Hi! I am wondering which concertina maker would built a new McCann duet ? It seems that nobody even think to do... but why ? For example I 'd be pleased to order a 48b english sized McCann with middle C as lowest note on right hand side.

http://pagesperso-orange.fr/gilbertcarr/

Hi Gilbert,

It's many years since we met!

With concertina manufacture, I guess virtually anything is possible, at a price. I've attached a link to the Wheatstone (Steve Dickinson) website, on the Duet page. Although only Hayden Duets are listed, I'm sure that Steve would quote a similar price for a Maccann. You quote a 48 button, but I'd mention the 46 button catalogue model to illustrate pricing. When VAT (17.5%) is added, it brings the price up to just over £5200. A good used 46 button Wheatstone could probably be purchased for around £1000/1200, and a good 55 button for £1400/1600. Maccanns seem to appear regularly on ebay, and I'm sure that most dealers would have one available.

http://www.wheatstone.co.uk/CWDuet.htm

I'm certain that other makers would consider such a commission, but the price between "new" and "used" is too wide to make it a feasible option.

Regards,
Peter.

This is about how I see it too; there's lots of fine vintage instruments at a fraction of the price so forget it. It would be nice to commission 'your own' concertina tho', I understand completely.

I did exchange a couple of emails with Harry Geuns about building a large duet; that would have been accordion reeded and the price was potentially a lot lower, he was thinking about it but he went quiet on me; on the other hand I had people whispering things about accordion reeds in my ears so I didn't chase it either.

Another option would be to deliver a vintage instrument to a builder to be completely rebuilt 'as new'.

Peter, I perfectly remember you. I hope we meet again. I miss so much concertina weekends in England (Kilve, Witney, Swaledale)! I will certainly come back very soon.

I agree with both of you, and I already have a very nice 1922 58b Wheatstone Aeola. BUT what a shame McCanns don't have this middle C on right side on standard small instruments, as Cranes have. The idea of a Maccann rebuilt on right side is quite good! Thanks! I have now to find a top range 46 button MacCann (the only standard size one), and ask a good concertina repairer to add low notes, and take out upper ones on right hand side.

I think the reality is that to get a worthwhile concertina out of this, you need new reed pans and new actions, so that you wouldn't actually use enough of the original 46-key to make it worthwhile cutting up. And you'd probably want a consistent set of reeds, which means it would be better to cannibalise a 48-Crane rather than a 46-Maccann.

If you used the existing reed pans, the insoluble problem is probably that you won't be able to design lever runs for new low reeds placed where the high reeds used to be. The same problem exists, either if you put in a new lower row of buttons (seeking to use the existing lever runs for the retained reeds, but probably putting the new buttons in an uncomfortable place), or if you use the existing button locations and re-assign them all a row up (requiring new lever runs for every reed). The other, less insoluble, problem is that the existing cutouts for high reeds are too close together to be sufficiently enlarged for the larger reed slots and larger chambers you will need. You could cut out and replace part of the reed pan with a new piece of wood, or else fill all the holes and slots in and cut new ones in new locations. I don't think that a concertina with a reed pan that had been so modified would really be a high quality concertina any more.

If you "fixed" the RH, then, in my opinion, the shortcomings of the LH would now become overwhelming, and you'd have to "fix" that too. Your lowest C#, D and D# would all be in the overlap. I think that would make it a very difficult instrument to make effective use of, as a duet. This is related to "the worst problem" on a 46-key Maccann, that most 46-Maccann players already complain about, which is the lack of a low D in the LH. With your lower RH, I think you would feel its absence, and its neighbours' absence, even more strongly. I think every one of us would give the LH high C or G# for the low D. But replacing even one high reed with a low reed is not practical to achieve within what a "repairer" can do: it would require major redesign. So I don't think it has ever been done. So, in practice, to get a useful concertina, you really need a new LH reed pan and action too, and probably a different set of reeds, perhaps scavenged from a 48-Crane.

A year or so ago, someone was selling a Dipper-modified Maccann with some additional LH low reeds put on to it. But it did not involve replacing any of the existing high end reeds. One reed was a replacement for an existing reed, but it was a low end reed so that the space was enough for it, and it was in a suitable location to get a suitable lever run. The other reeds were fitted into existing unused space in the centre, which is a place possible to design lever runs for. And this was originally a 57-key, so that there was significant unused space in the centre to use.

Basically, if you want a RH down to a Middle C on the RH on a duet of 48 keys or fewer, without designing an entirely new concertina, then you have to play Crane or Hayden.

The other "solution", which is what many 46-key Maccann players do in the real world, is to treat their instrument as a piccolo, and play an octave above the written pitch.

Actually, I now remember that the high reeds are in places interleaved with some of the medium sized reeds, so fitting larger reeds in the places where smaller reeds once were is probably unachievable without a complete redesign.

Gilbert, I suspect we may differ on this but I think the 46 is too small a cross section to have enough air reserves for duet work. You spend all your time pumping like a looney and can't hold a decent chord. The 58 size is really good, easy to play yet with good reserves, I think from there the leverages start to work against you, getting progressively harder to play loudly and more cumbersome as they get bigger, so I'd just look for a 58 with RH down to middle C; there's plenty about. If you can live with the range it's the optimal size, I believe. Or buy a 61; they're nice too. Or 67's are good; got a few more notes, or 71's are great if a bit lumpy, you have the low B and Bb in the right and down to F in the left....(etc etc)

Doesn't Bob Webb (up in New England) play a modern Maccann duet? A Dipper, IIRC, but no idea how many buttons. He is mighty good at it too! See Tom Hall's thread about the Portsmouth (N.H.) maritime festival, where Bob and expert players of other systems (and many fine singers) will appear again this year.

Ken

I allready have a Wheatstone 58b Aeola, on which I changed the low C# into low B (left and right hands) on pull action. So I am very happy with it! but I think "small is beautiful" !... and love lightness and handyness (is it an english word?!) of small concertinas (even if 58b McCann isn't that heavy). Airlack could be compensate by a 7 fold bellows I think. But, you're right, it would be better to have a new made concertina!... and that was the subject of my post: who would built new McCanns?! I know Colin Dipper would, but I am not ready to wait 10 years for it! Same about Steve Dickinson, even if both of them make splendid instruments. Other makers make english models, which are not more sophisticated than duets. The thing is you can find good vintage duets at a reasonable price, but not always THE duet you want.

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Hey, I'm working on Bela Viergi Coronada and can't make up the rhythm.
It's not really 6/8ths, as a 1st and 4th bars count only 4/8ths and it kind of kicks my rhythm off. I just can't grasp it. I'm sure the real song may care little about the rhythm, but playing is not singing. Do you have any examples, soundfiles, youtube links to this song been performed? Anything will help, thanks.

Only the first bar has four beats the rest have six. Interesting that it has eleven bars of music. Maybe the first bar is meant to be 'pick up' notes.

No, no. The 4th bar has one beat of silence, which is not supported by anything.
If the first bar is "pick up" notes, then I'm completely lost. It looks to me like some arbitrary tiiming. There must be analogous rhythm performed somewhere, as this doesn't seem to be experimental piece of music, but of some folk or traditional French origin.

Hello friends concertinists! About "Bèla vièrgi coronada", it is really a 6/8 song. The first bar is an incomplete bar, that you call "pick up notes" in english ("anacrouse" in french). At the beginning of the 4th bar there's a crotchet rest, so it is a 6/8 bar indeed. Nothing bizarre in this piece, except the 11 bars, but it is an old song which was collected in countryside, during the 19th century, often sung by very old people, and transcribed by hand, using these pause signs and so on, you know... I would like to record these melodies but I do not have any possibility to do it at the moment. Perhaps a workshop specialized in this kind of tune could be organized, in France or in England one day. I tutored such a workshop a few years ago at Witney. Do not hesitate to ask me questions about this french repertoire.