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Interests
I play the piano, piano accordion, concertina, melodeon, and soon the cinema organ too. I like to collect and try to fix old broken musical instruments.
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Location
Lincoln, England
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Squeezebox Of Delights's Achievements

Advanced Member (3/6)
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Young children: Wren vs. Rochelle 2 vs. ?
Squeezebox Of Delights replied to Geraghty's topic in Teaching and Learning
I don't have any experience with the Rochelle, but I will say that the action on my Wren is pretty stiff, so it might not be too comfortable for small hands. You get used to it after a while, but it doesn't get any more comfortable. -
Reminds me of this image I found on the internet a while back...
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Squeezebox Of Delights changed their profile photo
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Looking to buy an Elise Hayden Duet (UK)* FOUND!
Squeezebox Of Delights replied to Daddy Long Les's topic in Buy & Sell
There's this one on eBay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/303981363253?hash=item46c6b38035:g:2uYAAOSwlWRgbxsm -
Squeezebox Of Delights started following Interesting... Thing? on The Saleroom and £235 Anglo Kit
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Hello all, So I was just trawling through old melodeon.net articles, and I came across a post about a Swiss company that makes several sorts of free reed instruments. As well as doing ready-made instruments, they also sell a range of DIY kits; such as a couple of accordions, a harmonium, and most importantly, three Anglo concertinas - a 10 button, a 6 button and what appears to be a 2 button. The most complete of these - the 10 button model - has one row of 5 buttons on each side, and is in the key of C. The kit costs 300 Swiss Francs, which is currently equivalent to £235.94 or $324.25, which seems like quite a reasonable price for people who want the experience of building (and then being able to play) a working instrument. It's not particularly orthodox in build, having 12 sides, 4 fold bellows, accordion reeds and an action like that of an old melodeon, but it certainly does the job. The other, smaller concertinas are a bit cheaper, but I feel like people would be more interested in the larger one, and there are no videos of the smaller ones. I just thought I'd put this here in case anyone was interested, because I certainly am! http://akkordeonwerkstatt.ch/eigenbau.html
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I was just checking The Saleroom for fun, and I came across this. I was quite intrigued, and decided to put it here in case anyone else was interested or knew anything about it. It appears to be a homemade anglo concertina, but it is very unusual in the construction, strap design and number of buttons, sides and bellows folds. There is only one photo, and the auctioneer's estimate is very low, suggesting they don't have much experience in concertinas. Any ideas as to what it is? https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/peter-francis/catalogue-id-peter-10231/lot-ea107157-36e3-4d2d-b998-acd801098c43 Thanks, Oskar
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Anglo concertina and piano accordian.....
Squeezebox Of Delights replied to billyboy's topic in General Concertina Discussion
Well, technically speaking, if you can play the piano then you can play half a PA. Then you just need to get familiar with the left hand, which is fairly simple once you get the hang of it. While buying second hand is much more economically friendly than buying new, what I wouldn't advise is getting a PA cheap on eBay. Generally (from my experience) these are instruments that have been kept in an aged relative's cupboard, cellar or attic for upwards of thirty years and have been rediscovered while clearing out the house. They are often leaky and/or out of tune, and would cost an awful lot of money to repair. Also, steer clear at all costs of the vintage German-made instruments with faux-Italian names like 'Milani', 'Pietro' and 'Paolo Antonio' (pictures below). These are comparable to the German-made 'imitation anglo' concertinas, e.g. poorly made, trying to impersonate better instruments and almost always in terrible condition. They are not worth restoring, and are only really good for decoration. Luckily, like German anglo concertinas, they all look very similar and can be easily identified from photos, and therefore avoided. -
Anglo concertina and piano accordian.....
Squeezebox Of Delights replied to billyboy's topic in General Concertina Discussion
I’ve played PA for about 7 years now, and began learning the AC two years ago, and I don’t have any bother with bellows direction etc. etc. I think it may be something to do with how different they are to hold and play. It might seem confusing at first, but as Pentaprism and JimmyG have said, your brain should be able to adapt to different instruments. The only thing you should be worried about is being ravaged by hardcore concertinists for turning to the dark side! -
From what I've seen on Wish and Banggood, these instruments have traditional riveted action and flat mounted reeds, which is surprising for a low end instrument, although do correct me if I'm wrong. It'd be interesting to know where it sits in terms of playability and quality on the scale between cheapo beginner hybrid and high end professional hybrid, as it seems to be a mix of the two...
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That's very interesting! Who'd have thought that a free reed instrument company would branch off into nose flutes... There's an incredibly informative set of articles about the history of the swan brand nose flute here, if you wanted to have a look: http://nose-flute.blogspot.com/2012/07/about-swan-logo-part-i.html
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Need help in identification of concertina
Squeezebox Of Delights replied to Barb's topic in General Concertina Discussion
Looks Stagi or Bastari to me, unless it’s a later Chinese model. Do you have any idea of its age?