All Activity

Delightful and cheerful as ever😊

Thanks Michael, I guess that the practical issue is what one has to do to a reed to compress it's harmonics as demonstrated by your software.

Thanks to everyone for their input! I now have a decision to make, and it may be to just leave my metal ends alone.

Don’t feel bad. It’s all too easy to ignore the obvious. I’ve just been helping my daughter move back into a newly extended house. There was a sink blocked with dirty water. We called in the builder who looks at the pipe work, then put his hand into the water and pulled out the plug!

This tool is primarily for flute/whistle players, but could be used to characterize the overall tuning of a single reed/note free reed instrument like a concertina or one isolated reed block of an accordion. I won't be doing any other enhancements specifically for concertina reed tone, but if anyone is interested in that sort of thing the source code for the tool is on GitHub, with a link to the repository at the bottom of the instructions (click the ? at the upper left of the tool).

Michael, I can see that you have put a lot of work into this application, and I truly envy you your skills, however in the tuning of a concertina I am not sure what benefit can be realised. You cannot just sharpen or flatten an instrument like on a whistle, and I cannot see how the pitch spread information can be used to refine a reeds performance. Have you explored the application of your software to the refinement of concertina reed performance and tone?

Problem solved! I did the light test and found nothing. To do it, I removed the right hand end cover. When I replaced it, just for the sake of thoroughness, I checked the screws on the left cover, the side where the leak was. To my surprise, the screws were all loose, but especially one of them, which was finger loose. Like an idiot, it just never occurred to me to check them, I was so fixated on the bellows. So I carefully tightened the screws (not too tight) and all's well again. The difference when playing is noticeable. Thanks for all the suggestions!

As the Historical recordings page is closed for comments and only open for recordings, Any comments you have on the posted recordings can be put here. Al

Many thanks to Goran Raam for donating these recordings and agreeing for me to post them up. Thanks to Peter Rowistone for cleaning them up an amazing bit of work. It is now up to you all to look through your old recordings and see what you can find. We have a team of people to help to make them acceptable for posting. Finally thanks to Ken Coles for his help. Al

Finally got the links to the restored recordings up in the Historic Recordings thread. Amazing to hear! Ken

From Peter Rowlstone: Here are the links to the Raphael recordings: Chopin Waltzes: https://youtu.be/9onwXw45YVg Friml L'Amour, toujours, l'amour: https://youtu.be/Qr42pA1phyU Kreisler Caprice Viennois: https://youtu.be/CH1alapsQO0 Kreisler Liebesfreud: https://youtu.be/n3A0cQ-b4P0 Two Guitars and Dark Eyes: https://youtu.be/Wr74srvLbps I believe these will work. Please do let me know if you need more information or have any problems using the links. Thanks Peter Edited to add: Read more in this thread.

That's Brigid! She's lovely.

Michael, this one from the Concertina Museum collection is interesting to compare. The action (described, not shown) sounds similar as well as the reeds. Lol just realized that you just bought this one! https://concertina.org/concertinas/wheatstone-20030-1882-cm00079/

Cool! I already put it back together, but I took the reed pans out many years ago out of curiosity, and there was no label. If I get bored sometime, I'll give it another go. Yes you took the D# out for me as I wanted an air button. I do have those reeds. I prefer a warmer sound to a bright sound, so that's good. Of course, my new amboyna is a much better model than this one and has new valves, etc., so that's what I'll be playing, but I love having the older one as a museum piece, and, as I mentioned, it has sentimental memories attached to it.

Thanks Michael! Riveted action, levers stamped (and/or filed) from flat brass stock, and buttons with wooden stems and metal caps, as I'd expect for a Wheatstone from that period. Stephen could tell us if the similar Lachenals had an action like this but I would not have identified this action as Lachenal (based on my smaller experience with 19th century english concertinas). Is it too late for you to pull out the reedpan and photo the underside? Might be a paper label there with information. If there's a stamped batch number you may see that on the inside edge of the bellows frames. Nice set of riveted reeds (missing a high D# I suppose to enable use of that button as an air key; if you need that note the Eb is available). Riveted reeds like those may not be the brightest in timbre but tend to sound very rich and sweet.

Here are photos. The batch number must be on the other end, and I didn't want to mess with both ends.

Someone got a great little concertina at a great price. Sorry I missed it. I absolutely adore these things! Thanks for sharing.

It sounds like either the tongue is being squeezed into the frame when the shoe is pushed fully into the pan or that the tongue tip is making contact with the wood when fully pushed into the reedpan. Most likely it is the first issue as the instrument has been around for awhile presumably without this problem. To confirm you could push the shoe fully into the pan and check with the light table, or you could leave it alone if it is now working for you. The problem you may experience though is that the shoe may come loose once the humidity increases and the pan expands with changing seasons.

Recorded for World Concertina Day, 2-6-2026: The Green Brechans O' Branton, a Northumbrian pipe tune, played on a 30 button Jeffries G/D Anglo concertina. Lately I've been much taken with the playing of Frank Lee, a UK melodeon player, and he included this tune on his superb CD "Bric-A-Brac Box." https://youtu.be/tUkAaQigqRc

I think it's important to be able to have complete control over the instrument, to use staccato or legato exactly as you choose to achieve the sound you want. Neither is inherently better, all depends on what you're going for. An analogy is closed (generally more staccato) vs. open (generally more legato) Uilleann piping (an instrument I also have played for over 20 years). As I would on the Uilleann pipes (or really any of the other instruments I play), I play with a mix of legato and staccato, depending on the phrasing of the tune.

Some interesting clips with references to follow. Stuart

I was invited to play in a troupe. My scarse musical skills and ill preparation don't let me contribuite much, bit still, it's a jolly fun.

I was trying to think of other 'things' happening around that time. The Kilfenora trad fest is on 24-27 April this year. In case you find yourself pulled towards the Burren, there may be a few tunes going. Also Clare and not concertina specific, Lahinch is doing their trad weekend around the 17th. A lot of it session based if you are into that sort of thing (although, in fairness, they usually have a very good line up of people playing), but a few other events as well, eg Angela Crotty is relaunching the Junior Crehan book during the weekend.