arkwright

This photo is not my concertina; I copied it from Alex Holden's web site. I will use it to illustrate a problem I have and ask for suggestions. You can see a video on Alex's web site at this link: https://www.instagram.com/p/BjC2Rpeg72K/ The levers are connected by rivets to the "action pins". Each action pin is hammered into place like a nail. Now, the spring is always pushing upward on the lever, and this upward force will tend to pull the pin out of the wood. When this happens, the button sticks up high and the pad doesn't cover the hole. This happened to my 1907 or 08 Crabb anglo, and I fixed it once by pressing the pin down into its hole, but it came loose again. My inclination is to reset it with a tiny drop of "crazy glue" but I am leery of doing anything irreversible. Has anyone else experienced this problem? What's the best way to fix it?

Hi Saguaro, I have 8835 -- I thought that was from 1908, not sure. It is a 30 button anglo in C/G.

Have you contacted Bertram Levy in Washington State? you can e-mail him at info@bertramlevy.com

There is a man in Japan, Kato Toru, who plays a 40 button Bastari. He has put a lot of videos on youtube. Something like that might be what you want.

Do you already know how to play the harmonica? If so, you have a head start on the anglo system (which could also include a 20 button German or Italian instrument).

Is it to a state of completion that you could post a photograph?

It went for $450. I didn't think it would go as high as that!

Marcel Lachenal, a research associate in the department of Art History at the Sorbonne, discovered this painting in an old barn while on vacation in Arles. He is trying to identify the artist.

Has anyone ever seen this style of fretwork on an English concertina? The thumb loop buckle says "Wheatstone" but may not be original. The openings may represent birds in flight? I wonder if a woodworker made this end to replace an end that had been damaged? The interior of the concertina looks 19th century with brass reeds.

Ms. Fletcher is an Irish artist who graciously allowed me to (ab)use her painting for this project. Check out her web site: http://www.lorrainefletcherartstudio.com/ Any misproportioning of hands is the result of my own incompetence.

Arrangement in Grey and Black No.1 is a painting created by the American-born painter James McNeill Whistler in 1871 and now in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. It is one of the most famous works by an American artist outside the United States. Better known under its colloquial name Whistler's Mother, it has been variously described as an American icon and a Victorian Mona Lisa. Anna McNeill Whistler posed for the painting while living in London with her son. Several unverifiable stories relate to the painting of the work. One of these has recently been confirmed by researchers in the department of Art History at the Sorbonne. As the story goes, Whistler’s mother considered the long hours of posing as wasted time, and as she had recently started to learn to play the concertina from her Irish housekeeper, she practiced while posing for the now-famous painting. Her son painted her with the concertina but later decided to paint out the concertina, because he wanted to enter it in the Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Art, and felt that the judges would prefer it without the concertina. Intrigued by the story, Marcel Lachenal (a distant relative of Louis Lachenal) had the painting x-rayed, and we are now able to see, after 140 years, the original Whistler's Mother.

Is it a coincidence that an instrument matching this description is listed today on this web site under "for sale"?

Good job! And you changed key for the Trio (as you should).

Everything you can do on a C or G harmonica you also can do on a 20 button (or more) C/G anglo. Playing anglo will give you more harmonic freedom. The anglo concertina should be ideal for playing German folk tunes, or any major key tunes, and it allows you to add more harmony than you could on a harmonica. The greater harmonic possibilities arise because you can find the same note in both directions. For example suppose you are playing "Muss I Denn" in the key of C: [CDE,EGF, etc... ] Try playing the melody on the right hand C row. To harmonize the F note in the melody, you can play a full F chord in the left hand by using the C note in the G row. That is a simple example; I'm sure you will find many more. With a 30-button anglo the possibilities are greater because you get a G on the draw, A on the press, and a low F on the draw in the top row.

Springs can also be salvaged from old accordions and reused. I got some from a local accordion repairman, cut them down and they worked well. The main thing is to get the wire gauge that will fit into the existing hole. Only tools needed were a wire cutter and needle-nose pliers.