Mute Switch
- Thread starter GeorgeH76
- Start date
- Status
The mute switch has essentially only one purpose: it kills the accordion sound on a midi-fied accordion to let you play with the sound of different instruments without acoustic accordion sound in the mix. The bass side still plays (if the mute is only on the treble) while you get different sound from the treble side with electronics.
There are also different mute switches that open and close a sordino. In that case the treble side still plays accordion but the sound is partly muted by covering holes in the grille. The old Hohner Atlantic had this (a "jalousie") which many people kept closed all the time to kill the way too sharp tone the treble otherwise produced. The Gola is also known for having a sordina, but fewer people like it and a friend of mine simply had the sordina removed from her Gola (but still kept in storage). Many Russian bayans have a sordina on the bass side.
There are also different mute switches that open and close a sordino. In that case the treble side still plays accordion but the sound is partly muted by covering holes in the grille. The old Hohner Atlantic had this (a "jalousie") which many people kept closed all the time to kill the way too sharp tone the treble otherwise produced. The Gola is also known for having a sordina, but fewer people like it and a friend of mine simply had the sordina removed from her Gola (but still kept in storage). Many Russian bayans have a sordina on the bass side.
George, while Paul covered both topics, I am not clear if you are referring to a MUTE or sordina style switch. What kind of accordion do you have?
Thanks Debra and JerryPH. I think the following best describes what I'm referring to:
"The benefit of a mute is mostly that it cuts out higher frequencies of the reeds and makes the tone mellower so it sounds like an accordion with a tone chamber. They don't really get much quieter because of the mute."
I have a Colombo accordion made in Italy by Bugari circa 79-80. Here's a Demo video using the Bassoon and Violin registers with the mute off and on:
"The benefit of a mute is mostly that it cuts out higher frequencies of the reeds and makes the tone mellower so it sounds like an accordion with a tone chamber. They don't really get much quieter because of the mute."
I have a Colombo accordion made in Italy by Bugari circa 79-80. Here's a Demo video using the Bassoon and Violin registers with the mute off and on:
Dingo40
Been here for ages!
To me, there's a distinct difference in the two settings: with it off, brighter and sharper, with it on , more mellow and softer.?
Off for polkas and folk, on for swing and jazz??
Off for polkas and folk, on for swing and jazz??
Yes the difference is quite noticeable. I have a sordina switch on my fr3x but I can't tell any difference between on and off.
Yeah, I was kind of suspecting that, and its not really surprising.
A true mute, as Paul describes it and as I've known it, blocks off reeds so that they don't sound... period. What you are showing/describing is a "Sordino". My Hohner Imperator has a "Sordino" my Iorio has a "mute", because when I hit the "mute" register it shuts down all treble reeds leaving the accordion free to play with full accordion bass and all it's electronics (the reverse can be done too).
I'm definitely not making anything of this, the terms are often mis-used, even Liberty Bellows describes my Imperator as having a "mute".
In terms of audible effect, it does cut down the high frequencies from escaping the grill and actually makes it sound like the H reeds in my LMMMH sound close to a LMMM accordion adding a little more mellowness for sure. Options/variations are the spice of life!
Siegmund
Well-known member
I would suggest that it is the complete silencing that is the misuse, or at least electronic-era-only use, of the term. (Not that I have a better word for it.) The things we put on violin bridges and in trumpet bells, to slightly reduce the volume and dramatically change the timbre, have been called mutes in English and sordini in Italian, for about 300 years... one does not expect a mute to silence a musical instrument, only a television set.
Dingo40
Been here for ages!
George,
Mute/sordina apart, have I been noticing a tendency to go easy on the bellows as if not to annoy the neighbours, or is that my imagination??
Mute/sordina apart, have I been noticing a tendency to go easy on the bellows as if not to annoy the neighbours, or is that my imagination??
Last edited:
I reckon that the panicked departure from the room by my cats is telling me something of that nature.
Right, so it is a sordino and not a mute.
The best known accordions with a mute are the original Hohner Atlantic IV (not the IV N) and the Hohner Gola. But I have seen other accordions with a sordino (Excelsior for instance). The Atlantic has it implemented using a kind of "curtain" that opens and closes. It was quite a tricky mechanism. Most other accordions with a sordino have a metal or wooden box with rectangular holes in it and a slider that opens and closes these holes, much like how register slides work. My bayan has such a sliding sordino on the bass side.
- Status
