Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Big things in small packages

Castagnari's Lilly: This is a super small box that is great for some very specific applications.  Obviously, it makes a great travel box. But it also has a very specific sound.

With 21 treble buttons and 8 bass/chords, it is a "full size" melodeon from the perspective of tonal range -- at least, for a two-row player!  However, the Lilly is a single-voice box, which means that for each treble note, only one reed sounds.  

Despite this limitation, the advantage is that it allows Castagnari to mount the reeds on a flat "pan" rather than in stand-up blocks.  This heightens the responsiveness of the reeds and makes for a very loud box.

Theoretically, it should be possible to make a similar box, slightly larger, with 2 1/2 (or 3) rows and 12 bass/chords.  Ahem ahem.

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