Dave Weinstein

I wish I could afford to buy either of these, but thank you for preserving the tunings.

I refer to my anglos as "Baritone" (since they are in the same range as a Baritone C/G), and they interestingly enough do have shifted fingering on both hands (since the innermost row is lower in pitch than the middle row, rather than higher).

With Folklife now just under five weeks away (yes, I'm counting days, don't judge me), who is planning on going? And, now for those outside of the Pacific Northwest of the United States... Folklife (now in it's 44th year), is one of the largest free music festivals in the world. Based on the definition “what folks do at home to entertain themselves and pass on their traditions”, it focuses on music and dance, although there are of course vendors, street food booths, artists, and more. It's probably my favorite weekend of the year. http://www.nwfolklife.org/festival2015/

Bob Tedrow was making a "concertiny" at one point: http://hmi.homewood.net/mini/

My first concertina was a Lachenal G/D 20 button that was tuned from Ab/Eb. I think for a 20 button, you're going to need to find a retuned Ab/Eb to get a G/D.

I use tall handrests and tight handstraps, but I play with the instrument in the air (and therefore only supported by the hand rest/hand strap combination).

One thing to recall is that on a piano you have individual volume control over the notes. On the concertina, you don't.

I'm going to go with "semi-deliberate". I was looking for a folk instrument for sessions. My primary instrument at the time was the synthesizer, and I was tired of having to phone ahead to determine if I'd be lynched for showing up with a small synth. It was supposed to be an additional instrument, so I didn't want to spend a lot of money. I also didn't want to buy an instrument that would lose value rapidly, so that ruled out the lowest end instruments. Ironically, had I realized that the Button Box would hire out instruments, things might have gone differently. But as it happened, Chris Algar had a Lachenal 20 button that was being restored, and also tuned from Ab/Eb to G/D. It rapidly displaced the synthesizer as my primary instrument, and when we had a good year at work I started thinking about upgrading to 30 buttons. I thought about switching to a C/G, and I also talked to Bob Tedrow about a G/D Bass. He did some experiments, and regreftully informed me that it would be the size of a hubcap and still be slow to sound. I did know that Bob played an inverted D/A, and so ended up designing a G/D with the D down a 4th instead of up a 5th. I made a few tweaks to the layout over the years, and then eventually acquired a Dipper of the same layout (which is for obvious reasons my main squeeze). I also have an 1855 Brass-Reeded English from Greg Jowaisis (in the original high-pitch meantone). It is a lovely voiced instrument, but I just cannot wrap my head around the layout. For that one, I content myself with being the custodian of an instrument that is still in the original voice (and even has the original bellows).

The issue is CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). As of this spring, the member nations approved a CITES Passport for instruments. The idea is that you get the age and materials certified once, and then the instrument has its own documentation it can take with it that should prevent problems. However, I'm not sure how widely implemented this is yet. The US information is here: http://www.fws.gov/international/permits/by-activity/musical-instruments.html All that being said, I would be very leary of taking a possible seizable instrument across international borders.

I have a mid-1850s Wheatstone English that was never tuned out of high pitch meantone. It was one of Greg Jowaisas' Christmas stack a few years back, and if I recall correctly, during restoration it was determined to be in quarter-comma meantone rooted in A (which in fact, it still is). It is mostly limited by my inability to wrap my head around the English layout, it sounds lovely. --Dave

http://www.nwfolklife.org/festival/

Who else will be there?

Second Tuesday of the month. Time for the local session. And in moving tables and chairs for it, I manage to knock my concertina over. Thud, onto a concrete floor. Fortunately for me, it was snug in one of Greg's custom cases. Not only did extensive (one might says obsessive) checking of the instrument show no harm (*), but the case itself wasn't even damaged. So, while I still can't figure out how I managed to be so careless (given my usual level of paranoia), I can now say that I have flight tested (or at least "fall tested") the case, and it performed magnificently. (*) The "more time spent checking the instrument than actually playing tunes, because, you know, you might have missed something" would lend credence to the claims of "obsessive".

Interesting. I had known that Bob Tedrow (who built the first of my Concertinas) played a D/A where the A was a 4th lower than the D when I designed mine, but I had not known the Dippers had built any at that time. (I have one built by Bob, and one built by the Dippers, both to the same layout, listed below)

Since shipping insurance only applies to the shipper, when buying musical instruments, we always buy a rider from our insurance company. We use Heritage Musical Instrument Insurance to cover all of the instruments, and for a fairly low fee we can buy a rider policy that covers them during the shipment to us (since the regular insurance only applies after we take possession). When shipping instruments domestically in the US (for example, sending a concertina in for a bit of maintenance), I ship it out with an accurate declared value and include the return shipping forms (all pre-paid, they just need to be attached), so that I am the shipper of record in both cases.

We use a wick-style cold air humidifer in the room with the musical instruments. If you decide to use a cold air ultrasonic humidifier, you'll want to use distilled water; the ultrasonic humidifiers will disperse a fine mineral dust if you use normal (and especially if you use hard) water.

When importing instruments, I've generally purchased a shipping rider for the instrument itself from Heritage Musical Insurance in the US.

Every once in a while you can get a vintage 20 button G/D. My first concertina was a 20 button Lachenal that had been tuned from Ab/Eb to G/D. --Dave

Use tax is sales tax for items bought from out of the State. The general assumption is "if it would have been subject to sales tax had you bought it in state, it is subject to use tax".

I love the sound of the quality brass reeded instruments, so I find this fascinating.

Very true (although I did have the choice of a D# or Eb in that bit). But after an hour or so with an English keyboard, I thought I was pushing my luck to try to get a somewhat clean recording of the melody line, much less add harmonies. I'll try to get something up soon; close chords sound remarkable on it.

And, it arrived today. This is in Quarter-Comma meantone, A minor (with the addition of a pair of D#s in this bit). I am hesitant to post it because it doesn't do the instrument justice, but here goes anyway... Meantone English Sample (Carpathian Tune)

Interesting, that would mean Colin has made two of the three known (Bob Tedrow made the other).

The only of these I'm aware of are in the Baritone range, and I have both of them. Are there any more? --Dave

Is there any chance you could record the fine details of the tunings for each reed? As the non-ET tuned Concertinas are retuned, we lose irreplaceable information about their original tunings.