[David I Am]

I think you are saying that your test could also be interpreted to imply this, but I’m not sure what “this” is.

The hypothesis would be that the presence of the bladder itself decreases the ability of the sharp sounding of the reed, that wouldn’t be true with the hard chest.

I include this as a measure of ‘I’m not ignoring a possibility’ but I really don’t think it is the case. If the lack of a bladder also avoided the symptom I don’t think they’d have put the bladder in there.

This little youtube video demonstrates some of the effects of sequences of pressure on the suzuki B24.

I think its telling how too much pressure (or too little) makes the sounding unreliable. I didn’t get it to happen in the video but not-sounding while starting to blow with the valve open is another thing that will happen.

The bladder no doubt makes the playing easier – by enabling more air with less pressure – widening the range-of-what-works. Even with that said, its a good bit trickier to play than my other M-37 melodion.

And uses a LOT of air.

David