Sebastian Bravo
Active member
Hi forum! Hope you all are having a good time in quarentine, playing the accordion is a good way to get our minds away from the chaotic situation we are living now. I decided to share with you something i did days ago in my accordion, as i had some free time to make a new modding!
As some of you guys know, i have been modifying my accordion a lot since i bought it: I expanded the basses from 72 to 96, made a free bass section in the bottom part, installed a DIY 5+3 microphone system, replaced the reeds with higher quality Artiste Hohner reeds, and now, i decided to add another 16 set of reeds to the bass side, just to have that double bassoon sound in the free bass section.
Its a Hohner Concerto III, so, the chord reeds are 16+8+4, but i dont like the sound of the 5th reed, its too high for the basses. So, the plan was to modify that reed block, to make enough room for larger 16 reeds.
I had some 3mm MDF wood, it was the only wood i had in my house, and i cant go out and buy better quality wood because of the quarentine. But i was so motivated that i used the MDF anyways, just wanted to make the double 16 sound a reality.
First, i tried to make a normal reed block, but the space was so little, that i had to make it in 90[font=arial, sans-serif]°, just how the italian 5th reeds are placed. I also used the slider part of the original reed block.[/font]
(I dont have propper wood tools to cut it, so i used my dremel, kinda burned the wood in that spot hahah)
As for the reeds, i had some T. Hohner reeds from a Student VM. These are smaller, cheaper reeds, but they would do the job. There were 4 missing reeds, but i found them in another box.
After testing the sound, i decided to tune them to produce a very soft tremolo.
(still needs better fine tuning, but maybe tomorrow
)
So, the new free bass configuratons can be 16+16 in the tenor register, and 16+16+8 in the master. Just need to add an individual switch to activate/deactivate the reeds, i will try to copy the 5th reed switch of a Hohner Morino VI N that i repaired months ago.
I am very happy with the new sound! It is a prototype, using only materials i had in my house. Maybe in the future i will make it again, with better wood and reeds.
As some of you guys know, i have been modifying my accordion a lot since i bought it: I expanded the basses from 72 to 96, made a free bass section in the bottom part, installed a DIY 5+3 microphone system, replaced the reeds with higher quality Artiste Hohner reeds, and now, i decided to add another 16 set of reeds to the bass side, just to have that double bassoon sound in the free bass section.
Its a Hohner Concerto III, so, the chord reeds are 16+8+4, but i dont like the sound of the 5th reed, its too high for the basses. So, the plan was to modify that reed block, to make enough room for larger 16 reeds.
I had some 3mm MDF wood, it was the only wood i had in my house, and i cant go out and buy better quality wood because of the quarentine. But i was so motivated that i used the MDF anyways, just wanted to make the double 16 sound a reality.
First, i tried to make a normal reed block, but the space was so little, that i had to make it in 90[font=arial, sans-serif]°, just how the italian 5th reeds are placed. I also used the slider part of the original reed block.[/font]
(I dont have propper wood tools to cut it, so i used my dremel, kinda burned the wood in that spot hahah)
As for the reeds, i had some T. Hohner reeds from a Student VM. These are smaller, cheaper reeds, but they would do the job. There were 4 missing reeds, but i found them in another box.
After testing the sound, i decided to tune them to produce a very soft tremolo.
(still needs better fine tuning, but maybe tomorrow
)So, the new free bass configuratons can be 16+16 in the tenor register, and 16+16+8 in the master. Just need to add an individual switch to activate/deactivate the reeds, i will try to copy the 5th reed switch of a Hohner Morino VI N that i repaired months ago.
I am very happy with the new sound! It is a prototype, using only materials i had in my house. Maybe in the future i will make it again, with better wood and reeds.
