Tootler/ 05 Aug 12 - 04:41 PM
T:"True the spacing and size of concertina buttons may be ergonomically less than ideal, but like all design, it is a compromise".

RE: If we agree on that point it might be possible to see better compromises..right?

T:"In this case, the instrument is small and it is going to be impractical to fit buttons of the size and spacing he is advocating. There simply is not room and the fretting of the ends would such as to leave them very weak and prone to damage".

RE: No...as I have said before I have used up to 7mm buttons on englishes and up to 10mm on anglos and that works technically.Up to 6mm and 9mm respectively I see no problems at all.The fretting of old instruments of course may cause risks if reforming them but that is another issue.The most important one is starting to practise better "compromises" when producing new instruments.The most common size 6 1/4" to 6 1/2" is technically and ergonomically dysfunctional anyway so increasing the sizes a little would mean a lot for practical music making.The concertina IS very handy - why then make it so small that it looses essential performance qualities??

T:"More important in my view is having an action that is light, so little pressure is needed on the buttons but firm so that they spring back when released. If you get that right, you don't need a lot of pressure to depress the buttons when playing so the size of the button then becomes much less important".

RE:Correct of course to some part - in theory.In practise however you really need to reform the whole construction since the common springed button force of 50-80(100)gr can NOT be reduced much on a specific instrument.
If you pick a "domed" ( semicircular profile) 5mm button the effective touch diam is say 3mm.The touch *area* ( and the related perceived touch "pressure")however is then less than 1/2 compared to a flat 5mm flat one, and less than 1/3 compared to a 6mm flat one ! A button change CAN be arranged with most instruments, but reducing the spring tension to 1/3 is impossible.

T:" I ended up with a Morse which has slightly larger than average buttons and a nice light action so the kind of problems he envisages simply have not arisen".

RE: I discussed this a lot with Richard Morse and he is one of the makers who has positively adopted the views on the matter which I have presented.(There usually is more conservative resistance among players than makers...even on technical matters..!).Can you tell what diameter and profile your buttons have and what the springed button force is?