3 row diatonic button accordions

Squeezebox & Harmonica
1

Hi everyone -
curious what the deal is with the basses on the 3 row diatonic button accordions – every once and a while you’ll see a 3 row on ebay – a B/C/C# with 48 bass –

how do the basses on one of these work? Are they a stradella bass similar to what is on a PA? With the basses, do you get the same note on the press and the draw? I presume on the trebles it’s similar to other button boxes – a different note on the press and the draw –

it would be pretty neat if you could combine the bass side of a PA and the distinctive sound of the button box on the right hand – is this how these 3 rows work?

Thanks,
Ted

2

how do the basses on one of these work? Are they a stradella bass similar to what is on a PA?

  • Yes!
    With the basses, do you get the same note on the press and the draw?
  • Yes!
    I presume on the trebles it’s similar to other button boxes – a different note on the press and the draw –
  • Yes!
    it would be pretty neat if you could combine the bass side of a PA and the distinctive sound of the button box on the right hand – is this how these 3 rows work?
  • Yes!

They are neat, but very heavy. As I understand it they were developed by the Scottish accordionist Jimmy Shand (who until then had been a B/C player) in conjunction with Hohner. Having the extra C# row means that you have all the accidentals in the other direction (relative to the B row) and there are only a few notes of the C scale that are not available in the other direction(“reversed”). This means you can play in a very fluid style and also play easily many of the exotic keys that are very awkward on a B/C.

Having so many keys available, the usual diatonic basses would be even more useless than they are on a two-row, so it made sense to put a stradella bass end on them.

They are still pretty popular in Scotland but only a few old-timers still use them in Ireland, where they were quite common in the 1950s I think. The English squeezebox supremo John Kirkpatrick plays one too.

Here’s one in full flight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5pc53pYnhs

They are stretching the limits of the diatonic principle, though. Given the weight I think I’d sooner go for a continental chromatic and I believe Jimmy Shand himself is on record as saying that if he had to start over, that’s the route he would go.

People have married two-row right hands to stradella basses though for a lighter box with similar bass flexibility and some makers will make such an animal for you.

Edited to add: video clip of an Irish musician who knows his way around one. Trite song but there are some nice reel snippets in between the verses. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29vHWKDvc9w

3

Thanks StevieJ -
Wow… is the accordion a great instrument or what?

My goal is to be able to add chord accompaniment with the left hand – the stradella system is the way to go –

After playing the PA a bit and starting to learn the stradella bass system, I think the basses on the diatonic B/C are a cruel joke.

Does anyone have any good youtube vids showing the basses being fully used on a diatonic button accordion? I’d just like to hear how the chord accompaniment is supposed to sound when done properly.

We get a very good button accordionist playing at the feis’ here in the midwest, Michael Fitzpatrick, who I believe is playing a standard diatonic button accordion.

4

Hi Ted

Check out the site below. There are some BCC# players there. Also there is a keyboard layout for a 34 treble and 48 bass like John Kirkpatrick plays. Recently I started playing a 37 treble/80 bass Paolo Soprani BCC#. I love it.

Good luck

Brian

http://info.melodeon.net/

5

Thanks Brian –
so with the B/C/C# — on the B/C rows – it behave just like a B/C box, right? Then you add that C# row to get functionality in other keys? Could you transpose a tune you know with the B/C fingerings to the key it would be in if you played it in the same spot on the C/C# rows?

How do you find the basses? Do you primarily use a drone style or do you do bass/counterbass like a PA would do?

Thanks! I am intrigued enough to consider selling my B/C to get into one of these 3 rows…

Ted