Mike Pierceall

Thank you, Stephen. Illuminating as usual.

I'd like to add my congratulations. With both an Aeola and an Edeophone, it seems to me that you now have the best of both worlds! You now join the ranks of others such as Sara Graves. My own search for an Aeola to join my Edeophone is ongoing. I've seen a number of extended trebles, but a standard 48 key instrument is getting harder to find in my experience. Mike

True! Although I try to discern the difference between letting what I'm really feeling reach my face, and making up some expression I think I should be having. I hope John Wild doesn't mind my directing your attention to his photo on his member page, but I think it shows a look of blissful concentration. Honesty of expression. Mike.

One? the other? or both? THey both do the work as part of Dave Leese's business, I believe. I'm not sure if Dave E is still doing it. I've been happy with the 7-fold that I recently got from Dave also. The "Two Daves" -- now, that's a catchy title! Mike

One? the other? or both?

Looking for a treble English, 48 key, raised metal ends, either a Lachenal New Model or Wheatstone Aeola in good to serviceable condition. Please respond via e-mail. Thanks -- Mike

'Fraid not, they only reflect a difference in price. the "to the edge" construction being significantly cheaper than the "recessed inside" one (which requires a lot more work). Thank you, Stephen. Much obliged. Mike Stephen, an interesting, perhaps clever bit of marketing on Lachenal's part --on their 1930 price list: "Special note. All our models can now be supplied with Nickel Tops moulded to the edge if desired instead of being let in to an Ebony or Rosewood moulding. No extra charge." Can this be proof that less is equal, or can it be assumed that there was an advantage to the nickel tops moulded to the edge? Mike

'Fraid not, they only reflect a difference in price. the "to the edge" construction being significantly cheaper than the "recessed inside" one (which requires a lot more work). Thank you, Stephen. Much obliged. Mike

I've noticed two different styles of metal ends on Lachenals -- one in which the metal fretwork is recessed and fastened by a dedicated set of screws to the ends -- and the other in which the metal fretwork overlays the ends and is fastened to the ends by the end bolts themselves. Can these differences be used as a method of dating Lachenals, or were both styles available concurrently?

I usually play pretty well when I'm not paying any attention at all -- you know, making out my shopping list in my head while playing a tune I've practiced to the bone

I play a Lachenal Edeophone with ebony ends. I've been told that Edeophones with metal ends have a piercing sound that can be disconcerting. Perhaps this is specific to the Edeophone, but I would assume that wooden ends on any concertina would have an attenuating effect. Mike

£1500 is actually closer to $2800.

He tried, but that was followed by a last second snipe. Instrument sold for USD 5,350.00 !!!!! And just like that... another one appears, in somewhat better shape..

Umm, just a minor nitpick.. but there are alot more keys in typing than 26. There is the space key, two shift keys, a caps lock key, tab, 9 distinct punctuation keys (not counting those that appear on the number keys), 10 number keys, etc. And of course there are times when you need to press 2 keys at the same time. -- Bill Well observed, Bill. Perhaps I should have used my stenotype machine as an example. It has 25 keys, all inclusive. Mike

I find it strangely reminiscent of learning to type. However, imagine learning to type on a keyboard split in half and held sideways in two parts, 48 keys instead of 26. (56 in my case) Of course you would also have to press and pull the keyboard at the same time you are typing, and each key would have to be held for a certain interval, which changes according to what has been written. Sometimes you might even have to press more than one key at the same time. And do it all with emotion. And yet the human brain is capable of all that and so much more. Mike

Actually, Jim, your example matches the bolt pattern -- I was in error. I agree with you that it is beautiful. Mike

Dan, In 1890 the city of Los Angeles tried to outlaw the "Salvationists," as they were called, from performing on city streets. The attempt failed in the courts. The writer of the article I reference called them "unmusical tramps." He went on to say that the concertina was worked so violently that it drowned out the horn. From the Los Angeles Times April 27, 1890. Mike

Frank, I thank you also. I was looking for a way to more permanently address this problem. Mike

Jeremy, you might want to first invest in the documentary DVD "Playing the Concertina" available on Pauline de Snoo's website. Various opinions regarding the Anglo and English systems are discussed by Douglas Rogers and Steve Dickinson, and both instruments are played. Steve Dickinson, gives a fair appraisal of each systems attributes. Duet too. It's a beautiful film as well. Mike

Greg, thank you for the suggestion. I was wondering how different an early Edeophone would be from the 20's model that I have. I know of differences in the bellows - five fold rather than 6 fold, and differences in the reed pans - smaller center hole in the earlier Edeophone, and the different action. But I was wondering how the earlier model plays soundwise and tactily. Mike

This is by no means a complete economic analysis, and I don't know what (if anything) it has to do with Ireland, but in my world... Back in 1937, the Patek Music Company in Chicago sold a quadruple reed deluxe instrument for $425 Based on the Consumer Price Index, that's equivalent to $5,852 in todays US Dollars. A brand new quadruple reed instrument from Hengel or Echo today will cost about $8,000. In the American market for new Chemnitzers, it seems like it's harder to get a new instrument than it was at least in 1937. Theodore, In the past there were more craftsman with the skills to create these wonderful things. Perhaps the question to ask is this: What is the intrinsic value of the instrument? I believe that after all is said and done, they are still very valuable instruments, even without the effects of supply and demand. Mike

Has anyone had the experience of playing an early Edeophone, say around 1900 vintage or thereabouts? I'd like to know how you'd compare it to the later models made in the teens and twenties. Mike

Let's see... Building furniture. I just finished a music stand. Gardening. Restoration work on my home. I go dancing every week too. The occasional research project. I don't try to fit everything in. I let my intuition guide me. I do what I feel I need to do at the time. Mike.

...here are some other leads: "Ideophone" ..."A vivid representation of an idea in sound." or "Idiophone" an instrument like the Aeolsklavier, which sounds by the movement of air from bellows over wooden reeds, (paraphrased). I had discounted "ideophone" firstly because the connection between "idea" and that particular design seems as tenuous as some of my puns and secondly because confusion between "e" and "i" seems rare in Greek and Latin, even "Greek" and "Latin" invented by English speakers. Also, it's a linguistic term, not a musical one. That second one looks interesting, but where did you find it? The definition of "idiophone" on the Dolmetsch site is quite different and much broader. Jim, I was going by the Hornbostal Sachs classification scheme. Although this was published in 1914, about 25 years after the patent on the Edeophone, it was based on the works of Victor Mahillion, who was writing about the time the Edeophone appeared. I'm not a scholar, but my personal opinion is that the Lachenal Co. just adapted a name from terminology of the time, say, combining the concepts of ideophone and idiophone, and then making a unique term they could register. But in the world of supposition, anyone can be right, and everyone can be wrong. Maybe Edeophone means "like the sound of God." Mike