The different stages of development of the Atzarin bandonion

The Atzarin bandonion prototype described in this web site and currently being finalised by the bandoneon and concertina manufacturer Harry Geuns in Belgium has been developed in three stages. The original idea was to apply Atzarin to already existing models of diatonic accordions and concertinas that had three rows of buttons on the treble side. However, testing on a modified instrument soon showed the need for a bandonion specifically designed to take full advantage of the Atzarin layout.

However, bearing in mind the cost of brand new, professional quality bandoneons it very likely that people would be very wary of spending such amounts of money on an instrument with a completely different and totally new layout of notes. At the same time, the unique sound of the bandoneon is produced by its most expensive parts - the steel reeds mounted on long zinc reed plates. Reeds mounted on long reed plates take up less space than reeds mounted accordion style on individual reed plates, and give a large musical range in a compact instrument.

Despite the extra expense of the long zinc reed plates, priority was given to acheiving the bandoneon sound by using high quality long zinc reed plates made in Europe, mounted on quality reed blocks made by concertina and bandonion mnufacturer Harry Geuns in Belgium. The unique button arcs also required a new kind of action which has been designed and quality built by Harry Geuns. The other priority was to reduce costs by using a case and bellows produced in series to Harry Geuns' specifications.

Stage 1 - Testing on modified mini-hybrid bandonion.

Stage 2 - Specific Atzarin bandonion design.

Stage 3 - Further and final improvements to the Atzarin bandonion design.