Hi; i recently bought that Ervin Lejeune Bb on Ebay, also out of sort of nostalgia, met Eddie on a tour in Europe back then ..... Alas the guy selling it wasn't really honest about it, actually lied pretty much about it, and it needs some fixes. If you wanna now more, mail me privately ... or Joanie will throw me off the forum.
In fact its a pretty good instrument and bellows and wood work are free of worms & spider-nests; thus OK. It has brass reed plates & steel reeds, seemingly binci's too, and a totally different & great sweet sound, though a little softer. Any one here seen/played one like it?
Questions: - Either the reeds, though looking properly fitted, or probably something else causes a heavier transfer of air than most other accordions i know (far less than the h114 & china ones though) no matter what note you play, so its either the wax & glue around the reed blocks, or unlikelier the waxing, or something i haven't thought about yet - leathers look old but seem to work OK throughout the instrument. I plan on changing them anyway.
I am now trying find a source for good quality leather/felt for the flappers, and leather (siq) for the leathers ... and besides, 2 sets of 10 plastic buttons (for other accordions).
- has any one a complete set of used Binci's doing nothing which you might sell? D, C or Bb...
reed brands: (For the builders & reparers amongst y'all)
PS has anybody an opinion or experiences with the use of Binci versus Antonelli reeds in a cajun type accordion?
I was told Antonelli responds more pitch-stable under low and high pressure playing than Binci & thus works better in a cajun box, by an experienced repairman - nout
Re: reed brands: (For the builders & reparers amongst y'all)
some people find it difficult to tune binci because of this stability you wrote about. Antonelli reeds start a little different (more off-onn), are smaller, need less tuning, are sturdy.
But I never compared both brands in one and the same box. ( btw, antonelli are in Castqagnari, f.e.) and in many 2-row accordions in Europe.
Re: reed brands: (For the builders & reparers amongst y'all)
I don't think I buy into the idea that Bincis are bad for Cajun accordions. If they were, then why would it be that Bincis are more or less standard issue for reeds used by most or all of the Cajun accordion builders?
Maybe your experienced repairer is expressing a personal subjective opinion that he has? Or maybe there is an objective difference, but so small as to to be unnoticeable or unimportant?
By the way, it sounds like you might be planning to replace the existing reeds with another set in a different key. I don't think that you can really do that because the reed blocks are different for different keys - or at least, that is what has been said here in the past by people more knowledgeable than me.
You probably just have some leaks that need fixing.
If you hold the accordion by the fingerboard end and let the bass side drop, how fast does it drop with no notes being played? If it drops fast, you have a leaky accordion.
If that does not prove to be the problem, then you could have leaky leathers. if you live in a dry climate, then you can use the plastic leathers to get better response and life. They are called "ventile"
(ven-tee-lay)
I know that some of you may not call that traditional, but they work really well on Cajun accordions as long as you do not live in a damp climate.
hi DP .. thats not it, only uses mucho air when you press a key button, well, truthfully, only a little more than i'm used to from other accordions. pump & haul they call that over here sort of - a feeling as when you're on the bayou on a long fishing trip, and the boat makes a little water, so your feet stay wet nevertheless whatever you do - and i'll check the leathers, but will stick to non-plastics, pretty damp air at times here near the coast in the summer - nout
The lower the key, the more air it will take to sound the reeds.
also, as has been said, leaky leathers can cause the problem too.
Antonelli's used to be slightly narrower than Binchis and used a little less air. But not really any more.
One last thing to think about.
Some makers used a different "cut" of the bellows. the deeper the cut, the more air you can push at a time with the same morement.
The easy way to measure the bellows cut is to use anything to measure the distance from the outside of a bellows fold to the inside. If it is different on the two accordions, that will make a difference too.
Also, yes, if the reeds are out of alignment, from the previous owner over playing the accordion, (pushing too hard) the reeds will take more air to sound.
How about the reedblocks on different brands? If they are not tapered down as much as other accordions, or at all, wouldn't the response take more air? IE: smaller reed chambers=faster response with less air; Larger chamber opposite? Just a thought.
Danny Dyson put "plastic" ventille in my LeCapitaine. I don't know about any crusty "papery" noise, No noise at all. one nice thing, they lie perfectly flat. Will never curl so far as I can tell.
All you really need are good leathers. Fortunately Binci reeds come with quality leathers that last very long unless you play wayyyyy too loud all the time.
Ntime I have my LeCapitaine tuned, I may have the ventilles replaced with leather. My particular box started life with Hohner reeds (supplied by the original buyer, probably to save cost). He had Danny install Binci's at a later date, smart move. Don't know how plastic ventilles got installed.
The April 2011 Dewey Balfa Cajun & Creole Heritage Week
