Notemaker

Have to add, and here I am following Noel Hill's views, there isn't much to compare between a Crabb and a Jeffries, with the same action etc. So the idea that having Crabb input in the making of a labeled Jeffries, is somehow a defect, to me is utter and complete nonsense! Prisca, as others have said, maybe you might consider selling something else and keep your beautiful Concertina? Besides you play very well on it. BTW what does the 'funny' label say? Thank you for posting the picture and video :0)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/164761423257?nma=true&si=GGADZAvhzd2wC%2FkTS%2FdejiEZe7s%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 Is yours like this one?

'A good pace'? Well, it depends on which kind of music we have. For example for Morris it would be the dancing which regulates tempo, not the other way around. While in Celtic, esp Irish, there is no set rule. Because most jams are not for dancing but listening. I should immediately qualify with the rider, except in Ireland where as soon as a group starts to play, the audience get to gabbing. However here in the USA folks will actually not jabber. To drive home the point, there are set tunes/selections specifically played by Irtrad groups for dancing. Recently on these pages mention of 'The New Mown Meadow' is one very popular Reel for Sean Nos Dancing. Another is 'Miss McCloud's Reel'; and OC 'The Bucks Of Oranmore'. For decorations/embellishments; I do not think it matters too much to a novice. One talented Anglo player/teacher, Edel Fox, encourages not playing them except where most effective. IOW be sparse and precise. And that means having the skill to do them well, as there is nothing more destructive than a flubbed 'cut', or, yet more annoying, a wobbly 'roll'. When we are on this topic I do not think a novice can do any of that on a student box because the buttons/movement are not quite up to the job, whereas on a good vintage box it is almost too simple. E.g my Crabb C/G (1965) makes it easy to 'chirp' by tapping a button lightly and quickly.

It is a year and a week since on Ebay I won the auction for my Tina. There have been many, many surprises since. During the auction nobody knew which kind of Crabb was on offer. Nor, until I received it from USPS, did I. First surprise it turned out to be a C/G Anglo with a broken air valve, a few small leaks, but with fair springs, faded leather valve tongues, and a couple of off tune reeds. All of which expertly repaired by Greg Jowaisas, he is here on Cocertina.net, and in fine playing order when I got it back last spring. From the very start I noticed a lovely scent coming from the bellows when cycled, but imagined it would in time fade away. Well it has not. And appears to be as strong as ever when I am carefully practicing, yet if I hurry, it goes away. My last surprise happened by accident while I attempt to make a 'cut' on a note from a Celtic tune, found in a Book. My Tina began to 'chirp', I know that is not unusual among expert players but I, a mere beginner, am anything but! I have heard people say that the Concertina is loud, but hey, this one is as sweet. I find it most fills a room with a grand aroma when I am doodling with Morris tunes and chording, a bit like I would on a Harmonica. Really, I am not playing bass parts there, more like the odd chord in spots where I think it nicer. Lately I wonder if ,in a good sort of way, there is such a thing as 'haunting' of such things? Maybe the last owner - my Tina came from an estate sale - is hanging around a deserving loved box, and sends aromas when its Tina is being good? Hope you enjoyed my report, and have a wonderful Holiday Season. Notemaker

Thank you each for helping, and for the super expert solutions, until reading which, I had no idea how to fix the wear spot. I am somewhat delayed, because of the crazy Covid19 thing and not finding time to make the picture - I use a Macro Lens & Tripod. So, yes! it is indeed a fabric / leather thing, not wood as the photo shows. Because my lovely Tina did not have any such blemish when first I seen it, I will be applying the appropriate cure, and revising my posture, which I suspect is the source of the injury. On another thread an attempt to relate some of the surprising and wonderful happenings around this grand Crabb C/G Anglo Concertina that happened since the instrument came back to me from Greg Jowaisas; renovated, and playing like new. But that is another story. Again sorry for the long delay.

Noticing some wear on the corner of my bellows, most often on the knee, I see a faint trace of wood coming through. So how do I fix that? Before I get tips on better posture, I already learned that one by just resting the very corner of the bottom on the knee when needed. IOW I practice sensible holding of my lovely Crabb C/G Anglo. What is used to make the bellows and wooden frame black? Is it dye? or is it paint? Would boot polish be a good substitute? Thank you for any help. NM

Well his partner plays/used play on a D / D# Accordion, so using the Eb Anglo Tina, either sort fits in well with that plan. As to Eb V D#, I think there would have to be a serious re-tuning involved there someplace. The symbol you wonder about means 'Flat' so A flat / E flat, or Ab / Eb.

Thank you for the suggestion. Yeah that's it, today we do not have a ready made popular set of songs for Anglo! And, agreed perhaps it might work better on EC or Duet. But any easier folk song would be a start even on the Anglo.

My interest in Morris and Celtic has, more or less, per-occupied practice time since I re-started on Tina. Ok, it is my own fault and nobody else is to blame. But, I do want to caution newbies, if you got into it because you love one kind of material, yet have to get through others - tutors etc., - please make sure you keep to the central focus on your first choice. Because I now realize what brought me to the Tina is not either I practice on, and there is a reason why this happened. I first chose the Tina because I heard it used as backing for a folk singer, 'chording' and bits of melody etc. Reason why I did not get on that, there is not as much on the net about it, nor can I find any instruction like I can Morris; Peter Trimming on YouTube is a great example. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-EC21xijG_PdX3mUSiQ8UQ I reckon most of the songsters I have came across sing 'Shanty' type stuff, but I do not think there is any reason why other genres would not work. Fairly certain that on CN there's quite a few songsters who could usefully redirect me? Thank you.

Thank you all for your expert suggestions. I like Alex's method best even if it is a bit more work. Noting that brass is easier to work with anyway, and new end bolts solely for a new bellows would be the best way ahead. But I am not stripping the old bellows frames for this project, rather, planning to save the entire good working bellows as it is. Job needs a full new frame with new end bolts and anchors.

Considering making a complete spare bellows. Looking at suppliers, I cannot find anything at all about the wee anchors built into my existing bellows end frames. Any suggestions? Thank you.

TBH I do not think it matters so much as to worry. I played ITM on the Chromatic Harmonica for a time. Then I quickly learned that somethings are completely home made to get around decorations. I don't bother too much with them on the Anglo, but have noticed those who do will use any note that works to achieve their goal. LHS G on the C row is topmost, so you'll probably want to try using the LHS G on the G row, and tickle the B - next button up from there. You mention Edel Fox. If you slow her down on YouTube you will find she uses notes far removed from the main one for her rolls/cuts/ etc. I have no idea what would work best for that. Curious, why did you move over to the box from the Flute? Edit: Just recalled that I use the LHS DRAW G outside row 2nd from top button. That will work with a DRAW A on either G or C row... :0)

Thanks for the quote. "Irish dance tunes are essentially fiddle tunes. " Imagine that! I am sorry you feel that way. Yet Internet scholarship is rather like cloud sculpture, it may, or may not, endure. Is this claim supported by any accredited scholarly work? I would be curious to know the answer, yet here in the forum is not a proper place for such, perhaps you might later like to PM me about it.

After reading Bob Tedrow's excellent webpage about it, http://hmi.homewood.net/ I began pricing the materials needed to make a bellows. Too, it is not clear which width of tape one should select. Judging from the size of his billets, after trimming, 1 1/8", I am guessing the tape size at 1 inch. But when I saw the price of the Bookbinders' tape Bob recoes, had to look further because I am not rotten rich with money, and, sure enough, on Amazon came up with an alternative. Bob's reco; from Talas https://www.talasonline.com/Gummed-Cambric-Tape?quantity=1&size=43 $28.00 What I found on Amazon; https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00W2DLEX0/ref=twister_B00W2DLETE?_encoding=UTF8&th=1 $12.95 Too, considering most folks having a go at bellows making will be doing just one to start, 150 feet is way too much while 15 yards, 45 feet, is about right. I am curious, how do other makers deal with this issue? Do we go for the more expensive solution, or elect to follow a popular Bookbinder path? Thank you for your expert suggestions.

No! I think 30 tunes is far too much to be hanging on to. Instead work on mastering your instrument. Because tunes are not hard to image, while playing them in different keys on the Tina is. Too, our health can, and does, limit how we learn, or try to, and how much we can memorize. I have trouble with that as I grow older, my attention span shrinking with age. There is nothing that can be done for that except work with it! Though I am not a Concertinist, and have played Harmonica forever, today Tremolo, I recently returned to the hobby due to unexpectedly winning an Ebay auction for a vintage Crabb 30 BTN C/G Anglo, I got that for a song ...lol However, I do have a system for acquiring tunes to try on my vintage Crabb. (it has the most enchanting velvety sound). First of all I select simple tunes, the shorter the better. I find that besides simple songs, 'Popeye The Sailor Man' for example, Morris provides lovely and easily learned dance tunes, some with little lyrics which are very easy to remember. All the which gently teaches scale, breathing, and grows new nerve links in the ANS. My latest one is from Cotswold Morris. These are best memorized so one can humm them, or sing them. In my case I love to try them on the Harmonica, then the Tin-whistle, to see how close to 'Spongebob Square Pants' music I am. If I like the result I then set about electing a fingering on the Tina which delivers two principal things; 1 few, or no, air button - bellows helps, and, 2 retains the lilt of the tune. That is, while I do listen to Noel Hill, Edel Fox, and Caitlin McGowan, I don't want, nor IMHO, need to put that much into a tune. Besides I think the Anglo shines best in other types of music, so, IMHO, it is not a big oversight. Nevertheless, one needs to be aware that ITM, Irish folk dance music, hangs from just one instrument, and it is not the Fiddle, nor the Uilleann Pipes, nor the Harp, nor the Accordion, nor the Anglo Concertina, nor the Banjo, and so on. The entire tradition grew out of the humble Penny-Whistle. So, in order to get its embellishment near to the source, one should really learn to play that first. Because that is what all those famous people you are learning off of did, or it is from it most of their fiddledy embellishments come. https://www.facebook.com/noddy.mcnod/videos/10214835206974716/ Now some physiology. When we are learning a tune we internalize an aural image, rather like we become familiar with a picture, for example the 'Mona Lisa'. It is from an image we create our singing/humming/whistling, or in my case playing it on the Harmonica - because I have been playing it so long that it is almost as easy as singing. The next step will be putting it on your chosen instrument. There are several parameters converging which enable, or prevent, that happening. Those will have been addressed in your foundation course/s. For example, where is the 'C3' note, etc; and how to play a series of notes on a bellows push and pull to get the least air valve demand. These skills are management of another set of skills which you should be building, your motor skills. Those which control you fingers and arms when playing. From experience I found that it pays to perfect motor skills very early in the learning process. So I do a lot on scales, and different ways of playing the same scale on the Tina. It is just like Violin in that regard, one needs to be able to think of a variation in an aural, but not have to think about how to execute it; that is, have over developed motor skills so they become automatic. IOW the secondary ANS becomes a robot for the CNS, which is actually how our body works in mostly everything else. So playing an instrument is very un-natural. That's why when we goof up one note everything after it comes out all wrong. So, in short, work on the ANS stuff real hard, then the CNS stuff can get out of your TINA, and hopefully in a few different keys :0) Hope that helps.