Diatonic to Chromatic

[Peegers]

Out of curiosity, does each row correspond to a key ( as with GCF or BCC# instruments ) or is one row a 'Helper row?'
Is the LH a Stradella layout or a development of diatonic LH layout?
On the face of it, your idea seems quite a challenge - not least because on a 5 row Chromatic, row 1 is duplicated in row 4 and row 2 in row 5.

Hi Richard, yes it will be a lengthy task to retune etc etc the reeds, but i'm prepared to do the work.

 

[SteveBox]

This makes one wonder what kind of musician would have wanted a custom, probably one-of-a-kind accordion such as this. It must be rather large and heavy, which is against the primary reason some people prefer a diatonic, as they are usually much smaller and lighter than a piano or chromatic button accordion.

 

[Waldo]

Peegers;
Sounds like a very special box. If it were mine, I'd preserve it, as is, and score another C system box. I agree with Ben-Jammin on the mechanical issue. That will be tough to overcome. The register mechanism could present problems as well. Are the sliders in a reed block or on the soundboard? I have a C system CBA for sale if you're interested. It's a Palo Soprani Herzig Spezial from the 60's. I'd probably be willing to do a trade.

 

[AccordionUprising]

I'd love to see pictures of what sounds like a unique box. I'm not sure what five rows would do on a diatonic instrument. The only "standard" ones I've seen with stradella left hand a diatonic right are like Jimmy Shand played. I'm quite curious to hear how the five rows are tuned.

Guessing it might just have extra rows added to play in more keys? It might be a curious box that some diatonic players like John Spiers would be interested in. If it's a really nice custom job it's almost a pity to tear it out and make a regular cba out of it.

Pictures would be greatly appreciated. And if there's a way to map out the tones it plays now that would be really interesting. Maybe a short video just playing the notes of each row so people can work out what it is now.

 

[Longshore]

It might be a curious box that some diatonic players like John Spiers would be interested in. If it's a really nice custom job it's almost a pity to tear it out and make a regular cba out of it.

There's quite a lot about John's boxes on Melodeon.net.
A couple are Hohner Lucia CBA's changed to diatonics by Mike Rowbotham in Cornwall.
I had one myself but kept it as a CBA - lovely little boxes.