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Re: Thumb strap Jeffery Broussard

No its' no good- definitely needed a thumb strap, so got a nice scrap of leather from the cobblers and followed Bryan's advice. Used some washers and a felt washer underneath to give free movement and it works a treat.
Sure I'd have made a mess of it if this topic hadn't come up, so thanks braves.

Re: Thumb strap Jeffery Broussard

Hey folks,

I'm still chewing on my existential thumbstrap questions and found that old post from Ganey:

"I played for years with the strap just long enough for me to stick my thumb in and rest the left edge on my thumb on the end of the keyboard. The result was a constant ache from my thumb being stressed in a direction that it does not bend.
One day, I attended a 50th Anniversary party that Paul Daigle was playing. He allowed me to sit in for a few songs. Paul has his strap a little higher up the keyboard, and as a result, I was forced to plant the flat part of my thumb on the end of the keyboard so that I could reach the bottom of the keyboard. It made my hand much more mobile. I went home and adjusted all my thumb straps to allow me to position my thumb in that manner. I never moved my strap up, but I have been contemplating doing that. I don't use the top button. Even if I wanted to, I can't reach it. I do, however use the second button, and it is sometimes difficult for me to reach. Moving the strap would make that much easier."

I'm wondering whether I should reposition my strap a bit higher.
On my accordion (thumbstrap is in the standard position, between buttons 4 and 5) I could easily reach an hypothetical button 13 with my pinky... button 2 is much harder to reach though. My 3 main fingers have their "home position" in the buttons 6 to 9 range.
It would make sense to screw the strap between buttons 3 and 4 (a notch higher) so the "home position" sits not quite as low on the keyboard. Think I'm a test fit it with some vise or something and see what it does before actually drilling the thing.

Sunday ponderings LOL...

Re: Thumb strap Jeffery Broussard

I accidentally installed a strap one button space up on a keyboard, which would have been a really big deal to fix. Before attempting it, I told the customer about it and let him try it, and offered to leave as is or fix. He said he liked it better that way. Whew. When I played it, like many changes, it threw things off for a few minutes, but once I adjusted, it was no problem, and it sure does make it a lot easier to reach the 1 and 2 buttons, and since the pinky stretches easy, the 10 wasn't hard to reach. But this would be a very personal thing.

Re: Thumb strap Jeffery Broussard

UPDATE

I finally pulled the trigger and moved the thumbstrap up a bit. I set the strap up with 2 screws (standard), right beneath the 4th button (one screw in between buttons 3 and 4 and the other screw between buttons 4 and 5, strap in the middle).

I can feel a definite improvement. Button 10 is not significantly harder to reach with the pinky (I have moderately long fingers) but the hand falls quite naturally on buttons 3, 2 and even 1.

I would recommend this mod to players with medium or bigger hands as well as zydeco guys who use the button 1 a lot (I don't). I could also see how having the thumbstrap between buttons 3 and 4 may be over the top.

Re: Thumb strap

UPDATE, UPDATE

I read back over this thread today after much contemplation and having to move one of my accordion's thumb straps, and I do believe Orville and Bryan are on to something. I had said earlier that if the thumb strap is correctly located on the keyboard, that your 4 fingers should fall naturally on buttons 5,6,7,8. What if that is WRONG?!!!!!! Nobody challenged me when I typed it got dammit!

What if your 4 fingers should fall naturally on buttons 3,4,5,6? After all, buttons 3 and 6 on the push make the "C" chord on a "C" accordion. That would be considered the home position on a "C" accordion for playing in the key of "C" on the push. (The First Position).

Look at the old HA-114 Hohners. Look at where they place the thumb its freakin high and has an upward slant like the hour hand of a clock pointing to 2:30 o'clock. Savoy's Acadian accordions also have this same 2:30 upward slant and the top outside end of the strap falls even with the bottom of button 3. I say the "Germans" got it right, and so did "Savoy". They knew something that most of us didn't.

"That a correctly placed and correctly slanted thumb strap will allow optimum playability and finger reach to all 10 buttons when playing in all the 6 different positions or keys of play!!!"

This epiphany came to me when trying to play Slim Doucet's "Chere Yeux Noir" exactly like he probably played it. Using all of the 10 buttons. The high pitch buttons for one part of the song(mids on down) and the low pitch buttons for the other part of the song (mids on up to button 1. I was able to play it easier on my black "KING" accordion "D" which has a higher thumb strap setting. After I changed out and corrected the thumb strap on my "C" accordion to match the "KING", voila! Played it very easily like a Champ!

Ponder carefully what I have said here. It means the difference of a "good player" and a "Champion Player".
After all this time, you'd think it would be common knowledge.



Jamey Hall's most excellent Cajun Accordion Music Theory

Brett's all new Cajun Accordion Music Theory for all keys!

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