March Hare

Hello Jason, I think the felt is worth trying. I have glued a layer of thin felt (ordinary craft felt, probably polyester rather than wool) to the inside of the fretwork on lots of concertinas. It works for me, reducing the high overtones and taking the edge off the sound. I just brush a few small smears of weak pva on the inside, no stand-offs, to cover the holes. In my experience it doesn’t shed fibres or choke the airflow, and it pulls off easily leaving negligible residue. When I sing with concertina accompaniment the felt helps my words to come across, and I feel that the instrument is supporting my voice not getting in the way. I think that this is the result of a lucky coincidence: thin felt absorbs sound noticeably above about 1000Hz but not much below that frequency. Human hearing is much more sensitive in the range from roughly 1000Hz to around 3000Hz which is (naturally) the range needed to hear the consonants in our speech, particularly T, S, K, D etc which enable us to understand what is said. So the felt baffle helps to prevent the high frequencies from the reeds from covering up the words of the song. As the listeners’ hearing is sensitive in that range the accompaniment sounds less intrusive (although the loudness measured by a meter would probably not show much difference, as the thin felt has little effect on the fundamental notes of the music). This is my rough and ready theory - the only way to find out if it works for you and your instrument is to try it. Some years back on the forum there was a post from Wim Wakker, saying that Edeophones had mahogany innards which reduced the high overtones to mellow the sound. My favourite concertina to sing with is an Edeophone and I have never wanted to add any sort of baffle. Also a New Model tenor with mahogany structure - same applies. Hope this helps.

And these are more like Marais, I think. But, I imagine that holding a gamba like a cello is more typical.

This style is interesting too......

Another try at attaching Staffs Hornpipe: Staffordshire Hornpipe.m4a

A tuned-up 20 key can be a good option. I bought a basic mahogany Lachenal CG from a stall at Sidmouth a while back and Concertinas UK fettled it and put it up to DA. It plays well and is quite bright. I did a quick recording of Staffs Hornpipe on my phone: Staffordshire Hornpipe.m4a So, as suggested above, worth thinking about. Good luck.

Hello Mikefule and thank you for opening this thread. I am a devoted 20k player and Barleycorn customer so, over some decades, I have worked up from mahogany ended Lachenals, RW ended-, to an early Jeffries/Crabb instrument - early, basic and lovely to play. More recently I saw a Wheatstone 20k on the Barleycorn site and thought it was too good to miss. It is a Linota from 1929, with RW ends and metal buttons in vg condition - it plays superbly as the very best Wheatstones of that era do, and I am very lucky to have it. So I agree with your findings: top quality 20k anglos are rare but worth waiting for. If you are looking you will find what you want eventually, I'm sure. Perhaps I should add that I have owned Anglos with more keys and, for me, they have their places and uses. But for English tunes my home is a 20k anglo, and that is where I spend many hours, and never get bored. Best wishes to all.

Yes, Nigel is a lovely guy, a great musician and a superb concertina restorer and tuner. I never imagined that my Edeophone could play as well as it does now. Marvellous.

In a recent ebay listing, a treble English with coloured bone buttons was referred to as a Tudor model. Perhaps that is what your wonderful creature is playing.

Hello Ciaran, Great to read your posts. Very best wishes to you on joining the family firm. A visit to Chris at Barleycorn is always a real treat, and owning and playing his wonderful concertinas gives me such pleasure. And of course I recommend Barleycorn Concertinas totally - no question. And can I add, you bring such experience and accomplishment as a brilliant professional musician to the firm. Your dad is lucky to get you - and then he is a fine musician and songwriter too......... Again, very best wishes, Steve (Sidmouth)

Lacewood Roylance....

More images......

This Roylance treble came back from Concertinas UK recently and may be of interest. As always, Nigel Sture did a wonderful job of restoring, fettling and tuning, and he turned a wreck into a lovely concertina. It came to me by chance. I bought a couple of Lachenal 20 key anglos last year, and this English treble came with them in the cardboard box. The fretwork was damaged and missing in places, the thumb and finger rests were gone, and a lot of the buttons were broken or lost. Not for me, I thought…..except, some of the reeds still played and sounded good. So I opened it up and found top quality workmanship: the action board and frames are lacewood (London plane), the ends are lovely solid Brazilian rosewood, all of the woodwork so carefully done, the buttons exquisitely turned, riveted action, all reeds present and in good shape, and no warping, splitting or internal damage. I repaired the ends, frames etc and managed to piece together the remaining bits of the delicate gold foil label - tricky. Nigel Sture did the rest: bushings, straps and finger-rests, buttons, all new springs, pads, valves, setting up and tuning. It has smart new bellows from Mark Adey, black and gold papers, plays effortlessly and sounds lovely. For a singer, the evenness of response is superb. When you start to play a chord of 5 or 6 notes very quietly, every note sounds at exactly the same time, and you can sustain the chord for ages on one pull, and get lots of volume when you want it. Decent reeds and, most of all, wisdom and expertise from Nigel Sture - fabulous work. I don’t know whether lacewood is often used in concertinas, or what it contributes to the sound. I know of it as a pretty native hardwood used for guitar back and ribs (rarely?). Probably an expensive concertina when new, given the quality of materials and craftsmanship - I understand that the coloured buttons (black and white notes like a piano, and red Cs like a harp) were not confined to cheap tutor instruments. Hope this is of interest. I will try to post some images, and look forward to playing it a the folk club…. sometime….. Cheers.

If you know anyone near to Sidmouth who might be interested in starting 20 key CG anglo, please let them know about this. Squeezebox Starters Come and learn the 20 key anglo concertina For beginners - no experience needed Tuesdays at 2pm, starting on 21st January 2020 (except 2nd Tuesday of the month). Venue: Dissenter of Sidmouth (Leigh Browne Room) May Terrace, All Saints Road, EX10 8ER (near Sidmouth Hospital) To book a place call Steve Minett on 07511 973 603 We will have fun

Now sold (elsewhere). Thank you for looking.

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