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Strap Pinch


LHMark

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Right, been playing my new-build concertina for nearly a year now and an interesting problem has come up. When I pul, the strap is pinching the flesh between my thumb and index finger against the top of the handrest. It hurts. I've tried alleviating the problem by angling the "point" of the concertina more sharply against my thigh, in order to move my hand out of that position, but my big right mitt stil gets caught. If I take it up a hole, the strap is too tight for me to get all the notes.

Any ideas for simple, non-invasive strap/handle mods?

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I'm very familiar with this problem because I've experienced it myself. You didn't mention the specific make of concertina, but the cure is the same regardless, at least the cure I think most appropriate.

 

I've owned a couple of concertinas over the years that tended to pinch the "web" of flesh between my thumb and first finger. After discussion with the concertina maker I resolved the problem by cutting off the outer 1/4 inch (maybe a little more) off the top of the wooden bar (in the area that pinches) at a 45 degree angle. By removing this bit of material you eliminate the pinch spot. The maker, by the way, elected to include this change on all of his future instruments.

 

If you don't feel comfortable making this change on your own, for a small fee most makers will cut and ship you new wooden bars with custom height and shape adjustments.

 

I just checked, my Carroll and Edgley concertinas came from their makers with this angled cut on the top of the wooden bars. My Dipper does not have an angled cut there, but the straps of that one fit my hands such that the web between thumb and first finger does not line up with the point where the straps rest against the wooden bar so no pinching is possible.

Edited by Bruce McCaskey
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Hmm. My instrument is a Wakker, and it has padded handrests. The pad protrudes ever so slightly over past the upper corner of the handrest, creating a pinch point. Maybe a little work with an xacto knife will do the job.

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I had the sort of "opposite" problem with my Morse Ceili, with the flesh below my little finger getting pinched. Easily sorted by carefully moving the handstrap retaining screw and washer closer (but not too close!) to the edge of the handrest. I had noticed the problem on several other concertinas of the same model, and have modified them for a few local owners who agreed that the retaining screw was too close to the fretwork, allowing that gap between the handrest and the strap.

 

I did write to The Button Box suggesting they consider changing the retaining screw position, but no reply was ever forthcoming, so not sure whether they have modified it on more recently built anglos.

 

Hard to fault the Morse Ceili in any other respect though. Mine was originally a G/D, though I detuned it to F/C as a song accompaniment instrument to better suit my vocal range. Maybe some one told them what I had done and they won't speak to me any more! :o

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