TapTheForwardAssist

To Dave's point, I play a little single-row D melodeon for Irish and Appalachian tunes, and at one point I bought a two-row Hohner re-reeded in D/D#, thinking that way I'd be able to do the same thing but with added accidentals. The very experienced button accordion player who sold me the Hohner asked "now, you aren't planning to just play this like a one-row with extra keys, are you? Because that would be just silly." And I'm thinking ummmmm... pretty much. That said, heck with it, if you want to play up and down the rows, don't let anyone stop you. It's a valid way to play and probably a ton of folks in the tradition played that way before coalescing around the cross-row styles common these days. It's not like musical conventions are legally binding, so at the end of the day as long as you sound good and are having fun, more power to you.

This is a really good question, and using C/G 30b Anglo as the Irish default initially seems counter-intuitive. I'll leave it to others here to explain why it actually makes sense (I don't play much Anglo), but I'll draw a parallel in noting that Irish button accordion players use a B/C far far more than they use a C#/D or a D/D#, what one would intuitively expect. You certainly can do Irish on G/D Anglo, no reason you can't really, though you'd be kinda forging your own path. I would suggest you might be able to take inspiration from button accordion played Tim Edey, a very talented dude who plays all kinds of buttonbox, but is known for his very unique passion for playing Irish trade on the D/G 2-row. Here's a little of his stuff: B/C versus D/G http://forum.melodeon.net/index.php?topic=13941.0 DVD - Irish style D/G Melodeon - Mastering the Art - Tim Edey https://thereedlounge.com/products/dvd-irish-style-d-g-melodeon-mastering-the-art-tim-edey Locked in a box - DG melodeon music https://timedey.bandcamp.com/album/locked-in-a-box-dg-melodeon-music

Do I understand right that you're selling some of your Anglos? With the surge of interest in sea shanties, if you're trying to sell some Anglos, you might want to make a new post here listing what you have for sale, listed individually in the title of the post, maybe with prices. Just pitching the idea since I was planning to recommend folks come to this subforum if anyone is looking for a concertina for sea shanties.

Thanks, Paul! I just didn't want to step on any toes, so just wanted to run it by you first. Totally understand you're keeping the project small and personal in this situation. If you're ever inclined to license the design or something, we could probably drum up someone on this side of the pond to make their own spin on it, and maybe someone inclined to slightly scale up more, but that's just tossing an idea out there since I'm in a creative industry. I'll make a basic post on r/Concertina mentioning your work just so our small sub can take some inspiration from your innovation, and maybe a couple folks will hit you up with orders that you can take at your own pace. I do really like that you offer a range of button-sizes for versatility, and the possibility of different pitches, which is the kind of cool flexibility you get from custom work. I would be highly tempted myself if I were better on Anglo, but I stick to Maccann Duet and some Hayden on my starter Elise. But if you ever feel like trying a Duet variant...

Ah, so it's a "passion project" and not necessarily something you're interested in really promoting or scaling up at this time? Totally understand, folks have day jobs and families and the rest of life. That is one of the quirks of the niche musical instrument scenes, that the folks eager to hustle a buck avoid us because they can't scale the profits, and many folks who know and love the instrument build as a hobby rather than a hustle. I had the same talk last week with a colleague who builds lyres, since I moderate r/Lyres on Reddit and have gotten quite a few folks to take up the lyre (often as a first instrument) during Covid lockdown. I was speaking with a luthier who makes affordable lyres but in awesome designs, pitched him a few ideas about "a friend of a friend knows a guy who plays Viking-themed heavy metal and has a lot of Instagram followers, I can get him to do a review, get you more orders!" And he politely declined because he's building as many lyres as he enjoys to and doesn't need more emails. So I totally get it. But I'm really thrilled to see your designs come to life! I believe "vegan concertina" rings a bell, probably I saw your posts here while lurking in years past. I really appreciate your creativity and innovation! If you're trying to keep demand low-key, and maybe are kind of in "beta testing" mode where you're getting some boxes out there to see how players take to them, is it okay if I share your website and demo on r/Concertina, since we're pretty small and likely to get you a little buzz but not any avalanche of demands for squeezeboxes next week? Just wanted to ask first since I don't want to come across as not respecting your process, but definitely folks on our little sub would find your work very cool!

Wait wait wait, hold up a moment: so I checked your website and you're telling me that you yourself sell concertinas that are at least decently usable and start as low as US$230 (after shipping from UK) for a 20b Anglo? If that is the case, (if I can rib you gently despite not knowing you personally), I am unclear as to why you are even available to speak to at the moment and not simply spending all waking hours spreading word of your product so you can sell a bunch of these to newfound sea-shanty enthusiasts. I don't know your work, but if folks on this forum have taste-tested them and opine they're worth the money, I think I can suggest you a few simple ways to spread the word about your product and get your order-books filled through 2022.

Bingo, this exactly. I'm a folkie nerd so well-aware that shanties are acapella, but the kids getting in on the fad aren't sticklers and are interesting in nautical-themed folk in general, so I don't think it's at all misleading to nudge some concertina into the mix. Even though, as many of us are aware, cheap bisonoric concertinas were played by farmers, miners, factory workers and the like too, and sailors played many popular instruments of their social class and culture other than concertina. So it's less a historically-rigorous promotion of the instrument, and more a practical offering of an option that fits in with the theme at least on a popular culture conception level.

Hello, I'm a moderator on r/Concertina on Reddit, which is a relatively small and casual forum, where we share music and answer basic questions, and quite frankly refer newbies to your forum here for anything serious because you have an outstanding community. Not sure if all you have seen this, but there's been a sudden and massive fashion for sea shanties (and other nautical music) amongst the youth of today due to some trending videos on social media. Like it's big enough that serious media is talking to it, and r/SeaShanties on Reddit basically doubled in subscribers in a matter of weeks. We on r/Concertina are thinking of ways to encourage a small niche of interested shanty noobs to consider concertina (noting that the association between sailors and concertina is somewhat exaggerated in popular culture). So we're assembling some basic information on the instrument for the purposes of shanties to put a little very basic layperson article together. There's one detail we're not sure about: if someone can acquire a Stagi 20b Anglo for $300ish or so, vice $400-500 for a Rochelle or Wren, is the Stagi actually a decent option? To one degree, the Stagi afaik is Italian made with Italian reeds, the Rochelle and Wren are Chinese (but made to a higher quality standard than usual Chinese); is that correct? If someone really just needs 20 buttons for a genre based around limited scales, is the Stagi a decent deal at a slightly better price point and Italian made? Or should people just buckle down and get a 30b so they have more versatility should their tastes expand? Speaking of Stagi, who is even selling new Stagis these days? I saw a post on this forum about how the firm is under a new name and ownership in Italy, but still producing, but I'm having trouble finding anyone in the US at least who routinely stocks Stagi in general, much less a 20b. Any help is appreciated in wrapping our heads around how to recommend concertinas to beginners who've been seduced by sea shanties.