Our Dutch local hero Wim Nagtegaal (he won this "non LA" award with his band Acadian ramblers, few years ago) can play the first and tenth button at the same time with his fingers. He has very long fingers indeed. Believe me, I saw it. He is the only one I saw, using the first button in his playing. Some folks say that it's only used for the tuning. I remember Cajungreeneyes telling that he thought nine buttons to be easier for a beginner.
If you play the accordion on your lap, the weight doesn't matter. In my humble opinion an accordion which is too light, is more instable. But I never played a nine button.
One person who uses the top button alot in cajun music is Junior Martin's grandson Joel Martin. I played some accordion with him when i brought my accordion to junionr for some repairs. I played a couple of songs with him seconding me, but had to quit and watch him by himself for awhile. I don't know how he does it but he does. As for the Bellard accordion mentioned earlier it is made by Mr. Slim Bellard. I met him at howard noel's jam in crowley a while back. It seemed to be an ok box.
it's pretty cool. i can't describe it,but it sounds good. If you are ever in Lafayette and got time to swing by Martin Accordions get him to grab a box and play for you. He lives right there in an appartment at the shop so they are often arround.
I've seen Ray Abshire use it in conjunction with a pull on 6 and 7 to get a fat G chord at the end of a tune.
S'b'B
And Claude - my full name is Steven Erdman Blais and I live in Eaton, New York. I don't put my email address on here because I'm dodging spam, or maybe I'm a dodgy character. Probably both.
The S'b'B thing stands for Stevie "Blue" Blaze, which somebody gave me as a stage name back when I played loud 3 chord music on a leopard-spotted Fender Musicmaster.
The April 2011 Dewey Balfa Cajun & Creole Heritage Week
