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Bandoneon Based Duet


m3838

Hayden Duet in the Bandoneon cabinet  

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Here's the poll.

The reason for it is to test the waters and see, if there is potential for some business there.

Then may be our shops will get interested, as it seems to avoid the necessity of large investments into machinery and extencive R&D.

OK, I just voted, mostly positive.

 

I'm concerned about whether the button field's distortion from the official Hayden (or whatever Duet) shape will cause problems (I voted "would want to try it").

 

Also personally concerned aobut how stiff the button action would be (spring force and friction). WWooden bando actions can be a bit rough in those regards, tho I've never tried one. --Mike K.

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OK, I just voted, mostly positive.

 

I'm concerned about whether the button field's distortion from the official Hayden (or whatever Duet) shape will cause problems (I voted "would want to try it").

 

Also personally concerned aobut how stiff the button action would be (spring force and friction). WWooden bando actions can be a bit rough in those regards, tho I've never tried one. --Mike K.

Well, now I have a Hayden bandoneon, 67 keys. The action is nice and light, using aluminum levers.

 

Now I'd be more concerned about the tonal balance between the sides, and between the upper and lower notes of the RH side. I'm wondering if the RH might do better with unison-tuned reeds, rather than octaves.

 

Octave reed pairs work great on the LH, though!

 

Just make sure the instrument puts out a lot of sound! It's weird to squeeze a big fat square box and hear a newborn kitten mewing for its mommy ;) --Mike K.

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it seems to avoid the necessity of large investments into machinery and extencive R&D.
Seems to me it will add to the tooling required: Every used bandoneon you find will be a bit different from the last. You'll be redesigning the thing each time.

 

The body is not really that hard to make-- I've done it already, so I know. With a Hayden, you could also eliminate the big air valve.

 

If you did try to "haydenize" a bandoneon, using the body, bellows and action as-is, you'd need to get custom-made reed plates to fit the reed blocks, but with the notes rearranged. That would probably be costly in a "one-off" situation. I don't think it makes sense to build on a used body.

I'm concerned about whether the button field's distortion from the official Hayden (or whatever Duet) shape will cause problems (I voted "would want to try it").
In the Hayden patent, one variation on the system included curved rows as in a bandoneon!
Also personally concerned aobut how stiff the button action would be (spring force and friction). WWooden bando actions can be a bit rough in those regards, tho I've never tried one. --Mike K.
I've played some nice wooden-action bandoneons/chemnitzers, so it can be done. I was even considering a wooden action for the instrument I'm building, but couldn't work it out with the particular reed set I used. The big problems with the old ones are durability and stability under different temperature/humidity conditions. If the levers were laser-cut from thin plywood, these problems could be reduced. The pivot methods used in aluminum actions could also be adapted to work with wooden levers.
Now I'd be more concerned about the tonal balance between the sides, and between the upper and lower notes of the RH side. I'm wondering if the RH might do better with unison-tuned reeds, rather than octaves.
The highest notes could be unison tuned-- I've encountered this in some instruments.
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it seems to avoid the necessity of large investments into machinery and extencive R&D.
Seems to me it will add to the tooling required: Every used bandoneon you find will be a bit different from the last. You'll be redesigning the thing each time.

 

 

There is re-design and re-design.

Of course you'll have to discuss a variant of layout every time, but not drramatically. Mainly what notes to leave and what to add in and upper- and lower-most octaves. There is a possibility to actually fill the existing holes with epoxy, then re-drill the holes, so they sit on the levers, but without current curve. It can be veneered on top, no big deal, and look good.

A drilling stand is not "retooling". The main problem is opportunity (or lack of it) to replace large Bandoneon plates with individual alluminium reedplates and shuffle them accordingly. If that's impossible, than there is nothing to talk about.

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The main problem is opportunity (or lack of it) to replace large Bandoneon plates with individual alluminium reedplates and shuffle them accordingly. If that's impossible, than there is nothing to talk about.
Not impossible, but I think it might be a deal-breaker:
  • The spacing between cells on each reedblock for a bandoneon reedplate will be much less than the widths of modern paired reedplates, so they would have to be cut down to fit.
  • The dividing walls between cells of the reedblock may be too narrow to make a good seal with a reed on each side. Reedblocks made specifically for individual plates (e.g. those made by Arno Arnold) have thicker dividing walls.
  • The middle octave reeds on the treble side need to have the tips of the tongues pointing towards the action board, with the tips all aligned and some excess plate material at the rivet end.

img_bandoneo.jpg

  • Paired reeds don't usually have this excess plate material, so you would have a gap.

Feel free to give it a try, but it's not something I would want to undertake.

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