Stradella Register Choice

[Scuromondo]

The mechanical engineering involved in this is really quite remarkable, especially given all the limitations involved such as the fact that it has to all be actuated with the force of a finger press, fit into a restricted area, be lightweight, and cannot use conventional lubricants.

It’s like a “Rube Goldberg” machine, except for the fact that those are only expected to be used one or two times, and these are cycled countless times.

 

[Ventura]

that picture scares me !

because someone has to still put it all back together !

so the normal stradella pallets are lifted by the mechanical action
when you press a button/note

and Dingo, these jamming problems are all way in the ancient past so no need
to worry really... by now they have either been sent to the great Accordion
Boneyard in the sky or the ones that still get played the owners know to
NEVER EVER
press that conversion shift

 

[Tom]

I generally stick with the master on my 2 switch bass and the one right below the master on my 7 switch, whatever it is.

 

[Glug]

Hmm, this got me to thinking.
Here's all possible bass registers given the 2 pallet arrangement and chords not being silent:


The "Scandalli LMMH" column shows the ones on my 1950s Scandalli with 6 registers - bit of an odd combination, maybe they hadn't been standardised in the 50s.

 

[Scuromondo]

Hmm, this got me to thinking.
Here's all possible bass registers given the 2 pallet arrangement and chords not being silent:


The "Scandalli LMMH" column shows the ones on my 1950s Scandalli with 6 registers - bit of an odd combination, maybe they hadn't been standardised in the 50s.

I don’t think there is truly a “standard” even now. On my new accordion, only 3 of the 5 switches appear in this “standard” chart.

 

[Glug]

Good point, by 'standard' I really mean the ones that have symbols and names in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stradella_bass_system.

 

[debra]

that picture scares me !

because someone has to still put it all back together !

...

No worry. This was my Crucianelli, which I took apart during the ACA course to learn to disassemble and reassemble a bass mechanism. It was a good learning experience. I have disassembled and reassembled a few more since then. It's not so daunting once you get into it. Convertor mechanisms are quite a bit more daunting.