I've been enjoying getting to grips with my Castagnari Dinn lll over the past couple of years. Generally I play with the stopper down as the box has a nice clear and light tone. With the stopper up, I get that very deep honky tone which is distinctively castagnari, but I find it a bit heavy going. Can I have that tone adapted? I would like a stronger sound for sessions but not that heavy sound. Can the low set of reeds be retuned up an octave? Would that give a bigger sound without being too heavy?
Talk to Michael at IrishDancemaster. You can google to get the site location. I had a similar situation on one of my boxes and he did a wonderful job helping me with it. It really cuts through.
I don't know. I love the sound of Casti's. I always thought they were very quiet boxes which I am told is a function of the airway design. The one Michael helped me with really has power, but I am told that the airways were larger than most.
I remeber going to my first session with it. The other box player, a really wonderful older fellow who has an amazing repertoire, was playing a Galliard. Very soft box.
Every said that my box was the loudest they had heard, and I was trying to play as softly as I could.
Don't even go there i've had the same trouble with my Castagnari it's LMM and i've tried to obtain a middle reed block to make it MMM.
I bought my accordion direct from them in 2007 and I've used my local tuner to get the reed block from Castagnari but it's taken them over a YEAR to respond !! They don't want to know unless you're buying the whole accordion off them honest they just kept fobbing me off.
Be warned.
Actually, my Connemara III has one stop like that. I really never use it.
It sounds really rich, but doesn't play off other instruments (actually the players) well.
In this economy, how are the major accordion makers holding up? Competition from China and the Old Eastern Block, and there seem to be very few out there unless you are willing to rebuild them.
re. upmine3... I wouldn't have thought that converting from the longer (L) reeds to shorter (M) ones would require a new reedblock. The extra length of the chambers can be filled with little blocks of wood cut to fit, or even with wax and nothing else. It's going the other way around (short to long) that would be more difficult. I'd think that a good repairman ought to be willing to tackle the job for you.
Yeah Jeeves Tones that's just it between my local er tuner and Castagnari it's taken over a year to come to a simple solution.
The thing i forgot to mention is that i want to keep my low reed block and have a whole new middle put in so if i'm ever bored of the arrangement it's just a simple case of removing a screw and swapping between LMM and MMM.
Kind of a cheap way of having a 4 voice box just not as convenient.
Box Tone
Box Tone
I've been enjoying getting to grips with my Castagnari Dinn lll over the past couple of years. Generally I play with the stopper down as the box has a nice clear and light tone. With the stopper up, I get that very deep honky tone which is distinctively castagnari, but I find it a bit heavy going. Can I have that tone adapted? I would like a stronger sound for sessions but not that heavy sound. Can the low set of reeds be retuned up an octave? Would that give a bigger sound without being too heavy?
# Posted on September 9th 2009 by Rathawaun
Re: Box Tone
Talk to Michael at IrishDancemaster. You can google to get the site location. I had a similar situation on one of my boxes and he did a wonderful job helping me with it. It really cuts through.
I don't know. I love the sound of Casti's. I always thought they were very quiet boxes which I am told is a function of the airway design. The one Michael helped me with really has power, but I am told that the airways were larger than most.
I remeber going to my first session with it. The other box player, a really wonderful older fellow who has an amazing repertoire, was playing a Galliard. Very soft box.
Every said that my box was the loudest they had heard, and I was trying to play as softly as I could.
# Posted on September 9th 2009 by zippydw
Re: Box Tone
talk to castagnari direct . I would guess that you can buy a replacement block with reeds already fitted, that would drop straight into place.
I doubt that you would get a good result by raising the pitch of the low set by an octave - if its feasible at all.
# Posted on September 10th 2009 by millionyears_bc
Re: Box Tone
It isn't feasible. A semitone is generally reckoned to be as far as you can retune a reed, so forget about an octave.
# Posted on September 10th 2009 by Jeeves Tones
Re: Box Tone
I see you're from England - in that case you should try contacting Theo Gibb at www.theboxplace.co.uk
He did the same thing to my Saltarelle - replaced the low octave set of reeds with a 3rd middle set - to get a little more bite without the honk.
# Posted on September 10th 2009 by Larshansen
Re: Box Tone
Don't even go there i've had the same trouble with my Castagnari it's LMM and i've tried to obtain a middle reed block to make it MMM.
I bought my accordion direct from them in 2007 and I've used my local tuner to get the reed block from Castagnari but it's taken them over a YEAR to respond !! They don't want to know unless you're buying the whole accordion off them honest they just kept fobbing me off.
Be warned.
# Posted on September 10th 2009 by upmine3
Re: Box Tone
Actually, my Connemara III has one stop like that. I really never use it.
It sounds really rich, but doesn't play off other instruments (actually the players) well.
In this economy, how are the major accordion makers holding up? Competition from China and the Old Eastern Block, and there seem to be very few out there unless you are willing to rebuild them.
# Posted on September 11th 2009 by zippydw
Re: Box Tone
re. upmine3... I wouldn't have thought that converting from the longer (L) reeds to shorter (M) ones would require a new reedblock. The extra length of the chambers can be filled with little blocks of wood cut to fit, or even with wax and nothing else. It's going the other way around (short to long) that would be more difficult. I'd think that a good repairman ought to be willing to tackle the job for you.
# Posted on September 11th 2009 by Jeeves Tones
Re: Box Tone
Yeah Jeeves Tones that's just it between my local er tuner and Castagnari it's taken over a year to come to a simple solution.
The thing i forgot to mention is that i want to keep my low reed block and have a whole new middle put in so if i'm ever bored of the arrangement it's just a simple case of removing a screw and swapping between LMM and MMM.
Kind of a cheap way of having a 4 voice box just not as convenient.
# Posted on September 12th 2009 by upmine3