Wet or dry

[dunlustin]

Charles Nunzio (1912 -2010) in this interview
enthuses over the 2/4 accordion - 4 reeds in the bass and just 2, octave tuned, in the treble.
(Annoyingly Ive yet to find a video of him playing one)
I was wondering how people split into the wet/dry camp.
Personally, I really like single reed playing, dont mind a gentle tremolo but cant grow to love what is often heard for Scottish dancing.
Do strong tremolos have more carrying power I wonder.

 

[Soulsaver]

Agreed. I think if you're not from the culture, you (probably) aren't going to like the sharpness of it. But as trem goes, I do like French, German, Italian - less keen on trad Irish & Scottish tuning - although there are plenty of tunes from there I like - just not want to listen to on the car CD, for example. Still, I'd love to be able to play them well...

 

[bocsa]

Single reeds are great for slow airs but it's nice to have a 3 voice musette (somewhere between French and Scottish for my taste)
That's the benefit of loadsa couplers - choice!

 

[acordiansam]

Me I think each of them have there place. It's all personal tast. That's what makes the music different or else there would olny be one type of music and olny one way to play it.

As for cutting through the wet ones are middle reeds and seem to cut through maybe due to the tremolos. The change in pitch could make it stand out or just the pitch. I think a dry box could cut through just the same but with out a tremolo it may blend better with the other insterments. Kind of like a violin playing a strate tone then adding a tremolo will bring it out more.

 

[spacetrakker]

I like the "musette" tuning on both my Hohner Concerto and Arietta 2M.
For a novice player like myself,(mostly single note right hand player at this stage), it seems to help give a "fuller" or "richer" sounding melody compared with me playing the same tune on my Dry tuned Excelsior.
Maybe this perception will change as my expertise improves!
Cheers, John

 

[rbs]

I understood the the "wet" sound of French accordions was designed so that it would cut through the chatter at the French cafes where the instrument was used to entertain the customers. Previously string quartets were used, but the accordion enabled the proprietor to save money by employing fewer musicians!

 

[james_from_stoke]

if anyone has the Cafe de Paris CD, it gives a great history of french music, and the introduction of the accordion.
I personally like choice - The minimum amount of options I would want is LMM 5 switches. Anything else is too limiting, to me. Unless I had an MM box for folk only. Otherwise, as many reeds as possible, and as many switches as possible. I find it very odd when manufacturers offer boxes with all the reeds but only some of the switches. Excelsior made a 9 switch LMMH, and neglected to include both the LMM and MMH switches. I use both of these quite a lot.
Wet and Dry each have their places, and neither is the ultimate winner, so it is best to be prepared for every eventuality, to me.

 

[Zevy]

Charles Nunzio (1912 -2010) in this interview
enthuses over the 2/4 accordion - 4 reeds in the bass and just 2, octave tuned, in the treble.
(Annoyingly Ive yet to find a video of him playing one)
I was wondering how people split into the wet/dry camp.
Personally, I really like single reed playing, dont mind a gentle tremolo but cant grow to love what is often heard for Scottish dancing.
Do strong tremolos have more carrying power I wonder.

<FONT font=Garamond><SIZE size=125><COLOR color=#0040FF>I was privileged to study with Mr. Nunzio and I remember that accordion well. He kept it upstairs, in his living quarters (the studio was on the bottom floor). He liked that accordion for a totally different reason. It was lightweight, and as he was older, he wanted a lighter accordion. He played full sized accordions and did not mind a slight tremolo in the musette. The accordion with 2 reeds in the RH was very special in the fact that it had only 2 reeds, but they were both in the chamber (casotto). He told me that the older players (i.e. Frosini, et al) had 4 reeds in the RH, and they were tuned LMMM with the middle reeds all tuned dry. He disliked the piccolo reeds; they were a later invention.
I personally have my accordions dry-tuned, as I am either playing a lot of the older repertoire, some classical transcriptions, and/or together with other musicians. I dont want to clash with the rest of the band.

 

[george garside]

to me nothing is finer than the 'wet' the tuning of the Shand Morino . Plenty of you tube vids of various shand morinos being played by a veriety of players.

george

 

[Guernseyman]

I have a five reed double cassotto Vignoni S, which is both wet and dry. Great, as you say, for cutting through the sound for a cafe (and the musette is lovely!) but it also cuts through your back as it weighs 14kg+. But the wet and dry together does give enormous versatility. I have to sit down though to play it (as it has mics and midi just to add weight). Different tuning for different contexts - that's the beauty of the accordion.

 

[george garside]

a 4 voice 'wet' tuned box with couplers can of course be played absolutely dry using mm and ml reeds

george