Quint converter mechanism?

[tcabot]

Posting this on an off chance that some of you might have a spare quint converter mechanism assembly, or perhaps, the whole bass-side lying around without any use? Maybe you got asked to replace it with a chromatic one? Or an old accordion got dropped on the floor & smashed beyond repair, or got ran over by a tram, so the only thing you could save was the converter?
Well, you're in luck - I'll be happy to give it a new home!

 

[debra]

First of all, I don't have one, sorry.
What you should know is that the quint convertor is not really a convertor mechanism like a modern chromatic convertor.
With a quint convertor the bass blocks (for all but the lowest octave) have two holes per note and the switch between melody bass and standard (Stradella) bass is made using register sliders. Some older chromatic convertors also did this, on accordions that you can recognize by not having a (large) convertor switch. So there is no "mechanism assembly" to swap out. You can only hope to find a whole bass-side with quint convertor that fits on the bellows you have.

 

[tcabot]

Thank you, Paul.
Does that mean there's two pallets for every reedblock note? One for Stradella, one for fb?

 

[debra]

Thank you, Paul.
Does that mean there's two pallets for every reedblock note? One for Stradella, one for fb?

I guess so (I don't have one at hand to check). And there is a problem also that when one pallet opens versus the other there may be a slight difference in tuning. Because you can hear small tuning issues in melody bass you should always tune with melody bass. The small deviation that's there with the Stradella bass is not noticeable because it happens within chords.

 

[Walker]

First of all, I don't have one, sorry.
What you should know is that the quint convertor is not really a convertor mechanism like a modern chromatic convertor.
With a quint convertor the bass blocks (for all but the lowest octave) have two holes per note and the switch between melody bass and standard (Stradella) bass is made using register sliders. Some older chromatic convertors also did this, on accordions that you can recognize by not having a (large) convertor switch. So there is no "mechanism assembly" to swap out. You can only hope to find a whole bass-side with quint convertor that fits on the bellows you have.

I have only ever owned two Quint Converters; one was a Pigini and the other was a Scandalli.

The converter mechanism seemed entirely different on the two instruments. The Pigini had a long converter bar, as do modern Titano Quint converter accordions. However, as you say Paul, most other Quints I have seen or played, such as Victoria, Zero Sette, Giustozzi, old Titano etc., do not have the long converter bar.

My current Quint is a Scandalli, and it doesn't have a converter bar either. From a distance, the Scandalli does not look like a converter at all because it only has six bass switches - three for stradella bass and three for free bass. Changing to free bass does not involve that satisfying mechanical 'clunk' like the Pigini does. You know something significant has happened when you press the Pigini into free bass mode. Nothing of the sort occurs when the Scandalli is set to free bass. As you say, perhaps nothing is getting 'converted' on the Scandalli; it is just a smooth, quiet switch change, uneventful.

However, though the Pigini is very good, and arguably has the best converter mechanism on the market, there is something to be said for the simpler register slider. I find that with the Scandalli I can change from any free bass voice to any stradella bass voice with just one click of a switch. However, with the converter bar mechanism, it can involve two separate actions, one to change the mode from free bass to stradella bass, and the other to select the desired stradella voice. Not a criticism, just an observation between 'bar' versus 'no bar'.​

 

[tcabot]

Here's a photo of the sliders, but I still can't quite figure out how you get 3 octaves of fb with L and LM options just by switching a slider . I can only understand how you get a single-voice fb with this set-up.

Untitled Document

Anyway, if any of you chaps get very frustrated with your accordion and in the heat of the moment throw it out of the window, please get in touch, so I can give you my address where you can post the converter.

 

[debra]

Here's a photo of the sliders, but I still can't quite figure out how you get 3 octaves of fb with L and LM options just by switching a slider . I can only understand how you get a single-voice fb with this set-up.

Untitled Document

Anyway, if any of you chaps get very frustrated with your accordion and in the heat of the moment throw it out of the window, please get in touch, so I can give you my address where you can post the converter.

The three registers (L, LM, M) open and close the free-bass register sliders for L and M and keep the Stradella register sliders closed.
The other registers open and close the Stradella register sliders and keep the free-bass register sliders closed.
With the 4-voice bass setup shown in the pictures some reed banks perform double-duty. You have four banks in four different octaves, let's say 1, 2, 3, 4 and the lowest octave in LM uses 1-2, the second octave uses 2-3 and the highest octave uses 3-4. So when you have LM selected and you play C in the lowest octave together with C in the middle octave you expect to hear two notes in LM, so 4 playing reeds, but instead you get the reeds from octaves 1, 2 and 3, so 3 reeds.
Another accordion that uses this trick in the Hohner Solist MB 2 which is a chromatic convertor. It has two "registers" plus a convertor switch, and it offers 58 notes in the melody bass. It actually just has 58 reeds on the bass side and the LM register is not a register but an octave coupler.