Steampacket wrote:
Why are C/G anglos popular, but not G/C 2 row button boxes?
The quick answer: your typical C/G anglo has 30 buttons, and as a result, is fully chromatic, with most notes having a button that works on both push and pull.
As you might expect just from the button count, a typical 21-button G/C accordion is much more restrained. It's great for playing in C or G -- for most of those notes you get a nice choice whether to play it on the push or the pull! But the most common key in Irish trad is D, and right away in that key you start seeing limitations for a G/C.
Our G/C is set up in what I think is a fairly typical way -- the first button in each row is accidentals. That gives you four accidentals. In theory this makes it chromatic -- you can play a note for every note name. But there's only one octave for each of the accidentals, so for instance if you're playing in D major, you get just one C#, even though the usual range for fiddle tunes would have two different C#s. (Maybe even three if the tune goes high enough, though that's fairly rare.) Plus getting to the first button is awkward.
By contrast, my 21-button C#/D is fully chromatic from the F# below middle C up to the D two octaves above middle C except the Bb below middle C. (Which I traded to get the low G, a much more common note in standard Irish trad key signatures.) It's definitely more awkward playing in C or G than it would be on the G/C, but it is completely doable. And it's vastly better for playing in D, A, or E -- all the notes are available across the standard tune note range, and conveniently located, too. (And yes, my box is missing the low Bb, but it still has the two more higher Bbs available. The G/C only has one Bb total.)
My question is why are't D/G accordions more popular in Irish music? Especially those 2.5 row D/G boxes with the half row of accidentals? It seems like that would give you maximum ease and versatility for the common key signatures and still a solid ability to play in keys like C and A.