Why does Susie Petrov's accordion sound like this?

[emcintosh]

Susie Petrovs accordion sounds quite unlike most Scottish dance band accordions Ive heard, and Im not sure what exactly Im hearing. Is it dry tuning / single reed like a concertina vs. musette?

 

[JIM D.]

O.K. a guess -- Sounds like a medium sized accordion - dry tuned - on the treble side - a bassoon set and piccolo set in combo - on the bass side - 4 sets of reeds on master.

 

[debra]

Susie Petrovs accordion sounds quite unlike most Scottish dance band accordions Ive heard, and Im not sure what exactly Im hearing. Is it dry tuning / single reed like a concertina vs. musette?

Sounds like LMM being played, mild tremolo. What you get is that one reed bank has its sound obstructed a bit by the keyboard and the part of the grille where the registers are (this part in the picture looks solid). The result of such a setup is that the notes on that bank, which is L and M of the white keys (except for one or two of the high notes) have a more mellow tone than the other banks. If you listen carefully the F# that appears frequently in the song has a different timbre than the white keys that are played. This is actually not an uncommon issue with piano accordions.

 

[Soulsaver]

... her email addy is on her web page. http://susiepetrov.com/

 

[TomBR]

I enjoyed the clip. V nice Quebec-ish style but a tone colour to the accordion that I'd associate with Irish rather than Scottish music. I'd think LMM with the middles not far apart. Had another listen for a high reed set but couldn't hear one.
Good piano accomp in the style too.
T

 

[rancoman]

My instinct is bassoon, clarinet in casotto and piccolo - theres a richness about the first chord that suggests casotto to me, later in the selection the bassoon comes out as too hard to be the one in casotto, and I THINK I can hear a piccolo reed, especially where she is up in the higher notes. If its a 4 voice, the two clarinet reeds might be detuned a little to give a musette, and since she is only using one of them, any tremolo would be very slight.

Theres a pic of the accordion on her website, (http://susiepetrov.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/images-5.jpeg ) and it looks 3/4 size, with 4 or 5 treble couplers, and the make is shown but I cant make it out - maybe Accord?

Im really curious now so Ive emailed Susie to ask - if/when she replies Ill let you all know.

 

[rancoman]

Quick update - I've had a lovely email from Susie telling me it's a Fantini, a dream to play, but owned by a friend and tuned to his specification, so I'm waiting for the technical information to come from him now.

 

[rancoman]

The owner of the accordion, James Gray, has replied as follows:

Thanks for your interest in our recording. It reassuring to hear that my custom built accordion is pleasing to other's ears too.
The accordion was on the master coupler for the Jelly Roll track. The reeds are a bassoon, two clarinets and one slightly tuned up musette reed. The bassoon and one of the clarinet reeds are in the casotto.
Sorry to keep you in suspense so long!

So now we know!