wunks

They're stock for the Marion. The cheaper ones are for the Kirklees.

Yes. I just wondered if the pricier bellows ($300+) are an upgrade.

A quick search shows leather straps and two grades of bellows (one leather over card) for sale by Hobgoblin on Ebay. What do these instruments measure across the flats?

The time line is sketchy but I first became aware of the concertina from the playing of John Roberts as well as Louie Killen in the seventies. I was playing dance fiddle by then and played for the Old Songs dance and the New England Folk Festival a couple of times. There was a young woman with short dark hair at NEFFA who did a workshop and lost her place on the box but I was impressed! I screwed up my fiddle workshop as well.....🙃 I knew I wanted a 'tina so while hitchhiking around the UK I stopped at Crabb's shop in Islington. everything was priced above my means but Geoffrey showed me a rather large Wheatstone remarking "if you're just beginning it doesn't matter what system you start on" I got the lovely Jeffries duet for around $300. Another one popped up for sale in the Concertina Journal shortly after I got home. A friend going to London U at the time fetched it over for me. I promptly closeted them for 50 years or so. At 70 I felt I was losing my intonation a bit on the fiddle so I hauled them out. Tomorrow I'm 76. I'm hoping to have a couple of tunes for you come February for WCD! Peace, Health and Harmony, Erik

You can experiment with low reeds by cutting a strip of refrigerator magnet card slightly narrower than the reed. I did this with one of my F2 duet pair to be able to play in Eb. Covering the top 3d of the reed lowered the pitch by a full step. Easily adjustable and removable, I've been exercising the reed daily for several weeks with no discernible movement of the tab. I'm thinking of having a couple of spares for different pitches. A single half tab would give me options for E,G#,F# and even a low D.

Yes. The Mohawk valley region here in NY. was a center for leather work early on. I've come across caches of remnants from all over the US, seasoned, not green hides. It would be nice to know what is usable for concertina work.

Do you know if deer would be suitable? Tanned hides are readily available here this time of year.

Kane, I checked facebook marketplace for leather pieces here and then in Ohio. Several listings.

I have 2 Jeffries duets that I play regularly. One is a Wheatstone 57 Button C core, The other a Jeffries 50 button D core. They are as different as night and day. The Wheatstone is reedy and sonorous, stiffer and chromatic down to the low cello low F with a magnetic tab option now set with the F for a F/Eb bisonoric. The D core ( Thank you Bob Snope ) has a more horn like tone and is as fast as I could ever want to play. It has a couple of bisonorics and centers the more common keys on the instrument. I have a lovely Morse C/G I bought to try Anglo before the 50b was changed over but I don't play it much. I'll probably trade it for a suitable JD in the future. I've a couple of stray EC's I picked up locally the best of which is a '20's Wheatstone #4 but they all need work.

Looking at the standard note layout of instruments from Harry Geuns, if the low C is the cello low C, that would be an excellent match, dovetailing with the low end of both my C core and D core boxes......😊

I could , in future be interested in a Basse aux peids although it would be a custom build compatible with my Jeffries duet(s).

Thank you Don. That's Andre' Brunet. Check out his you tube tutorials for some really hot fiddlin'....😀

Many Quebecois fiddlers and box players use a step dance riff while sitting. I haven't learned it yet as I usually play the fiddle standing, however, I sit with the concertina. It looks easy but it's not, at least for me!

Careful....Contra-dancers are adrenaline junkies with a propensity toward mass hysteria. Halls have been known to implode into the basement...you could be stomped to death....or flung into the refreshment table at the very least! A beautiful waltz by Selma called April Waltz would be a good place to start. You can hear it on youtube 26th session 2023 lead by concertina player Jim Boyle...😀

Learn to play it for contradance . Any darn contraption is liable to turn up there including the dreaded PA, ( Bob Macquillon, Selma Kaplan )....😊

That should also work great to keep an Ediophone from rolling off the table.

By definition yah but capable of 4 notes. off topic. Sorry....😊

Maybe a better approach, because you're already an accomplished musician, would be to acquire a concertina ( rent borrow or buy ) and co-compose with it as you would with a piano.

To transfer a bit of "Tech" from the timberman's lore: A shallow angled wedge of that shape will hold extremely well presumably because it spreads rather than cuts the wood fibers when driven in creating immense side pressure on the wedge. Attach a ring and you can skid logs with it. I'm guessing the hole was drilled small and the post pressed in and now matches the shape of the post. I'd try a slim piece of hard wood to shim the hole on one tapered side or the other, pro'lly no need to glue it.

( Referencing using the violin as a template for composition ). It may be relevant for this discussion to note that most if not all duet's have at least some overlap between left hand and right and many dip down into the low cello range. Because of these features the idea that right hand is for melody and left for harmony is an option that works well for some keys but it's not a mandate. The full range of the viola is available on most duets and many cello pieces only use a touch or two on the low string.

A major ( and effective ) reason for the development of the Jeffries duet. Same basic handy button pattern but chromatic with zig-zag fingering.

It's difficult to tell just from a visual. I have a set of T. Shakespeare 44 button ends presumably from an Anglo that are an exact match ( except for a few less buttons ) for the pattern on my 51 B JD. My first guess for this one was Anglo but it doesn't hurt to ask.

Bottom left looks like a Jeff duet. If you're ever in New York....

I have a Wheatstone EC with thumb straps and wrist straps and has the complete RH end rotated one notch clockwise. I don't play EC but it feels much more ergonomic compared to the normal setup. Malcome Clapp has commented that he has encountered this variation and may have done some conversions ( If I recall a post from a couple years ago ).

After playing for a couple of days and moving the the instrument around ( both in case and out ), what I would consider normal handling, I detect no change in pitch, buzzing or other anomalies. I'm pleasantly surprised. The card stock is quite flexible. I gave it a slight convex bend to keep the ends from lifting. I'll post if it changes. Time will tell! While this works great for a low bi-sonoric pair, I'm guessing it would work as a test if one were contemplating a permanent layout change anywhere in the box. One full step in pitch might be a limit though. Cheers.