paperpunchr

Hey Bear, (also my daughter's nickname) Before you go badmouthing your home country on an international forum, you might want to get your facts straight...or do some world travelling and talk to people in other countries...really see how the rest of the world lives and understand what you have here. If we're so poverty stricken, and the rich have all the money, and everyone here lies, why do the poor and ambitious folks from most of the rest of the world keep trying to get here? Why are poor people here generally overweight, and have cars, heaters, air conditioners, and at least a basic education? The "poor" in America are still better off than the "middle class" in much of the rest of the world. I've lived overseas a lot, and travelled more. Try it. Might be wiser to stick to music and concertinas and avoid flame wars about topics where you only seem to know what your friends tell you. Paperpunchr

LOL. I have asthma and a smaller lung capacity because of it. I don't think breathing while playing a concertina will kill me, though it might severely harm any listener. I'm also an asthmatic, and I have to confirm a tendency to breathe with the bellows direction can leave you short of breath...it was stronger at the start, and stronger on slow tunes than fast, but it's just something to be aware of and don't keel over...

Would that it were so...I never heard a word of Greek until I was in college, taking an archaeology course...we benighted gringos....gringae? ... gringidae?...gringi? who knows!

I digress briefly, If you can't find public transportation (subways/trains) in New York City you're not looking...it makes good economic sense in big cities...a lot of us Americans live in small towns and suburbs for a reason...we don't particularly like big cities...and other than Mother Russia and China, there aren't many countries (especially in europe) that have the population density and short spans between towns to make railroads viable...why should the rural taxpayers pay for cities to have more trains than economics can justify? Moving sidewalks? For now only practical in airports, protected from weather and vandalism. Can't argue with creating green spots in cities that don't have enough...buy up a few derelict buildings, level them, clear and grub out the old utility lines, and build parks...a more decent use of taxpayer dollars than buying healthcare for "children" up to 25 years old at my expense...as our runaway Congress (opposite of Pro-gress) seems ready to do. But I digress too much...Concertinas in the park...yes...definitely. Doug

Hmmm...I see the link and can open the photo...it does look slightly odd for a duet...spacing seems to have a mid-row hiccup...custom built for someone with an arthritic hand or a missing finger? Do both sides have the same irregularity? Doug

Interesting...I get more physically tired in the arms and shoulders than mentally fatigued...I seem to have the keyboard-position/bellows-direction/tone-produced matrix in my head, and once I can whistle or sing the tune, I can make the instrument produce it without a lot of concerted thought...this works better for familiar tune types, and not for 13/8 Moldovan swing lullabyes or other odd tune types, obviously, but as a rule if I can sing it I can play it.

WoooHooo! Sounds like a winning concept, allowing you to learn one basic pattern and then play in any key...I hope it winds up being affordable as well as profitable...Good luck!

Och, Aye, I'd have one o'them if me arm was long enought ta reach... Tasty stuff!

David, One way (actually two...maybe three, I'm brainstorming here) I can think of to eliminate the timbre difference would be to either go to a Midi electronic concertina, ...or if you want to stay physico-pneumatic-acoustic, redesign the lever layout to put the two reeds side by side in the same physical location... or have two buttons/levers, one in each row, mechanically connected so they are both working one pad over one reed. Then you'd get the same exact tone quality from either button... Other than that you're going to have some degree of difference.... You can look at it as a problem, or you can look at it as an opportunity to introduce another variation into your playing. Cheers!

Now, now...mustn't be snobby! Some of those classics are amusingly presumptuous and pompous, and some of those British (and french) folk tunes in 3/4 are quite lovely and elegant...not to mention ladies swoon when they hear them.

The shield over their important parts is called a sporran. I hear that Sporran's made of Badger fur are now required to have a special permit... Badgers....We don' got no badgers...We don' gotta show you no steenkin' badgers!

Well… I am willing to see if it would be feasible to offer a limited number of G/D Rochelles. Besides technical, there are also financial and logistic obstacles. Because of the way our production system is set up, we need to do a minimum of 60 instruments. If we get 60 orders for a G/D Rochelles, I am willing to see what I can do. Any one interested in a G/D Rochelle, let us know: info@concertinaconnection.com Wim Wakker Concertina Connection v.o.f. One for me! Email has been sent.

Sure, an if the foto wuz reversed, it would be left to right, not upside down....and their kilts would be over their accordions.

There's truth in jest...I have noticed among all but one concertina player of my acquaintance, we do make odd momentary facial expressions while playing, as if the part of the brain that decides which button to push is close enough to the facial control center that there's an occasional impulse overflow...I feel it myself when playing... Eyebrows and lips tend to move up and down or do odd things when playing 'tina...Tell me I'm not the only one who ever noticed this? Doug

Now There's some good news, good enough to make me hold off moving up so's I can see what a G/D would really be like to play, for the kind of music I do. Still, Wim, I think a Rochelle in G/D would sell well enough to be worth the little investment (different reeds/reed turrets) it would take. I suspect you know your own business but I know a lot of folks who'd want one. Cheers, and thanks for making a decent affordable beginner's instrument...bound to funnel more folks into the concertina habit. Doug