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Geoff I have a Lachenal Edeophone, 6 fold, ebony raised ends, 48 treble. SN 55293 It's my main session instrument. Joe

You may try to abandon pinkey rests and put your instrument on your knee, while sitting. Some keep straps very tight, but not stick their appendages far in them (good overall life practice), or, like me, keep them very loose, and flexible. It's not your straps, it's you. You tense and your shoulders are probably high up to your ears, and you try too hard to hold it with your pinkies. Those pinkey rests will not help you. Later, when you develop technique, you may experiment with them, and hold instrument in the air, but unless you are performing onstage and just have to show off your tail suite, there is no reason for it. But if you instist, your thumbs are stressed and tense. Relax them, relax your wrists, arms, flex them alot. And keep those shoulders down. You're not alone. Some think EC is designed by God and need no improvement, some (like me) think it's been simply a practical joke.

Thanks for the site. It works great. It also has a pdf print capability. In a couple of minutes I now have "Ah, Marie" in GD & E.

'Mark Evans' [ Most chairs in the pub fit me very well. I wonder, are the dimensions perfectly suited to my Humpty-Dumpty body shape or are the libations involved moderating my perceptions ?] When the session first started, there were dining chairs, w and w/o arms. Very awkward. Now we have a dozen or more stools, hard on the back sitting for 2 or more hours, but everyone prefers them, even a lot of the customers. They free up a lot of room for the players, and the customers can crowd more at a table. Good for business. Libations is a good relaxer, it 'oils' to the knuckles and numbs the seat. 2 pints is about right for me.

'JimLucas' [ Dunno. Why not briefly borrow a foot rest at the next session and see if it works for you? My own guess is that the effect may depend on the height of your seat. I bought one as a gift for my string son, he didn't like it and gave it back. Now I'll get it out of the box and give it a shot.

At sessions I've noticed that some guitar and madolin players use a foot rest to raise one leg. If you play sitting, with the concertina resting on your right knee, would raising that knee 2-4 inches help? Giving more room for the left arm to swing, easier on the elbow, closer the eyes and ears? Has anyone tried it and have a preference?

Happy Fourth of July! From a stump speech by yet to announce presidential candidate Fred Thompson. "My friends we have entered a new era. We are going to be tested in many ways, possibly under attack and for a long time. It's time to take stock and be honest with ourselves. We're going to have to do a lot of things better. Here's what we need to do and here's why. I know that, now that you're being called upon, you will do whatever is necessary for the sake of our country and for future generations. You always have." Thanks to our Founding Fathers, giving us a Constitution, that enabled us grow and meet challenges to our liberty, and the liberty of those who depend on us. Stay safe in the coming year. Especially disturbing is that '3rd' SUV just blown up in the UK, where there are so many concertina players. The topic title was taken from last year's greetings thread which turned a little sour. I hope this one doesn't.

Not necessary. I've had instruments with gauze (I don't consider it to be "baffling") which appeared to be original. Since the area around the buttons is a solid, roughly rectangular piece, a similar piece is cut from the gauze. I.e., instead of a separate hole for each button, on each end there's one hole surrounding the entire array of buttons. From the outside, you can't see a difference, but the one-hole method is lots easier. It's a solid area on my Aeola but not on my Edeo. It has frets between the holes. It would be a lot easier to do, but then it would not be equal to the original and not be as effective dust 'criter' shield.

Mine arrived yesterday. A good sized piece for £3 which is ample to do my Edeophone. He also very kindly included written instructions on how to fit it. I did a quick check to see if he is a member of this forum but he isnt. When ive tackled it i`ll let you know. David. To me it appears my Edeophone had fine white baffles when made. One baffle was missing, and I tried to make one. Problem I had is making the individual holes for each button. I got some very simular fabric used in quilting. I sent a picture of the original baffle to Gaskins and it maybe on his web site in his article on baffles. I believe the primary reason (Edeos)is to keep out dust and 'criters'. It also looks cool. The fabric is too light weight to affect the sound. On many 20 button Lachenals that I've seen, the baffles are red colored leather , and a rectangle is cut out to accomodate the buttons. This tells me that it dust was not their reason for the baffle, but to 'soften' the sound. Does the instructions you receive go into cutting 24 equally spaced holes ? Joe

this same question was on mudcat a few years ago. the answer was easiest to hardest something like this bodhran autoharp hammered dulcimer whistle melodeon concertina fiddle pipes How about guitar, mandolin, banjo...? I never tried a guitar, but other than the work out keeping up, a few cords gives a good beat to a session. Play outside the circle first!

Yes. During the holidays we always do 'In the Bleak Midwinter'. And the Baritone melody part from one of his marches, 2nd Suite as I remember. Been quite a while.

'Didn't your recent subway bombings scare you.' 'Well, you did something about the V!'s and IRA. Why not do something about the Islam fascists? If you don't care for your life, at least support others, including Blair, to take on that bunch of morons . They are not morons, they are countries, they are killers and they are smart. '

Alone????? The threat of a relatively small group of psychotic terrorists more serious than say WW2 or the Cuban Missile Crisis? God bless the British and others supporting those in this world who do not want to be force converted or intimidated. God bless Churchill, Thatcher and Blair. All countries are being invaded and slowly forced to accomodate their 'enemies'. What bothers me is the billions that condone the tatics of these 'barbarians', and their stated objective.

I'm not proud of everything that America has ever done, but I am certainly proud of some things that my ancestors have done along the way. P.S. Anyone wishing to discuss current politics, feel free to send me an email or PM, but please don't do it here on-Forum. Nice overal tribute Jim, but it's too bad some had to vent their 'ill' feelings publicly rather than by private email as you suggested. We again are engaged, again alone, confronting probable 'our' most serious threat ever. That being the case, chauk me up for supporting this country, way back then and now. When you're dealing with headchoppers, things will get ugly.

Reed pan warp was mentioned earlier in the thread. If you lay a straight edge across the flat side of the reed pan, is the pan concave? If it is, by how much? This is big problem with my 20 anglo, which was concave by approx 1/8". We had a thread on this a while back and I'm back at it. Joe

How and where do you attach them? thanks Joe

Personal opinion of hundreds of people over a hundren years as evidenced by the finger wear on concertinas. Joe

IMO what you see is typical and to be expected. It is easier and generally preferable to play in the lower octave. Also having to switch hands when going up an octave is a mayor stumbling point for most. I wish I could get the the desire to get better at it, but I have enough on my plate just shifting keys on the lower end . Joe

Jim, re your post of Oct 3 < Sorry, Joe. I know it's impolite of me, but I have to correct your spelling Yes it is, no you don't. < The remaining question is whether Wheatstone had any particular reason to put any particular note into any particular hand, and I don't see any. If he flipped a coin to decide which hand to start in, he had a 50/50 chance of getting it the way he did, and an equal chance of getting it the other way around. Well good. I'm glad that the guy that made the 1st piano didn't flip a coin. < Not really. After all, what about the other notes? I just mentioned the lowest note. < Why "must"? It could have been decided by a coin flip. I said must be a good reason, and your symphonium explanation, by adding a G seems the fit the bill. Thanks now I know. < The concertina was designed independently, not as some variant of the piano. I think you're trying to create connections where none exist. Wheatstone, from what I understand, designed the EC as a 'reed' variant of the violin. That's why it has the same range as a violin. But after that, if you had to chose, it's more like a piano than a violin. It has black and white key, as does a piano!!!!! It's tuned to the piano, with all sorts of shenanigans going on, with equal, mean, etc on top of etc tunings. If it were tuned to perfect 5ths, then it would be more of a variant of the violin, but its not. Then there's the question of accidental duplicates, i.e. D# and Eb I think are two. The piano has one or the other. The violinist can just roll his finger, an EXPERT concertina player (with D# and Eb tuned) can play one or the other, depending on the music. But IMO, except for purists, they should be tuned the same. If they are not, then it really gets confusing with the fingering. < I think you're confusing "familiar" with "natural". Someone who has never played a piano-type keyboard would probably find nothing "unnatural" in one that was a mirror image of the standard one. People are not ambidextrous ( few are ) , they are right/left orientated. You will have noticed that are no reversed keyboards. < And then there's the fact that although the English drive on the opposite side of the road from most other Europeans, they consider it perfectly "natural". Well, just goes to show you, someone flipped a coin, instead of thinking. I never drove an English car, so I have to do a little assuming. Your right arm is up against the door, virtually useless, while your left hand has to multitask the dash. This can get frustrating for the right handed majority. < Try some tunes, or more complex arrangements -- whatever it is you would like to be able to play I'm working on it. My tune is Danny Boy, first in the key of C, then G, D, A, and E. But it's not a priority, the whole idea is just something that popped into my head, and I thought I'd throw it out there. Joe

Jim < The fact that the eighth note of the scale (the octave) is on the opposite side from the first was not a design goal, but simple consequence of the alternation, just as 8 is an even number, while 1 is an odd number. And 5 is an odd number, 1 is odd, and you have a different consequence if you switch on the 5ths. < In fact, octave jumps are much less frequent than other intervals in most music. When playing with others, rather than all playing the melody note its nice to jump up or down an octave. < Huh? The strings of a violin are normally tuned in a series of 5ths, not 4ths. Right. < 1) Placing accidentals in separate rows - on the violin they're not on separate strings. They could be in the same row. If they were in different rows the spacing could be like thirds are now on the EC or even less. < if the buttons of your G-row were G-A-B-C, then those of your D row should be D-E-F#-G, not D-E-F-G, and the F-natural should go into the "accidental" row. I don't see anything wrong that, but it makes me wonder if you had thought that through. I was thinking of going up in the key of C , not in equal tones, and the D row would be D-E-F-G. But also going up in tones, i.e. G row having G-A-B-C, D row having D-E-F#-G, and A row having A--B-C#-D#, and E row having E-F#-G#-A#. Might be better for playing in different keys, in sessions as you go up in key, G, D,A and to E. the higher you go , more sharps appear in the same row. Whew! Still mulling it over, give me a minute' < With only 4 notes per row, you're ignoring the common violin technique of playing in other than first position. And it's not just that if one can't do it on your concertina, then it's that much less like a violin. On a violin, positions above first are necessary on the E string, to play some of the notes in many common tunes. Right again, can't have it all. Not only that, I have to add a few buttons to get up to high C. I don't think above that is necessary. The violin goes higher just because of the consequence of its design. A contortionist with long fingers ( Pagini?) can play close to the end of the finger board. Other than being hard to do, like playing extremely fast, is irritating to me. < I don't see why makers or promoters of concertinas should direct their product more toward "aspiring violin players" Because there are a lot around. Most session players IMO play more than 1 instrument like fiddle and whistle, or fiddle and Mandolin, bohran and flute, and like music so much they tend to be 'instrumentalists' and are in outreach mode. A violin friendly concertina may fit that bill. Further, what the sessions lack is a bass anchor like the cello. I understand that early sessions was usually with a single violin and cello. But a cello is hard to lug around so maybe a 'simplified' concertina could play a bass part. Incidentally, I did buy a cello, and have it farmed out. Hopefully this Thanksgiving , we'll play LaPaloma, and more. I'll play my EC or fiddle along with the my new cello player who also plays fiddle, piano, guitar and at one time clarinet . Joe