Different types of "Squeezebox"

[jarvo]

This is a direct spin off from Pippa's "What size Accordion....?"

I concur with Adam -T in that maybe she needs to go a button box route....then realised that I had absolutely no clue whatsoever about that of which I spoke .............more so than usual I will add before you do !!

What are the basic differences among the button boxes?

Melodeons are diatonic like 'harps (mouthies) and I believe come with one or more treble rows .....each button in a row responding to push in and pull out by a tone ... G to A for e.g...right so far?....

I do not know much about the bass end and some seem to have great big wooden knobs sticking out of the top !

Then we come to the other....I hesitate to say more sophisticated boxes for not wishing to offend........but some boxes have black and white buttons ....some have all white buttons ...some are BCC#....some are CBA .......these have a more recognisable Stradella Bass end ....but which are which ?

I may also be tempted to cross over........ :mrgreen: :roll: :!:

P.S.

I really LIKE these emoticons.....can you tell :roll:

 

[donn]

My CBA is of the all white persuasion, but I believe that where they have black keys, they correspond to the black keys on the piano keyboard. Here you may notice a visual clue to the primary distinction between CBAs, B or C "griff". The notes are all laid out in the most logical order, but since there are two ways to do it, it's done both ways. I would expect the all white ones are typically, like mine, C griff.

 

[jarvo]

Donn,
I am going to dip a toe into the stream of logic called guessing and say that I now assume that CBA is "Chromatic Button Accordion"and this is the one with the full "piano" keyboard re designed and buttoned up ...but as you say in a logical manner ?

Which is the one that I would go for ....thanks

 

[Adam-T]

to simplify - BCC# boxes are basically big Melodeons with the rows a semitone apart instead of a quint and play the same way .. CBAs are basically PAs with buttons instead of organ keys.... There are two different key setups for CBAs - C-Griff which is popular in France and the UK (maybe Italy too) and B Griff which is popular almost everywhere else from what I can gather, the Russian Classical Bayan boxes are B griff and that maybe the system best for Pippa

 

[mjh]

[OT] It'd be good to have a comprehensive list of which fingering systems are used in which countries. For some reason this information is mostly nonexistent. [/OT]

 

[jarvo]

to simplify - BCC# boxes are basically big Melodeons with the rows a semitone apart instead of a quint and play the same way .. CBAs are basically PAs with buttons instead of organ keys.... There are two different key setups for CBAs - C-Griff which is popular in France and the UK (maybe Italy too) and B Griff which is popular almost everywhere else from what I can gather, the Russian Classical Bayan boxes are B griff and that maybe the system best for Pippa

Haha .....I think have it sussed now.........

 

[donn]

"B vs. C griff" would be a good topic for a thread. It would be inconclusive and ultimately pointless, but it would ideally keep that topic segregated, so that the small-endians wouldn't have to be offended by the specious reasoning put forth in favor of large-endians, and vice versa, unless they specifically chose to.

 

[Glenn]

I thing Bayan accordions are hard to come by and devlilshly expensive.
I always assumed thay were for conservatorie students of accordion.

 

[simonking]

Some Russian players believe that bayans and accordions are not the same instrument. I suppose it is a bit strange that they're mostly unheard of outside Rusian conservatoires. In my book it's definitely a type of accordion that has the following disticntive features:

B-system chromatic right-hand
Reversed B system free-bass (?)
The right hand keyboard is mounted sticking out sort of half way up the side, not sloping out of the bottom as with PA and CBA.
The reeds are rectangular, not trapezium-shaped.
Many reeds are mounted on the same plate.
I think the reed plates may be fixed using a technique other than wax.

I don't know where I learned this but would like to know more or be corrected. There's probably a whole Bayan Forum out there somewhere, but perhaps difficult to find without knowing Russian very well!

 

[donn]

I'm dubious about the free bass item, I'm pretty sure they have a Stradella system too, maybe even most of them (I think it's another one that gets by without one of the dim/7 rows, but inversely to the French 3/3, the 7 row is the one found in an adjacent column?)

 

[Glenn]

I think many Bayan accordions have a converter system so a free bass is provided when needed.
The Bayans are normally so expensive there's no issue adding a couple of thousand more for a converter.

 

[donn]

[OT] Itd be good to have a comprehensive list of which fingering systems are used in which countries. For some reason this information is mostly nonexistent. [/OT]

Theres something on this on Nydanas Accordion Resources. In addition to the countries he mentions, I believe Germany is B-griff territory, and Spain and Portugal presumably belong to the C-griff side. But the reality in any part of the world may not be so much different from here in the US - I assume the laws of these countries dont really mandate exclusive use of one system, so one could expect at least the occasional rogue.

Theres more on the two systems, too, and free bass and other related subjects.

 

[donn]

Lots of bayans available in the $200-$400 range on Ebay lately. Maybe a good deal, maybe not, but I think these simple 3 row boxes are numerically the typical bayan.

 

[Glenn]

Lots of bayans available in the $200-$400 range on Ebay lately. Maybe a good deal, maybe not,

That does sound suspicious about quality.
If you buy a new accordion for instance, the Bayans are always at the top of their catalogue with a 30% additional cost for the pleasure.
$200 sounds a bit low but indeed I see many unknown brands on ebay.
For that price you cant go wrong. Even if you use it later as a plant pot stand.

 

[jarvo]

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Musical-wo...d=521742316&_trksid=p4634.c0.m14.l1513&_pgn=3

This place looks VERY interesting........oh dear .....kid in a sweetshop syndrome !