Reuther's uniform keyboard

[h***@gmail.com]

Is anyone familiar with John Reuther's uniform keyboard? The same
John Reuther who wrote the accordion repair book also developed
this system. I was reading an interview of him in "The Golden
Age of the Accordion" where he briefly discussed this system and
how he developed it. (Great book, I got it for Christmas.)
I've never seen one in person and until reading the book, had only
seen one in Reuther's repair manual. Has anyone ever seen one?
They were nicknamed checkerboard keyboards because thats what they
look like. Its kind of a hybrid of the piano and chromatic keyboard.
There are three rows of black and white keys where each row has the
notes arranged in whole steps. The second row is a half step above
the first and the third row is simply a repeat of the first.
B C# D# F G A B C# D# F G A B C# D# F G A
C D E F# G# A# C D E F# G# A# C D E F# G# A#
B C# D# F G A B C# D# F G A B C# D# F G A
This keyboard shares the chromatics advantage of easy transposing
while retaining some of the advantages of the piano keyboard.
One of the authors of the book used this system and coincidently
learned directly from John himself.
Accordionly Yours,
Mike Lopke
PS. There were a number of other interesting systems shown but I'll
save that for another post. :-)

There are also 3 and 4 rows button accordions with the same system that are known as 6+6 accordions. One of them (4 rows and 72 bass) is traded by the german company Der Musiker Laden. You can find its page in Facebook.

[ike milligan]

Post by h***@gmail.com

Is anyone familiar with John Reuther's uniform keyboard? The same
John Reuther who wrote the accordion repair book also developed
this system. I was reading an interview of him in "The Golden
Age of the Accordion" where he briefly discussed this system and
how he developed it. (Great book, I got it for Christmas.)
I've never seen one in person and until reading the book, had only
seen one in Reuther's repair manual. Has anyone ever seen one?
They were nicknamed checkerboard keyboards because thats what they
look like. Its kind of a hybrid of the piano and chromatic keyboard.
There are three rows of black and white keys where each row has the
notes arranged in whole steps. The second row is a half step above
the first and the third row is simply a repeat of the first.
B C# D# F G A B C# D# F G A B C# D# F G A
C D E F# G# A# C D E F# G# A# C D E F# G# A#
B C# D# F G A B C# D# F G A B C# D# F G A
This keyboard shares the chromatics advantage of easy transposing
while retaining some of the advantages of the piano keyboard.
One of the authors of the book used this system and coincidently
learned directly from John himself.
Accordionly Yours,
Mike Lopke
PS. There were a number of other interesting systems shown but I'll
save that for another post. :-)

There are also 3 and 4 rows button accordions with the same system that are known as 6+6 accordions. One of them (4 rows and 72 bass) is traded by the german company Der Musiker Laden. You can find its page in Facebook.

There was a printed article many years ago authored by Reuther in an
accordion magazine, that described how to make one. The ones he made
that I have seen were not made with stable woods and had tendencies to
stick. That may account for their rarity. The magazine is long out of
print. If someone finds the article and makes one, they should use
100-year-old wood.

[HUGO ALBERTO ALZATE LONDOÑO]

Is anyone familiar with John Reuther's uniform keyboard? The same
John Reuther who wrote the accordion repair book also developed
this system. I was reading an interview of him in "The Golden
Age of the Accordion" where he briefly discussed this system and
how he developed it. (Great book, I got it for Christmas.)
I've never seen one in person and until reading the book, had only
seen one in Reuther's repair manual. Has anyone ever seen one?
They were nicknamed checkerboard keyboards because thats what they
look like. Its kind of a hybrid of the piano and chromatic keyboard.
There are three rows of black and white keys where each row has the
notes arranged in whole steps. The second row is a half step above
the first and the third row is simply a repeat of the first.
B C# D# F G A B C# D# F G A B C# D# F G A
C D E F# G# A# C D E F# G# A# C D E F# G# A#
B C# D# F G A B C# D# F G A B C# D# F G A
This keyboard shares the chromatics advantage of easy transposing
while retaining some of the advantages of the piano keyboard.
One of the authors of the book used this system and coincidently
learned directly from John himself.
Accordionly Yours,
Mike Lopke
PS. There were a number of other interesting systems shown but I'll
save that for another post. :-)

Mike, you can find the information you are looking for in Facebook with "The janko keyboard group"

[HUGO ALBERTO ALZATE LONDOÑO]

Is anyone familiar with John Reuther's uniform keyboard? The same
John Reuther who wrote the accordion repair book also developed
this system. I was reading an interview of him in "The Golden
Age of the Accordion" where he briefly discussed this system and
how he developed it. (Great book, I got it for Christmas.)
I've never seen one in person and until reading the book, had only
seen one in Reuther's repair manual. Has anyone ever seen one?
They were nicknamed checkerboard keyboards because thats what they
look like. Its kind of a hybrid of the piano and chromatic keyboard.
There are three rows of black and white keys where each row has the
notes arranged in whole steps. The second row is a half step above
the first and the third row is simply a repeat of the first.
B C# D# F G A B C# D# F G A B C# D# F G A
C D E F# G# A# C D E F# G# A# C D E F# G# A#
B C# D# F G A B C# D# F G A B C# D# F G A
This keyboard shares the chromatics advantage of easy transposing
while retaining some of the advantages of the piano keyboard.
One of the authors of the book used this system and coincidently
learned directly from John himself.
Accordionly Yours,
Mike Lopke
PS. There were a number of other interesting systems shown but I'll
save that for another post. :-)

This is another Google group (diykeyboard) where anyone can find information about 6+6 chromatic system.

[Ike Milligan]

Post by HUGO ALBERTO ALZATE LONDOÑO

Is anyone familiar with John Reuther's uniform keyboard? The same
John Reuther who wrote the accordion repair book also developed
this system. I was reading an interview of him in "The Golden
Age of the Accordion" where he briefly discussed this system and
how he developed it. (Great book, I got it for Christmas.)
I've never seen one in person and until reading the book, had only
seen one in Reuther's repair manual. Has anyone ever seen one?
They were nicknamed checkerboard keyboards because thats what they
look like. Its kind of a hybrid of the piano and chromatic keyboard.
There are three rows of black and white keys where each row has the
notes arranged in whole steps. The second row is a half step above
the first and the third row is simply a repeat of the first.
B C# D# F G A B C# D# F G A B C# D# F G A
C D E F# G# A# C D E F# G# A# C D E F# G# A#
B C# D# F G A B C# D# F G A B C# D# F G A
This keyboard shares the chromatics advantage of easy transposing
while retaining some of the advantages of the piano keyboard.
One of the authors of the book used this system and coincidently
learned directly from John himself.
Accordionly Yours,
Mike Lopke
PS. There were a number of other interesting systems shown but I'll
save that for another post. :-)

This is another Google group (diykeyboard) where anyone can find information about 6+6 chromatic system.

I think that is a great design for keyboards. But it may be that one
reason it did not catch on, is that I think possible those keyboards
were all made by hobbyists wood that was not old enough to avoid
warping. The only one I ever saw was unplayable because of sticking keys.