things up when removing/replacing the grill?

You raise two very valid points here: 1) the looks and 2) removing/replacing the grille.
1) In this specific case the accordion has been through something like a war (actually air travel), meaning the bass side has been glued and bolted back together after the accordion was thrown around (in its case, but still...). The cracks are still visible, so the pristine original look is not too much of a concern. And I have cut out a piece of the grille cloth on 3 sides and folded it over. So the new switch can be removed and the cloth folded back and glued to restore the original look 100% if someone considers this important. The connector pieces are also still there, so the registers can be returned to original as well.
2) Removing the grille is no issue at all. When the new slider and the lever below the grille are in the same position (preferably the "on" position) the grille can be put on and it goes together perfectly. So no problem at all there.
Since the owner of the accordion mostly plays in an orchestra where a strong tremolo is not wanted at all the choice is between permanently disabling the 5th voice (leaving the light tremolo of MM) or having this small switch for the odd case where she may wish to have a "musette" sound. I keep my fingers crossed that she will like what I have come up with.
 
Definitely the perfect accordion to do this with, for sure!
Could you get a video of the functionality and the sound of this accordion in action, Paul? I'd be interested to hear the differences. :)
 
JerryPH pid=68772 dateline=1577239442 said:
Definitely the perfect accordion to do this with, for sure!
Could you get a video of the functionality and the sound of this accordion in action, Paul?  Id be interested to hear the differences.  :)

Here is a very short very simple demo of the sound of M, MM and MMM. Just A, C#, E in slow arpeggio, in all three settings.
MM has about +10 cents tremolo (at A4, the A starting the sample), and MMM has -10, 0, +10.
mp3 file
wav file
What was immediately clear when making this modification is that the tuning of both tremolo M reeds is much more critical when you make MM available versus when its just M and MMM.
 
Thank-you for taking the time to share this Paul... it gives me a good idea for comparison with what I have now. I find it does sound basically like a fine tuned 4-reed setup and it does sound good!

I just got my own accordion tuned (A=440hz) and asked for a slight modification of making the difference not -10, 0, +10, but -12, 0, +12... just a tiny, near impossible to hear difference, but it adds to my "sonic" pleasure knowing I am not factory strict German tuning and not quite Italian tuning, but something close to the middle between these two. :)
 
JerryPH said:
Thank-you for taking the time to share this Paul... it gives me a good idea for comparison with what I have now.  I find it does sound basically like a fine tuned 4-reed setup and it does sound good!

I just got my own accordion tuned (A=440hz) and asked for a slight modification of making the difference not -10, 0, +10, but -12, 0, +12... just a tiny, near impossible to hear difference, but it adds to my "sonic" pleasure knowing I am not factory strict German tuning and not quite Italian tuning, but something close to the middle between these two.  :)

When you put a -10, 0, +10 and a -12, 0, +12 accordion side by side the difference may not be so tiny or near impossible to hear. But indeed when you don't have them side by side you might not notice the difference unless you know about it.
This is a bit like the difference between a Bugari Championcassotto and a Bugari Artist Cassotto. Both sound sufficiently alike that you might not be able to identify them but when you hear them side by side you can. Likewise, when you hear the same model of Morino N or S (say a IV N versus IV S) you might not be able to identify them, but when you hear them side by side you can.
 
Very true, Paul. I have a few old recordings that I can compare them to, and though I don't have the ears of a dog (lol), I can hear that added sweetness that a bit more tremelo adds.

This is definitely not the thing to do if you are a hardcore classical player, but since I am not (though I am getting back to dabbling on the Free Bass a little more), it's my own accordion, I not only got away with it, but love that new personality it is showing me.

As for adding the ability to remove the piccolo reeds, I still find it an interesting idea, but still not quite something I would want to add at this time to mine. :)
 
JerryPH said:
Very true, Paul.  I have a few old recordings that I can compare them to, and though I don't have the ears of a dog (lol), I can hear that added sweetness that a bit more tremelo adds.  

This is definitely not the thing to do if you are a hardcore classical player, but since I am not (though I am getting back to dabbling on the Free Bass a little more), it's my own accordion, I not only got away with it, but love that new personality it is showing me.

As for adding the ability to remove the piccolo reeds, I still find it an interesting idea, but still not quite something I would want to add at this time to mine.  :)

Removing the piccolo reeds? Definitely not something I would ever want to do. What I did was add a switch to disable the -10cent tuned M reeds.
Although I'm not a fan of working on piccolo reeds (I don't think many tuners are) I do like using them while playing.
 
Sorry, not removing them, I meant disabling them... however yes, in this case, it is *disabling* the -10 cent musette reeds that I was referring to. In effect, it's like having 4 extra registers now. :)
 
4 extra registers... let's see. If we ignore the difference between MM with -10/0 and MM with 0/+10 for a moment then new registers we have are:
L/M-
M-/H
L/M-/H
LMM versus LMMM (2 instead of 1)
MM versus MMM
MMH versus MMMH
LMMH versus LMMMH
so I'm counting 7 new registers.
What's still missing from typical Italian accordions are registers like only M outside of cassotto and the M-/M+ combination found on some Excelsiors and others, and called "musette-vivace" (possibly also combined with L and/or H) but who wants these anyway...
 
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