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Dirge

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Everything posted by Dirge

  1. Depending on his health he may be out with the fire brigade too, but his establishment is literally IN the trees so I'll keep my fingers crossed for him too.
  2. Not sure why they didn't always make miniatures Anglos; if you're main aim is novelty petiteness while still creating a useable instrument (of sorts) surely 2 notes per button makes huge sense. And what does it matter for something like this even if you do play another system normally?
  3. Dunno really; it seemed nice toned but I'd nothing of that ilk to compare it with and not much air to do it with either. I started on it because I fancied owning a pukka maori piano. I may eventually tackle it but at the moment I have too much knackered stuff ('projects') for my liking and perhaps sanity.
  4. Yes I have such a beast. I started doing it up, it has had the ends professionally repaired and repolished, new valves and pads (and springs?); it's fairly sound, brass reeded, but the bellows are shot and it's at that point that I lost interest. Needs a keen owner...if you're interested I'll dig it out and sort pictures. 120 pounds posted anywhere in the world.
  5. Oh dear and I never DID get to share a beer with you in the Sorrel Horse. Well I hope the retreat goes well.
  6. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.737201552962605.1073741830.118689434813823&type=1 Go to the bottom 2 pictures to find me playing with 'The Pukes'. They're nominally a ukulele band but I 'guest'. There's a bass, a couple of electrified tenor ukes and my small duet. (The one I was agonising over moving the keys in) This is the monthly uke club; all amateurs who mount their own show but done at the local rock music venue using the PA, lights and a man who knows how to use them. $5 for a good night, and we get to play too. I set the zoom up but my computer melted the other day and I think I've lost it.
  7. If you want to talk duets All but the very smallest vintage duets have 4 octaves or more, unless you are talking 'per side' which I don't think is the right way to approach it anyway. You need to get the idea of a continuous range in your head When I'm 'vamping' I sometimes find myself playing chords across the melody when the RH dips low and I idly play my std LH chord (which are usually placed quite high on the LH register). It doesn't seem to offend. I fondly believe that a listener's ear will emphasise the melody line a bit for you before you do anything else about it. There are lots of tricks to help bring out the melody but a lot of the time I don't think it's worth the worry some put in. In my view, putting baffles in one side of a duet is hamstringing it, regardless of size. Rock'nRoll keyboards seem to stay in a fairly narrow range (the bass does the low notes!) and they fit on a concertina fine, because I've been doing exactly that with a band recently. I seem to make a few tunes work solo but you need at least a guitarist with you to add the 'percussion' for convincing pop if you ask me. Sorry Lukasz...
  8. I'm sure I've asked this before but has anyone ever found a website with music for the Boermusik classics?
  9. or chuck all the original buttons and make a full set out of whatever you fancy...
  10. Nice to see you resurface, Alan!
  11. Well there's Lois and there ought to be me although having gained some ground with my alternative medicine technique I try to ignore it... I ought to be interested though because I expect it to be back. Go on then, I'm interested too.
  12. I've had that for ages; on my middle finger on the LH and third finger on the RH. It never resulted in lost strength, but I can imagine if it is getting bad it cuts your reach and that's where you'd notice it most on your little finger; with me it is not pretty but no problem as yet, but read on... A local doctor told me the gene came down from Viking ancestors. I don't really sunburn despite the hole in the ozone layer down here and this has also been suggested as implying Viking blood so it must be true. It has crossed my mind before now that a large axe would save time and nuisance in certain circumstances, but I think that's just a standard reaction to modern life. Baron Dupuytren was famous in his day for treating Napoleon's piles, now his name is attached to this tiresome thing. Fame was out to get him. I tried to suggest to friends that the marks on my palms were stigmata, proof of my pure and simple lifestyle, but they didn't swallow it. There is a strictly owner's risk fourth treatment option. I went to see the quack and he named it (so he was happy). He said surgery was not certain and sometimes made it worse, which really put me off that one. Time passed and the fingers started to annoy me with their pathetic failure to get into line like they should, so one day I sat at a table and forced them back beyond where they belonged. Flesh tore inside my hand; it was a bit unpleasant but I gritted my teeth and shoved harder against the table until they 'conformed'. This must be 2 or 3 years ago now and the left hand quickly settled vastly improved and has played ball ever since. Complete cure bar a lumpy palm, at least so far. The RH kept trying to revert, so, having started down this trail, I forced it again, and again. It was still unpleasant. The finger and I have now drawn back from open war and reached a sort of N and S Korea type understanding. I leave it alone more than I used to and it doesn't seem to be getting noticeably worse. So that's one success and a partial success. Not bad overall. It worked for me. I have no idea what I risked doing this, AND DO NOT WANT TO KNOW thank you. Ignorance is bliss. But if you feel brutal enough to try it don't come blaming me if you destroy your finger completely.
  13. Re 20B; you must be sure and try an old English one, a Jones, or Lachenal or somesuch. My impression is that all the German made ones and certainly the modern ones are much bigger so won't be as suitable.
  14. If you travel by air you have to carry your instrument hand luggage, yes? Then the extra size to fit all that splendid padding bites into the volume of hand luggage you are allowed. I don't know what a Jeffries came in originally but I find nothing beats the original wood and leather box for peace of mind with economy of scale. What I could use is a lighter replica of that.
  15. Felix; they are nice little tunes and will sound really good, but if I were you I'd just forget your accordion completely and play what the concertina wants to play, if you understand me.* Work out and practice some basic chords, perhaps C, G, F to start with and learn to use them. Add others later. You heard what I do and said you liked it; well I don't do much more than that when playing by ear. *thinking about it that's exactly what I had to do when I moved on from piano accordion.
  16. I've noticed that fake book type transcriptions of all sorts often (always?) tell you the full chord including melody note and it's often more complex than you want. I regularly ignore the 7ths anyway when playing by ear. Not much seems lost and it makes life simpler too.
  17. Yes definitely some are now out but not enough to worry me at the moment, and one of the tricky reeds is still catching the sidewall slightly so I'll need to go back in. I thought I'd give it a few days for it all to settle a bit.
  18. I'd rather not! that's why. (If I understand you) I don't worry about the odd wrong note here on Cnet but they're not for general consumption. They wouldn't understand. Remember this is me playing on a newly rearranged instrument; I'd hope to be smoother and more accurate later.
  19. Thank you! And here's a little sample for you, Shelley. 50K taster.mp3 Never let it be said etc etc...
  20. Not that many; I did all of them and tested the lot at one go, then with the unhelpful ones I put a thumb over the end of the chamber with both reeds in place, sealed the top of the chamber against my lips, then blowing and sucking tests both sides quite well. Perhaps the end came off and on 4 times? It's true it always irritates me that I have 33% more screws to deal with than even an Edeo'. Wheatstones would probably say it was a further sign of their uncompromising high quality... I was going to record something to show off the results but couldn't find my zoom. Now I see it by the monitor here, so I'll have a go. Playing it is slightly odd now; if I get in the groove and play it like the normal instrument it now is, it feels 'right', but I still tend to sheer off and play the learnt 'wrong' notes. I'm sure that will pass very fast, but as I said befopre I should have sorted this months ago and avoided all this.
  21. Right, successfully done. Phew. In the end I went everywhere and anywhere to find the extra length to get the biggest 2 pairs of reeds into the smaller slots; I took a bit off the nose of the frame, filed the back parallel with the reedpan edge AND took a bit out of the nose of the slots. Having taken the nose off I then had to run the air slot further to give the tongue clearance. I had a square section Swiss file that was just the right width so that was OK. Filing the frame sides was no problem. Meanwhile the ICA newsletter cover made good thicker shims for packing smaller reeds into bigger slots, which seemed right and proper. The only trouble I had was getting the big pairs to speak properly; I'd taken a lot off the sides and it turned out that the sides were bowing in and strangling the reeds when they were fitted. I took my end bolt screwdriver and burnished the middle of the faces of the dovetails and that compressed the wood enough to sort it; there was also a little extra tidying work with reeds picking up the sides of air slots. All this took a fair amount of fiddling to work out and was quite nerve wracking; 'Have I overdone it? Will I be able to get it right?' but suddenly there it was. So a good result; thanks for everyone's help.
  22. Somewhere around there are some pictures of a rather glamorous looking Sally Army lady with concertina. Was it one of General Booth's daughters? What about that?
  23. So I took a deep breath, waded in, and after a bit began to believe this would be OK. Tested it and found I'd still got the notes in the wrong places and making less sense than before. Impressive eh? Now I have it OK apart from the last two notes that are awaiting attention tomorrow. Felix; it's 1918 and yes, as far as i remember is very Chidley. Maybe Chidley was working at Wheatstones and had already worked out his 'improved' layout and persuaded some buyers to take it, and only when he was promoted was he able to enforce it as the norm? How a Lach' fits in with this theory I don't know.
  24. Oh has it rolled over into speak like a spitfire pilot day?
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