I would guess most of you saw my posting of my new Tedrow baritone, and may have viewed the video on Youtube.

Before I give you my impressions, let me give some background. I have wanted a concertina for a long time, but never pursued the desire until around April of this year. I got a Rochelle and have been pretty happy with it. When I first got the Rochelle I was way too physical, but settled down. I really took to the concertina and have been amazed how easy it is to play by ear, and also to improvise. With low impulse control I ordered a Tedrow about a month after I got the Rochelle. I should mention that I have never seen, let alone played any other concertina, so the Rochelle is my only experience.

About that time I started to have hearing problems that interrupted hearing high pitch and was actually painful. Thankfully this has subsided somewhat, but we found the source was a benign brain tumor, and the problem will likely persist. With that in mind I changed my order to a baritone.

The Tedrow finally arrived today. It is much smaller than the Rochelle, which I expected, but was a little surprised how compact the bellows compress. It is beautiful to look at before I even tried to play it. BTW, it fits nicely in an American Tourister makeup case I dragged down out of the attic (after reading that recommendation on this site.)

The first surprise was how supple the bellows are. I was sort of like the weight lifter with a set of styrofoam phony barbells, I used way more strength that was required for the first song.

As I said, I have no experience with a concertina except the Rochelle. Well, videos do not do a baritone justice. This baby has a deeeeeeep voice.

I was a little disturbed at first because on some of the low notes I would pull and get no action. Well, I think I was being too physical. After about 30 minutes playing around I gained a feel for the right air and finger action to get the notes started, and she plays fast just fine.

The brass keys are considerably smaller that the Rochelle's plastic keys, and the action is fast and light. I had some problem with the Rochelle with my fingers slipping on keys, and that does not seem to be a problem with the Tedrow.

I can play lighter, not blasting the family out of the house, and the lower range is easier on the ears.

It will take a few sessions to get completely comfortable, this is like moving from a Beach Cruiser to a carbon frame triathlon bicycle, but boy she is a beauty and I can absolutely recommend a Tedrow. Now I have to start scheming how to get one of those "mini's" past the wife.

NNY

Oddly enough I was talking to Bob on the phone while he was packing it to ship it to you. I hope you enjoy it. I know I like it.

Alan

I mean mine.

Sounds like a similar situation to me....I'm a sucker for impulse buying. (I'm finding I have to bully my scarlatti to work)





I'm hoping to get one myself.

I've got a Tedrow 'tiny - small instrument, HUGE character, lovely to play and everyone loves him! I learned last year (thanks Henk ) that I don't actually have loud concertinas, I ...er ... just play them loudly, so am trying to learn a little volume control. But even at quieter volumes, 'Tiny is a real attention grabber!
Samantha