wes williams

Watson Hornby ran a Music Warehouse at 4 Cranbrook Rd, Ilford in 1902, as well as a Stationers and Post Office at No. 5. He was still listed as a sub-postmaster at Cranbrook Rd in 1914. QUOTE : Jim A particularly virulent form of web spread caused by cut and paste - sandwich spread?

He who drinks British, thinks British The British Library is a useful resource, and hereyou can search most of their material. I found Le Diademe , Linden Leaves, The man who can't keep still, and Myosotis (well done Paul!); and in some cases more than one composer of pieces of the same name. You can order photocopies from them. There are numerous pieces called 'Scotch Airs' so it would be near impossible to find the exact piece again - just pick a few well known ones and play those. best wishes ...wes

Its probably worth noting that we are talking about pitch in isolation. The earlier tuners used a system of beats between two notes either a musical fifth, or an octave apart. They didn't need perfect pitch, just the ability to tune to get the right number of beats for the fifths, or zero beats between the octaves. Although I don't know of anything specifically on the subject, Tommy Williams mentions this in his interview, see www.maccann-duet.com/docs/Wayne-Tommy-Williams-Interview-parts-1-2-3.pdf Edit: The 'fifths' isn't recorded in this transcription, but appears on the LP recording. Tommy says how he first tuned fifths 'perfect', but realised that they needed to be slightly away from perfect to acheive correct tuning. I've always used 'fifth' tuning up until now because of this (although I can't remember how I came to know about it, and I've never had a system other than what my ear says is optimal).

Thanks All, From all your recommendations, I think I'm going to try a Korg CA30 to see if its up to it. At around 20 UKP it won't be a great loss if it isn't. I'll let you know how I get on. But please continue with your suggestions, as its throwing up lots of things that need to be considered along the way.... pressure, temperature, etc best wishes ..wes

Paul Groff has mentioned his interest in pitch and temperament on a thread in General Discussion Forum, which has spurred me to try to get a tuning meter. I've been unsucessful in the past in trying to find one to do this kind of job. Any ideas or comments?

Mention of Ken Loveless and Morris music reminds me to tell you about a cassette still available: MR-1 Fr.Kenneth Loveless See http://www.argonet.co.uk/homepages/johnmaher/Ring/Shop.htm I prefer the old pitch Bb/F played in Bb - when you start playing for a dance, no one else ever seems to try to join in and distract you (I wonder why?) and you can concentrate on the dancers.

Robin and Paul, Peter's system was pretty much as Paul describes it - a fairly lightweight bit of metal with a hole that swivelled on one of the end bolts. He was pleased with his invention - I saw him use at Cheddar in one of his last concerts (unfortunate you weren't there Robin!). It works well for the accidental row on the anglo, but the same principle would be more difficult for other rows, or systems, so Bob's sugggestion is neater. best wishes ..wes

Keith, We've been discussing the wonders of ABE on a childrens concertina books thread. Try ABE regularly until one turns up. good luck!

I'd like to backup Perry and say that I've ordered quite a few books from all over the world over the past few years via book dealers on ABE using credit card, and never had a problem yet. More recently (which is probably a sign of its increasing popularity) I've found that books advertised have often already been sold, so its best to email or phone the dealer first (ABE will give you contact details). Prices can be very different, and I've often found it a big saving to order from the USA (even with postage) rather than the UK. Good Hunting!!

Mike and Jim, Many thanks for posting this. Its quite valuable historically, as its the first I think I've seen that actually confirms beyond doubt that Wheatstone used Stanhope Place as a factory at the same time as West St in the late 1940s. I've only managed to tease that out previously by combining quite a few bits and pieces from widely differing sources (See Concertina Timeline). So a nice scan would be very useful for the ICA archive, please. I suspect that Bob Gaskins would agree that neither of us have 'personal' collections, but more that we try to get scans of anything that could be of value to present and future historians. The scanned price lists on Bob's site (also in the ICA Archive) were all kindly loaned by Chris Algar, who has picked them up over many years of trading. These things are quite rare, as they were often thrown away, and its only when you can put a bunch together that 'lost' facts start to become clear. best wishes ..wes

Gary, The best date indication I can give you at the moment is 1885 - 1896 for instruments in the range 104001..140500. best wishes ..wes

Steven, You can look up the original records on the web at: Horniman Museum later Wheatstone records to find #26520 as August 21st 1914, Model No.8, black, 56 key.

Kuti, Start on concertina.net at Ken Coles' Hayden resources for a comprehensive list. Jack Woehr's site concentrates on Hayden related material. Bob Gaskins' site covers all Duet systems. Good hunting! ..wes

For those of you able to get to London, the Horniman Museum has an extremely fine 'White Lion' metal ended Jeffries on display showing the sophistication of the earliest of his output. For those of you not able to visit, I've attached a picture.

There is nothing available that will let you research individual instruments. But here are a few notes that might help. 1. If the serial number is correct, this instrument would have been made prior to the name change to Lachenal & Co (c.1873). If you look on the reed pans inside the instrument you may find paper circles, and I would expect those to read "Louis Lachenal" if still original. Wheatstone records show a few Lachenal instruments with serial numbers sub 10,000 selling in the early years of the 1860s. 2. As the label reads Lachenal & Co, it suggests that the instrument was returned to Lachenal for repair or service, and a new label was fitted. But todays repairers/restorers will often add "missing" labels. 3. I've not seen the term "Tutor Model" used by Lachenal, but its normally used to suggest the basic model - mahogany ends, bone keys, paper covered deal case. There has been a recent discussion on models, see Lachenal Models which should give you plenty of info. good luck - wes

Stephen Chambers wrote: I don't think I'd disagree too much with anything Stephen has written. Much of it is 'fact' from census returns,etc. so really beyond any disagreement. I did mention earlier about not dropping juicy snippets, but in view of Stephen's comment about not locating the White Lion, and as the info is readily available, see The 'Met' music hall.

The only other Houndsditch address reference I know of, if it isn't what Stephen suggests, is Samuel Barnett, 31 Houndsditch and 27 Lit[tle] Duke St, c.1869 -c.1876

What? And miss a decent transcription? . No, you were just too fast for me, and I had to think before I remembered where I'd seen it. The price list on this site came from Joe Astley, and looks like the name may have been added later, so may represent what Lachenal offered via the main UK dealers. Although there seem to be a small smattering of Edeos sometime from about the mid 20,000s (so ~1889?), the bulk seem to come in later in the mid 30,000s. Any thoughts, Stephen?

You'll find a few of the pages (showing the various models) from one of these handbooks at the ICA site: http://www.concertina.org/docarc.htm This copy was supplied with instrument No. 35574 at purchase, so can be dated fairly accurately.

The instruments and their owner left the premises at the end of March, when the property was sold to a new owner (the website was created to help sell the property). So there is no need to remove this thread for security reasons. He/she is probably very busy at the moment with moving, so may not be able respond to this thread (if he/she wishes to) for a while. But it is a fine assembly of Maccann and related instruments, including one made by Jeffries, and all regularly played. Never mind the owner, just look at and appreciate the instruments, while you can!

You can find an orginal price list (courtesy Kevin Gow) showing all these numbered models (and even a Number 14!) in a section of this site: http://www.concertina.net/guide_lachenal.html

It was The Young Tradition's "wall of sound" that first made me realise there was something unusual and interesting - but it was Bob and cousin Ron singing who totally hooked me. The first non blues/rock LP I ever went out to buy; 'Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy' the first tune I ever learned on the concertina; and 'Come Write Me Down' the first song I ever heard sung 'live'. Thanks Bob!

You may find something of use here, where the bandoneon button layout is shown: http://www.concertina.org/mempub/hugh blake 202.pdf

And at a later date (c. 1925 when the Excelsior cost £16 -10 -6d ) they also introduced: New moderately priced model, specially produced to meet the great demand for a cheap and reliable instrument. Recommended with every confidence. The POPULAR. 48 Keys. Mahogany Polished Rosewood colour. Bone Keys. Tempered steel reeds. 5-fold black leather bellows in square wood box. Covered Leatherette paper ... ... £8 16 0 As Stephen says, there is little information on most makers. Things like these descriptions from price lists are very few since most things of this kind were just thrown away.

I'm sorry Shay, but it isn't that easy! A group of us (not including Stephen, who I'm sure will be happy to "mark and correct" the paper ) have been working on this for a couple of years, and although we've got a lot sorted, we are still putting in more details. At last draft this was already up to about 50 pages, without illustrations. Can I ask you to wait a little longer, please? It wouldn't be right for any of us to start dripping out juicy snippets without a proper explanation, as the whole thing is quite complex. I have mentioned this article here before, but perhaps not recently.