I’m about to get a new Castagnari which will either be a Keanebox from NY or a Kriss III direct from Italy. If I get the Kriss I can specify any layout I want in treble and bass.
I recently found my current box lacking the high D when I was learning a slow air. Seems this is normal for B/C. I’m looking for advice about whether to replace another reed (maybe the F# in the B row) with the high D for that odd occasion. Is there enough need to worry about it? Would another reed be better to replace?
Any opinions about that, and also whether to go for the usual McComiskey bass (as seen in the layout below) or the Joe Burke style (Ds and Gs in both directions on the same buttons) will be very welcome.
This standard layout is the same as my current B/C (except for the 2 extra buttons):
Sorry I haven’t been on for a while… hope its not to late to help…
I think regarding the bass layout, you might as well flip a coin. Both Joe Burke and Billy McComiskey’s systems are fairly well regarded. My guess is that Billy’s system is somewhat more common since it requires less modifications to the box.. but that could just be caused by the fact that I live near Baltimore MD which is Billy’s home base (And thus he and his son Sean dominate the accordian scene around here.. almost every box player around here seems to have taken lessons from one or both of them at some point).
As for the replacing a reed… Are you talking about the third octave f# at the very bottem of the instrument? Maybe, but I can’t imagine there are enough tunes that go to that high D to justify it. I have met more than my share of the best B/C players around and none that I can recall has ever felt the need to change the layout of the melody rows.