"Over the years"? Must be pretty recent, as I've never heard of them, and I've certainly never had any trouble. The "worst" I've experienced is being asked to actually play my concertina.


I always call mine "concertina". If they don't seem to know what that is, I explain, "like a small accordion" (or "som en lille harmonika", or "как маленкая гармонь", or whatever ). Nobody's ever even hinted at confiscation. And nobody's ever suggested that there's a list of forbidden names for things, for which I'm glad. If there's anything I find scarier than the prospect of my concertina being confiscated, it's somebody entrusted with security being so unaware of what they're looking for that they'd confuse a concertina with concertina wire... or a bomb, or anything else.


Again, not only have I never heard of such a thing, but I find it highly unlikely that there is any sort of bomb which would resemble the concertina under an x-ray, no matter the orientation. From an engineering standpoint, it doesn't make sense. The worst reaction I've gotten is puzzlement; the best are the exclamations as to the beauty of the pattern.

At Boston one night, I put the concertina case through the x-ray.  The
operator made a signal and I was surrounded by armed guards.  They made me
take the instrument out and play it - at gunpoint!

A quick burst of Yankee Doodle Dandy, and everyone relaxed, smiles all
around.

I asked them why they were so worried - the operator said that it looked
like a nuclear implosion device on the x-ray.

Since then I always place concertinas on the belt so they stand upright, so
the guards don't get alarmed about the radiating pattern of reeds and levers.

The x-ray scanner story came from the Morris Dance Discussion List in January 2004:

...unfortunately the staff manning these x-ray machines cannot be relied on to leave bags as they are put on the belt, and sometimes turn them the wrong way regardless.

I have now found that the best expedient is to warn them what is in the bag (something like "The strange looking object is a concertina, a squeezebox.") before they look at it on the screen and panic, they then tend to smile, in recognition, when they see the image come up and there is no problem.

I also had to preform calculations to show that the calculator wasn't the trigger.

The screener told me that it was the shadowy outline of the bellows (all wood and leather, not a metal part to be found) that piqued their interest. 
So it just goes to show that it's not always the metal bits they're looking for.

Considering what a "Personal Assistant" computer can do these days, I think a terrorist could not only pack a trigger into a working hand-held calculator, but even the software to design the bomb.

If you have anything in your bag that may show up with an odd x-ray image, you should inform the screeners.

There was an incident in Oregon, last year, I think, when the scanner got a good look at an electronic practice chanter, nicely stowed in the PVC pipe that served it as a case...

Yes, security in Portland has had many incidents in the last year that caused reactions from mild annoyance to rightous anger resulting in lawsuits. A chanter in a PVC tube nearly stopped all action until the reality of the situation became apparent.
Must be all those "radical " types there.
Rob

Was also asked if there was a gun in a long case I was carrying "No, it's worse than that, it's a set of bagpipes!"

My dream came true recently on a visit to New York City.

I had my 20 button Lachenal in its nice hexagonal mahagony case...   One guard ... asked me to take out the concertina.  Once it was out, in the grand and very acoustically lively entry hall of the Met I had to get off a few notes if not an entire tune, so I did. It sounded quite nice.  Now I know a soft spoken Lachenal isn't so soft spoken in the grand entry hall of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Richard

I can see opportunities to test the acoustics of a concertina at various venues (??? - thingking) - perhaps by taking a guided tour of the Sydney Opera House or the Royal Albert Hall or any other venue of your choice.