Paul Beuscher treble side thumb levers

[Windstrel]

Hi.  It's been awhile but we have been working hard on getting to know our lovely Paul Beuscher accordeon C system which we love very muchly and has been used daily since we got it about last August. My other half says she can't imagine life without it ?

At last, we have got to wondering the function of the levers on the back of the keyboard. There are 6 in a single row, two lots of three.

Advice on the reeds being played by these would be very much appreciated. Many thanks in advance ?

 

[maugein96]

Hi.  It's been awhile but we have been working hard on getting to know our lovely Paul Beuscher accordeon C system which we love very muchly and has been used daily since we got it about last August. My other half says she can't imagine life without it ?

At last, we have got to wondering the function of the levers on the back of the keyboard. There are 6 in a single row, two lots of three.

Advice on the reeds being played by these would be very much appreciated. Many thanks in advance ?

Hi,

If we assume that the box is LMM (bassoon and two flutes with one set of M reeds tuned sharp), here is a typical arrangement:-

On most LMM accordions with 6 levers the coupler only works in the "down" position (looking down from the top).

I'll describe the levers in order from the top down, and this is what you can usually expect in such an arrangement:-

Lever 1 Master (all three reeds on)

Lever 2 Bassoon

Lever 3 Bandoneon (bassoon and straight tuned M or flute reed)

Lever 4 MM (this will be swing, American, or celeste, depending on how your accordion is tuned) 

Lever 5 M - single straight tuned reed on only. 

Lever 6 - Rappel (duplicate master switching all three reeds on together)

Instruments made for the Italian market can to be of a different arrangement, but as your Paul Beuscher would probably have been an Italian built Piermaria built for the French market, I would guess it has the mechanics I described above. 

I have a three voice LMM Marinucci made for the Italian market, and if my suggestion doesn't seem to correspond to your PB, let me know and I'll tell you how mine is arranged. 

With practice you'll be able to tell which reeds are on when you select a coupler. 

I have an LMM Cavagnolo with only three levers and they perform dual function depending on whether they are in the up or down position, but let's not complicate things (at least for the time being).

 

[losthobos]

My Piermaria runs
1 Master LMM
2 Bassoon L
3 Bandoneon LM
4 Violin MM
5 Clarinet M
6 rpt Bassoon L
Just saying, so might be best to check with your own ears to make dead sure
Best wishes Terry

 

[maugein96]

My Piermaria runs
1 Master LMM
2 Bassoon L
3 Bandoneon LM
4 Violin MM
5 Clarinet M
6 rpt Bassoon L
Just saying, so might be best to check with your own ears to make dead sure
Best wishes Terry

Hi Terry,

Ive never actually owned a Piermaria, and was basing my guess on Maugein, Crosio, and Cavagnolo. [font=Tahoma,Verdana,Arial,Sans-Serif]Never seen a repeat bassoon register[/font], and thats a new one on me. My list was based on my current Maugein LMM, and is the same as yours except for that rappel bassoon. As you say best to have a listen. Ill dig the Marinucci out and see how its configured, but I know it isnt the same as the Maugein.

 

[losthobos]

Possibly because my Bassoon is in Cassotto and therefore the selling point of box

 

[debra]

The picture is a bit fuzzy but it looks like the triplets of register knobs are coupled, which means that you then have just two levers. But, such register switches in the back typically have two positions and that would then give you four choices. These could be L, MM, LM and LMM? Just guessing here. I have worked on a 4 voice (LMMM) Piermaria and the registers (behind the keyboard) all have an "up" and a "down" position (besides a center resting position). Not sure about the Beuscher accordion though as I've never seen one.

 

[maugein96]

Possibly because my Bassoon is in Cassotto and therefore the selling point of box

Terry,

My Maugein is a Mini Sonora with bassoon in cassotto, and my Cavagnolo is a variation of the Vedette 5, also with the bassoon in cassotto. 

Both of them only have one lever to select bassoon, but I believe the levers/couplers can be altered to serve a different function, if required. Georges Pellegrini, the French repairer, assesses just about every high end box he takes as a trade in, and if he thinks he can improve on them, he just mods them accordingly. 

He'll do any conversion a customer wants within the bounds of practicality, including conversions from LMM to MMM, and vice versa. 

Turns out my Marinucci LMM (no cassotto) has only 5 levers.

1  Master
2. Bandoneon
3. MM (swing 2.5 cents)
4. Bassoon
5. Straight tuned M

Cavagnolo (3 double function levers)

1 down - Bassoon
1 up - Mute (all treble reeds off for factory fitted midi-long since removed)

2 down - Master
2 up - MM (swing 4 cents)

3 down - Bandoneon
3 up - Straight tuned M

I find if I play more than two different boxes regularly I have difficulty in remembering what lever does what. Fast changes mid tune can be problematic on the Maugein, as the levers need a firm shove to properly engage them. I've had them checked over and it's just the way they are. The Cava levers just glide into position, as do the Marinucci levers, and the ones on the Crosios I once owned (and wish I still did).

 

[donn]

... So, as you can see, we have some idea what the levers on our boxes do. Why don't you tell us what they seem to do on your Beuscher?

 

[Windstrel]

Hi All! Many thanks for your help. It looks as if with your help we are well on our way to sorting this.

We tried to add an attachment to a previous message with a recording of the different voices but we were told by the system that it was an unacceptable file (mp3) and somehow the message disappeared.

So in this message were sending a link to the file weve uploaded to a website weve got.

The operation of the levers is as follows

1 Press it down and it goes down
2 - 6 Press it down and the previous one pressed down goes back up.

Were thinking effectively its a reset action.

It appears the bottom lever resets it back to the start so we have 5 voices not 6.

Thanks again for all your help. Heres the link 

Accordion voices

 

[losthobos]

Same as my Piermaria except for no6 which on yours is rpt of master

 

[maugein96]

Hi All! Many thanks for your help. It looks as if with your help we are well on our way to sorting this.

We tried to add an attachment to a previous message with a recording of the different voices but we were told by the system that it was an unacceptable file (mp3) and somehow the message disappeared.

So in this message were sending a link to the file weve uploaded to a website weve got.

The operation of the levers is as follows

1 Press it down and it goes down
2 - 6 Press it down and the previous one pressed down goes back up.

Were thinking effectively its a reset action.

It appears the bottom lever resets it back to the start so we have 5 voices not 6.

Thanks again for all your help. Heres the link 

Accordion voices

Hi,

If were being pedantic the accordion has three voices, and five register combinations. Levers 1 and 6 have the same function, which is common in accordions of that type.

Ive never seen treble register selectors like yours before, but they are essentially doing the same job as the other types. 

Just as an aside, you have a sticky valve on the top C note (assuming you are playing the C chord - I never checked.) Appears to be on your straight tuned M reed, but if it doesnt bother you then there is no real worry, and its possibly happening in one bellows direction only.

 

[Windstrel]

Hi All! Many thanks for your help. It looks as if with your help we are well on our way to sorting this.

We tried to add an attachment to a previous message with a recording of the different voices but we were told by the system that it was an unacceptable file (mp3) and somehow the message disappeared.

So in this message were sending a link to the file weve uploaded to a website weve got.

The operation of the levers is as follows

1 Press it down and it goes down
2 - 6 Press it down and the previous one pressed down goes back up.

Were thinking effectively its a reset action.

It appears the bottom lever resets it back to the start so we have 5 voices not 6.

Thanks again for all your help. Heres the link 

Accordion voices

Hi,

If were being pedantic the accordion has three voices, and five register combinations. Levers 1 and 6 have the same function, which is common in accordions of that type.

Ive never seen treble register selectors like yours before, but they are essentially doing the same job as the other types. 

Just as an aside, you have a sticky valve on the top C note (assuming you are playing the C chord - I never checked.) Appears to be on your straight tuned M reed, but if it doesnt bother you then there is no real worry, and its possibly happening in one bellows direction only.

The info is very much appreciated and not pedantic at all. Weve got lots to learn.

We think we can hear the sticky valve ...a sort of flappy sound before the note. If so, it does only happen on the inward squeeze of the bellows. It doesnt really bother us at the moment but maybe later we might need to get it fixed. Is it something we could do ourselves or is it needing professional attention? If so, does the fact that it has French style pinned reeds (I believe)  present difficulties in finding a suitable repair person? Thanks 

 

[debra]

The flappy sound happening when you squeeze the bellows suggests that the valve on the outside of the reed block is not sitting flush to the reed plate. When you then play note you hear the pressure sucking the valve closed, which gives a bit of a "plop" sound. Easy fix because that valve is easily accessible.

 

[maugein96]

The info is very much appreciated and not pedantic at all. We've got lots to learn.

We think we can hear the sticky valve ...a sort of flappy sound before the note. If so, it does only happen on the inward squeeze of the bellows. It doesn't really bother us at the moment but maybe later we might need to get it fixed. Is it something we could do ourselves or is it needing professional attention? If so, does the fact that it has French style pinned reeds (I believe)  present difficulties in finding a suitable repair person? Thanks 


Hi, 


As Paul says that valve will be on the outside and you might be able to actually see it. It may show obvious signs of warping, although it is easy to replace a valve, providing you can get a replacement of the same material. Pull the old one off and glue the new one on. I have a 70 year old Marinucci accordion with reeds pinned on leather. Some days the odd valve plays up and some days it's OK, but as I only play at home the valves in it will outlive me.  

Reeds pinned on leather or cork shouldn't really present too much difficulty to an experienced UK repairer, although you wouldn't need to take the reed out in this case. 

Your two MM reed banks are tuned quite far apart (known as wet tuning), and I thought at first it was one of the reeds in the off tuned bank. However when you select the straight tuned M on its own you can hear it quite clearly. 

Those Paul Beuscher accordions were pretty well made and it should last you a very long time. Italian built accordions for the French market are generally more robustly constructed than their French made counterparts. 

Sounds like you're enjoying it!

 

[Windstrel]

Yes we really are enjoying our PB (called because we are not at all sure how to pronounce Beuscher properly).

We are essentially a violinist (Judy) and a sax musician (me) but when we got together several years ago, we needed an instrument that provided the chords for our duets. Hence the accordion was adopted for us both to learn. The idea was we would both play the accordion together with either the fiddle or sax as appropriate. As it has turned out with her piano playing knowledge, Judy has streaked away from me in achievement (although I have made quite a bit of progress) and she is absolutely loving playing PB.  

So we can practice together with both of us in learning mode, I've added the clarinet to the mix which is a very different instrument to my years of playing the soprano sax. Also, the clarinet sounds great with PB, rather better than the sax.

Essentially we are folk musicians and most evenings when we don't play out somewhere we sit down to extend our clarinet / PB repertoire which we really enjoy.

PB has proved to be a wonderful adventure and we are both enjoying it as a new member of our family.

Many thanks for all the help you expert accordionists have provided ?

 

[maugein96]

Yes we really are enjoying our PB (called because we are not at all sure how to pronounce Beuscher properly).

Approximate pronunciation is "Behshay", although the first syllable has that French dipthong sound "eu" that we Scots just cannot manage. 

Sounds a bit like your way of saying "fur" and "fir". Scots cannot manage those subtleties, and we can never tell if you mean the animal type of fur or the tree type of fir.

We cannot afford to be complacent, as we do precisely the same thing. So we have "furr" coats and "furr" trees, and I dare say you'd have the same trouble with our efforts.

Here in Birmingham I am often taken for Northern Irish, and at the end of the day they aren't far wrong, as most of my ancestors were from there. 

Mind you, if I can tell the difference between Brum and Black Country accents, why can't they get mine right? 

Maybe best stick to "PB", and hope some Scotsman doesn't think you mean "Pipe Band!"

Keep enjoying it, whatever you decide to call it!

 

[donn]

Sounds a bit like your way of saying "fur" and "fir".

Whose way, if I may divert from the topic? They're the same in standard English, insofar as there may be such a thing.

I'm quite surprised by the pronunciation of Beuscher, which looks quite German. Per which it would be boysher, with stress on the first syllable and extra credit for "rounding" the lips on the Y.

 

[maugein96]

Sounds a bit like your way of saying fur and fir.

Whose way, if I may divert from the topic?  Theyre the same in standard English, insofar as there may be such a thing.

Im quite surprised by the pronunciation of Beuscher, which looks quite German.  Per which it would be boysher, with stress on the first syllable and extra credit for rounding the lips on the Y.

Donn,

As far as I can remember from the sole French accordion magazine that used to do the rounds, the Beuscher family moved to Paris from Switzerland, and set up a music publishing business there. As far as German surnames in France are concerned, various boundary changes have meant that parts of the provinces of Alsace (Elsass) and Lorraine (Lothringen), were in Germany for a time, before being ceded to France. The last boundary change was in 1918 after WW1. The dialect there often sounds more German than French. If you find Strasbourg on the map youll see that it is surrounded by loads of smaller towns and villages which still have very obvious German names. 

France also shares a border with the Flemish speaking part Belgium, so you get Dutch name places like Steenvoorde, Zuydcoote, and Ghyvelde, all standing proudly on French soil with the inhabitants only having a smattering of the Dutch language. 

Then there are the Bretons, Basques, Occitans, Catalans, and others, most of whom have surnames that betray their non-French origin. 

English as spoken in the UK can be a difficult concept to describe to English speakers who do not live here. My cousin in San Jose, California, has no trouble at all speaking to relatives in New Jersey, as dialectal changes dont seem to have the same effect as they have here. However, many of we UK types have difficulty in communicating with people who live less than 30 miles away, as the dialects are so dissimilar. Yes, standard English is taught in schools, but for most of us the standard is what we use at home.

We actually have dialect experts working along with our major Crime Investigating squads so that they can tie suspects down to given area by their speech, if audio evidence is available for scrutiny. 

The Koreans are working on it, as demonstrated here:- 


Hell need about 40 years to get the accent right, but hopefully youll get the gist. 


The Newcastle, or Geordie ,would appear to be a legacy from the Danes who once settled in Northumbria. Danes, like Geordies, dont pronounce the letter r, so they are actually Geohdies. 

Despite the similarity to the nearby Scottish lowland dialects, the two are very different. 

Here endeth todays lesson in pure trivia.