What the Heck Does THAT Mean? (Accordion Speak 101)

(for the inimitable Tom B.)
A friend made a comment a few weeks ago indicating that those who are not Of the Bellows may have difficulty grasping the lingo of the box. "Yeah, yeah," I thought, "thus is the fate of squeeze-muggles." Then I read a sentence in another friend's accordion blog, and it shocked me into sympathy. Describing a sort of uber-box, Andy, at Melodeon Minutes wrote, "It was a Gaillard, 4-voice -- yes, 4-voice -- in D/G, tuned LM-MM+, with two switches behind the keyboard."

All I need is a Gaillard accordion,
two rows in G/C,  three reeds,
a wet tuning, and the truth.
"Good Lord," I thought, envious, "That's quite a thing!" Then I imagined the uninitiated perusing that line (maybe the boys at Homeland Security) wondering, "What kind of thing?"

Then, in my own paean to the Hohner Corso, I found that I'd described the red, pearloid wonder as, "A wet tuned French-sounding box." Holy Cow! Is that even legal in New England?

So, what does it mean? With apologies to Andy, I've decided to use his exemplar sentence to explain some of the naming conventions of accordions.

So there you go. Suddenly it all makes sense, hey? Additional resources for this can be found at Wendy Morrison's Guide to Squeezeboxes, and, at Melodeon.net, Steve Dumpleton's excellent Voices and Tunings FAQ.


Further questions, comments, or corrections are welcome.


*This is sarcasm.  I love vulgar.

UPDATE: Found this video on YouTube demonstrating wet and dry tuning differences. The guy is something of a character, but he makes his point.

Labels: , , ,