180 button combined stradella and free bass systems

[TheBicyclist]

HI All,

I'm wondering whether anyone here has any experience playing one of these big beasts with a 3 row free bass setup above the usual stradella bass buttons

I've got a chance to purchase one at a good price but I wouldn't mind to hear from someone who has got some playing time on this bass system before bitting the bullet.

One concern from the test play I had was reaching the free bass rows, I've got fairly large hands and I could reach, but I imagine there a technique around moving the hand further forward in the bellows strap to avoid bumping the outer row of Stradella buttons??

If anyone who own or plays an accordion with a similar set up wouldn't mind sharing there experience I'd be really grateful.

Cheers

Joel

 

[Geronimo]

Im wondering whether anyone here has any experience playing one of these big beasts with a 3 row free bass setup above the usual stradella bass buttons

Ive got a chance to purchase one at a good price but I wouldnt mind to hear from someone who has got some playing time on this bass system before bitting the bullet.

One concern from the test play I had was reaching the free bass rows, Ive got fairly large hands and I could reach, but I imagine there a technique around moving the hand further forward in the bellows strap to avoid bumping the outer row of Stradella buttons??

The usual number I hear quoted is 185 buttons, with 58 being the free bass and 127 the standard bass (rectangular arrangement Hohner Morino style). My own instrument is 190 (60 working buttons in the free bass and a fake one on C♯1 for optical reasons, and 129 in the standard bass). The outer row of Stradella buttons is protected by a ledge on my instrument.
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I dont know the degree of involvement of this ledge in my play, but I cannot remember having problems here. The hand curves around those buttons anyway. Ive leafed through my videos briefly and this version of the Bach Air from the orchestra suite #3 shows a pretty good view of the free bass in action. This piece with its idiomatic octave jumps in the bass is actually a good demo of why youd want a free bass.

 

[debra]

...
Im wondering whether anyone here has any experience playing one of these big beasts with a 3 row free bass setup above the usual stradella bass buttons

Ive got a chance to purchase one at a good price but I wouldnt mind to hear from someone who has got some playing time on this bass system before bitting the bullet.

One concern from the test play I had was reaching the free bass rows, Ive got fairly large hands and I could reach, but I imagine there a technique around moving the hand further forward in the bellows strap to avoid bumping the outer row of Stradella buttons??
...

The system is called MIII and it is seen mostly but not exclusively on Hohner accordions. If you doubt how useful MIII is and how easy it is to reach, just look for some videos by Mie Miki. She uses a Gola, but the layout is identical on the Morino and other instruments with MII. People who are really used to MIII sometimes complain about convertor instruments where the melody bas is on the outer rows. I have both types of accordions (a Hohner Morino Artiste XS with MIII and other accordions with convertor). I have big enough hands to reach the MIII buttons without any problem, and the advantage of MIII over convertor is that you can combine melody bass with Stradella chords without needing to hit a convertor switch in between. But then... most convertor instruments will give you 4 rows of melody bass and having that 4rd (redundant) row sometimes allows for easier fingering. Also, with a convertor you can use the thumb on the outer row, but on MIII I have not been able to use the thumb.

 

[xocd]

If you doubt how useful MIII is and how easy it is to reach, just look for some videos by Mie Miki. She uses a Gola, but the layout is identical on the Morino and other instruments with MII.

Stefan Hussong also uses a Gola with the MIII layout: e.g.,

Giulietti also made accordions with this layout.

 

[TheBicyclist]

Thanks for the replies

The instrument I'm looking it is a Paolo Soprani which I'm curious about too as I can't find any reference to them ever making an instrument like this.

I'll have to go and give it another play tomorrow

Cheers

Joel