Open action vs metal action Hohner melodeon?
- Thread starter Bander
- Start date
Hi.
Do you have any photos of what you mean by "open action"?
There's a "metal vs wood" debate and "flat vs stepped".
Traditional wooden action has problems related to the dimensional stability of the wooden keys & comb + excessive wear on the key axle holes.
There's ways to mitigate this, e.g. by making keys from laminated wood, inserting brass or ptfe bushings for the axle to go through, etc, but I'm not aware of any vintage or mass-produced models that have these features.
Metal action tends to stay where it is, but it's rare to see metal action with compression springs under the keys...Hohner did it on their top models in 40s and 50s. I might be crazy, but I think that compression springs feel better than expansion or rotational springs, but we are splitting hairs here. Or maybe compression keys are just easier to set up precisely for the right tension.
Flat vs stepped depends on the playing style. For CBA or, say, Russian "Hromka" harmonica, where thumb is used quite a lot, stepped is key. For a 2-row bisonoric melodeon it makes very little difference, as you don't tend to use the thumb that much. No idea how it applies to single-rows.
Do you have any photos of what you mean by "open action"?
There's a "metal vs wood" debate and "flat vs stepped".
Traditional wooden action has problems related to the dimensional stability of the wooden keys & comb + excessive wear on the key axle holes.
There's ways to mitigate this, e.g. by making keys from laminated wood, inserting brass or ptfe bushings for the axle to go through, etc, but I'm not aware of any vintage or mass-produced models that have these features.
Metal action tends to stay where it is, but it's rare to see metal action with compression springs under the keys...Hohner did it on their top models in 40s and 50s. I might be crazy, but I think that compression springs feel better than expansion or rotational springs, but we are splitting hairs here. Or maybe compression keys are just easier to set up precisely for the right tension.
Flat vs stepped depends on the playing style. For CBA or, say, Russian "Hromka" harmonica, where thumb is used quite a lot, stepped is key. For a 2-row bisonoric melodeon it makes very little difference, as you don't tend to use the thumb that much. No idea how it applies to single-rows.
Thanks, here's two pics of the different hohner actions im seeing:
Attachments
One is "flat", i.e. the buttons go into the cover.
The other of hen is "stepped" (even though there's no second row to create a step, so not sure if this term can be applied to a single-row
)
Both are wooden by the looks of it.
I don't expect one would use a thumb on a single-row, so it's probably a case of pah-tay-toes and po-tah-tas.
You can try asking on melodeon.net - there's quite a few single-row players there.
The other of hen is "stepped" (even though there's no second row to create a step, so not sure if this term can be applied to a single-row
)Both are wooden by the looks of it.
I don't expect one would use a thumb on a single-row, so it's probably a case of pah-tay-toes and po-tah-tas.
You can try asking on melodeon.net - there's quite a few single-row players there.
Dingo40
Been here for ages!
Hi Bander: pleased to meet you and welcome!
It's always interesting to see how the other half lives and to hear something about their lore but I have to admit only a few here know enough about bandoneons to be of much help to anyone, being mostly into piano or chromatic button accordion, while some more adventurous of us may venture
as far afield as the Bayan and Steirish accordion.
As already suggested, melodeon.net is probably your best bet.
See here:
It's always interesting to see how the other half lives and to hear something about their lore but I have to admit only a few here know enough about bandoneons to be of much help to anyone, being mostly into piano or chromatic button accordion, while some more adventurous of us may venture
as far afield as the Bayan and Steirish accordion.
As already suggested, melodeon.net is probably your best bet.
See here:
I am spending time there too. Both sites have provided information on these, and its probably more common to cajun players, but the cajun forums seem to be dormant these days.Hi Bander: pleased to meet you and welcome!
It's always interesting to see how the other half lives and to hear something about their lore but I have to admit only a few here know enough about bandoneons to be of much help to anyone, being mostly into piano or chromatic button accordion, while some more adventurous of us may venture
as far afield as the Bayan and Steirish accordion.
As already suggested, melodeon.net is probably your best bet.
See here:
The first picture seems of a Chinese-made Ariette which can be troublesome! The springs under the buttons tend to move sideways...
