JimLucas

I'm curious about both its origin and its musical range. And whether it might have more than one reed per note. I've actually played a bigger one (belonging to a friend), but with a much more limited range (fewer buttons). The size was apparently mainly for show.

A few times, I have been asked about my concertina, and there was never a problem after my answer. And twice, I've been asked to play it -- once in the security line and once (in Paris) on the ramp into the plane, -- to the delight of those in the vicinity.

So such uncertainty would not -- yet -- be a factor in determining whether a particular concertina was more than 100 years old. Meanwhile, I would assume that such "age" would be based on date of manufacture, and date of sale would almost certainly be later than date of manufacture.

I've just sight-read through both that setting in Bb and the one in G, with no problems. But I may be used to fingering options that you haven't practiced. In particular, I always use two separate fingers for same-row fifths, though not always the same fingers or in the same order. And that can also direct the use of a different finger than "usual" for notes before and/or after. If you want details of which fingers for which notes, I could provide that, but I have some more urgent things to deal with first. If I haven't added that before the weekend, please message me a reminder.

A caution with back packs: If you are unfortunate enough to fall backwards, your weight and your back will land on whatever is in it. A hard box -- of which a concertina is a variant -- can cause damage. It happened to a friend of mine, and both his concertina and his back were damaged. I always carry my concertina by hand, sometimes in a bag that is larger and contains other things but will still fit under the seat in front of me on a plane. I never leave it lying around out of my sight, e.g., in a car or a tent.

For Wheatstone instruments, keep a link to the relevant page in the Wheatstone ledgers, which the Horniman Museum keeps on a web site. As we progress in the 21st century, more and more classic instruments are passing that 100-year mark.

Or be told not to return, because you've "disrupted" the session. Session "etiquette" can vary quite arbitrarily from session to session... and from individual to individual.

I might guess that most (all?) of those who have seen it when it was in use have passed away.

I still have some springs that Steve Dickinson made for me (at least 40 years ago, when he did such things). Three different stiffness grades. Just because springs look the same doesn't mean they will perform the same, and adjustments will usually need to be made -- in shape, material, or even placement in the instrument -- if you want to match the performance of a previous one.

Shipping from New Hampshire to Maine? I would think a personal visit would be in order. Then you could try it before you buy it.

Well, I know a Toni and Tina, but they're a Danish couple, and neither plays the concertina. 8^)

Idiot proof? Why would you want to make it easier for idiots to open a concertina? Meanwhile, a complaint I have with some "modern" concertinas is that they use modern-standard machine screws, where the threads have a much shallower pitch than those on the "old-fashioned" instruments. That means many more turns of each screw when opening and closing the instrument. Okay, nobody seems to make screws of any sort these days with such steep pitch. But anyone with a screw-making machine could do so. Decades ago, Steve Dickinson made some for me, but he can no longer take the time to be a parts-maker for others. I actually had thoughts of asking a Russian friend if he could do it -- I could maybe pay for a thousand... at a time, if I could sell the entire first batch, -- but since the invasion of Ukraine, I'm unwilling to contact him, for fear that contact from an American would put him in danger. As for the type of head, I still find slot-head screwdrivers of the right size far easier to obtain than any of the alternatives. And I always keep a couple with my instruments, noting that not all "slots" are the same size.

Interesting. I have the following Englishes... 5-fold trebles: 48-button pinhole Æola; 48-button Rock Chidley 6-fold trebles: 50-button Aeola; 48-button Edeophone; 48-button Wheatstone Model 22 6-fold tenor-treble: 48 button, 6-sided (Wheatstone, Dickinson?) 7-fold tenor-treble: 64-button Aeola 8-fold bass: 56-button Aeola Conclude what you will.

Apologies to everyone for not getting this posted sooner, since if the SSI were happening, it would be at the end of this month. Over the past several months, my attention has been repeatedly hijacked by problems both technical and personal, and posting the "cancellation" slipped through the cracks. But I hope that you had guessed that without an announcement that it was happening, it probably wasn't. I had decided some time ago that with the recurring uncertainties regarding covid, I would not be willing to gamble on bringing people together. And although Sweden and Denmark (the nearest airport) are both officially "open", that decision has been validated by recent personal experience. I myself had the virus in early February, thankfully a mild case. But just within the last few weeks, five friends in Sweden were infected, and not as a group. And we were all fully vaccinated. Yes, it's still spreading. I had hoped that I could set up some individual small Zoom events during the past year, but those other issues prevented that. I still have hopes that I might be able to do something like that between now and April 2023, though there's no guarantee. However, if I do manage to get anything organized, I'll be sure to announce it here. Meanwhile, best wishes to all.

Potential "drones"?

I believe the serial number is from the period of missing ledgers, but I'd guess some time in the mid to late 1890s. I'm not seeing the "inscription" (insufficient resolution?), but on my own pinhole, the name "Æola" is stamp-engraved into the leather of the bellows end. (Ah, the advantages of a Danish keyboard. I believe that that compression of "Ae" into "Æ" was sometimes used by English printers "in the old days".)

I should clarify. Eventually, you probably won't be duplicating most of what you do on each instrument. But that should be for reasons of how the music fits on each instrument, not because you're "confused" by the fact of having two instruments that look similar, though they feel very different under your hands. Practicing switching back and forth will -- I hope -- result in your brain connecting both instruments to the music, rather than to each other.

Yes, they have... at least a few. That's a separate question. People differ. The fact that you have been successful at playing both anglo and English suggests to me that you can get used to switching between, but your current difficulty suggests that to do so, you should practice the switching itself. E.g., practice a tune on the one for 5-10-20 minutes, then the same tune on the other for a similar length of time, then back and forth again and again, switching to a different tune when the "current" one hits a learning plateau. And as with learning the tunes themselves, start slowly, then gradually increase speed as it becomes comfortable ("easy"?). Practice is important. Practice doesn't guarantee perfection, but perfection is virtually impossible without practice. Or, as expressed in one of my favorite quotes (origin unknown, at least to me): "An 'amateur' practices until he can get it right. A 'professional' practices until he cannot get it wrong."

Funny, but not enough to get me to take up monster accordion.

Looking forward to eventually hearing you play this on your English.

And note that with checked luggage, you will not be present when they check it, so you'll have no opportunity to explain. Meanwhile, most airlines allow (or at least did, pre-pandemic) a separate small piece -- e.g., a camera or purse -- to be carried on, in addition to regular "carry on". My standard-sized concertinas (one at a time) have always been allowed under that rule. My bigger ones just don't fly. I never allow a concertina into the "hands" of a baggage handler.

Concertinas are regularly shipped, often (nearly always?) by air, with no "accompanying" persons on the plane. I've never experienced or even heard of the sort of problem which seems to concern you. What's more, any pressure difference in a cargo hold can't be more than 1 atmosphere... the difference between the pressure at the Earth's surface and the vacuum of outer space. Although I haven't tried to measure it, I'm pretty sure that the pressure difference created by squeezing the bellows regularly exceeds that, even with air flowing through the reeds. So my take: It's a non-issue.

Wow! That's even much larger than the pair that are nesting on my friend's farm in Sweden. (Sorry. No photos.)

With the explosion of cicadas, you may have lots of bait, but the trout are almost certainly getting lots of hookless freebies.

In your organization, it's "essential" to have inaccurate communication?