Marien

Hello stevejay and welcome on concertina net. About the melodeon question, overhere in the Netherlands they turn reeds a lot on 2 row boxes. Some teachers strongly (or should I say strangely) advise you to reverse the reed, and only teach people if their reeds are turned. For many tunes it may help. With a flipped C/F box you'll have a C on push and pull on the right hand side. But other teachers do not like the reversed reeds. Many other tunes are easier to play without the flipped reed. In both cases you'll have certain limitations. My C/F melodeon is in the original tuning, and I'll keep it that way. rgrds

fyi, an old childrens book for sale on ebay: tingo and his magic concertina.

The fabric behind the ends and the wood screw (save the picture and zoom in) reminds of a german anglo. The label inside also suggests a german make. There seem to be no pads near the button area, unfortunately there are no pictures of the inside. But the bellows have an english look, and the picture give the impression that the ends consists of two parts (an end plate and an action plate). Could this an import concertina for scotland with the reeds placed in the shape of a horse shoe? Maybe a real expert could telll...

The term "crane driver" is kranig gevonden (I can't translate that into english using the word Crane, it means something like: the term "crane driver" is a very special find of an innovative mind (in a positive way)). In Dutch we would call a crane driver a "kraanmachinist" or "kraanchauffeur" and crane driver is the literal english translation. Am I going to sleep in a civilized world now?

I am guessing about the same age. I have seen newer ones with the same sound hole pattern but they are different. Especially the bellows paper and the style of the ends makes me think that this one is older, but I am not sure about it. It is known that imitation leather or "wall paper wood" ends also appears before 1880 on melodeons. and plain wood sometimes has been applied for newer concertina ends. I have a german concertina with 'nature look' mahogany ends that may be born somewhen between 1915 and 1835. It's highly subjective but I would gamble that the one sold on ebay is more than 110 years old. Marien

Same opinion, it has that typical german look...

it must be a crisis...

Hi Marien I have to admit a failing for the word which Dirge has coined ..... Maccannic ...... Hello Irene, That's a better name for it, Macannic sounds a lot more maccannorous. Do you play a lot of Maccanzonettas?

and you'ld be playing in a Concenctuaria?

A concertina player? Somebody in my house would like to call me a knobbleshrieker or an ear-jerker but - luckely for me - rabbits do not speak that much. Some better words for Duet players may be: Bibuttoners, Knobblers, Duplicators, Duettists, Dualists, Doublings, Triumphants, Triumphators, MacCannibals, MacCanonists, Haydonists, Haydens, Hayders. Crane drivers. I'll try to convince the rabbit that I am a Crane flyer.

Hello Neil, I checked my old 20b lachenal but it may be younger than I thought. At first sight, it looks as if there is 536 on the red baffles. Looking closer (with a hand-glass) the last 6 is a 5, and there is another number 1 or 4 at the right, it is blackened through age do it was hard to see that there was another number. I opened it up and inside both reed pans is the number 5354. I am not sure the numbers in the reed pan are original, the reed pans loof newer and may be replaced. There are some traces about a number mistake - scratches in the wood and a retry to put the proper number 5 there. Anyhow, I believe 5354 is the right number and it is not that old as I thought it was. When I bought it I have been thinking someone rudely replaced the end bolts by wood screws, but those may be original as I have read now in one of Stephens replies. btw, It has rosewood ends, numbered buttons and the looks are quite the same as in the one of Stephen's picture. If anybody wants to see it I'll add pictures.

Cocoall now has put a nice quality (5 1/2 inch = 14 cm) small anglo concertina on ebay. I read that it is suitable for children so it says. It will need a grown up's purse but I think it would fit grown up hands as well...

I asked ebay to remove but it is still there. Obviously the ebay account is hijacked. The seller is not the owner. What else does ebay need to know before removing the item?

I once took a concertina on a boat, the only concern was how to keep it dry, and that wasn't too difficult. If it is a real risk that it might become wet, I would not take my best instrument but a cheaper one for outdoors.

Hello Taggart, Maybe for a future decade, another source with 996 tunes collected in Amsterdam around 1700 are the Oude en Nieuwe Hollantse Boerenlieties en Contredansen. It contains a lot of folk song tunes and country dances, the music can be compared to the Playford dance master, but there are no dance instructions. I have put 4 minorish tunes on youtube that I know from this book: ; ; ; ; Sorry if the sound quality is low on some tunes. You can download a PDF file with all tunes in contemporary notation and it is ready to print. There is also an ABC file with all tunes. His main page is here. The bulk of the tunes has been entered correctly, many credits to Simon Plantinga who did a great job there. If you have doubts about a tune, drop me a line as I have a copy of the original. Happy squeezing, Marien

But are you sure you could get a bouzouki into it? Not sure, to make it fit, I think it should be an XXXL kangaroo jumper with more than one pouch. But flying to Riga last week, the bouzouki fitted in the locker. I flew Baltic Air and they allowed me to take the hard cased bouzouki and the concertina both as hand luggage. If I understood well, they do not allow to check in expensive materials such as musical instruments and laptops. Isn´t it true that there has always been a convention that it is allowed to take instruments with you as hand luggage? If it was too large, a stewardess brings it safely to the luggage compartments, without extra charges. Sometimes I wonder if Ryan air is not breaking rules when charging 30 euro´s for taking an instrument with you on the plane like they do these days.

I've got a cheap copy of this type of waistcoat. Used in combination with a combat jacket with lots of pockets I can carry loads of stuff before I even start filling my hand luggage. Can get heavy though! :ph34r: That's a good idea, I think I am going to by a kangaroo pouch jacket..

I heard people telling that ist is not a good idea to travelling through the air with a guitar, mandolin, mandola or banjo in the luggage department . Not only because people throw it violently on a cart after checking in. Somebody told me that it may be risky to transport stringed instruments in concert pitch in a plane. The neck may even brake of the high tension. It is safer to loosen the strings. So I did last week and now 4 out of 10 strings snapped of after I tried to tune them back to concert pitch, but I think this was because it was time to replace them anyhow... I don't know the eventual cause why a guitar neck would brake on an earo plane. It does usually not freeze in the luggage compartments. It used to be like that in the old days. - btw, a luggage compartment of an aeroplane is not a healthy area for stowaways, unfortunately, there are stories on the internet of people dying in there... - I haven't got the slightest idea about the physical cause of it, if it seally is a risk. Is it low temperature, less athmospheric pressure, less gravity or a feeling of disorientation from the ground in the instrument? Maybe quite an introduction, but in fact I was asking myself: What are the risks of transporting a concertina on an aeroplane? Are there any? (btw, I am not talking about loose reeds from having it smashed on a cart). Any ideas about this?

For new -solid- concertina ends a bookmarked set of backs for spanish lute is enough to cut ends of the appropriate size. The wood looks like madagascar rose wood, or is it mahogany? I am not sure from the pictures, a sample would be needed to check that. For repairing it is the question whether it needs veneer or solid wood. If you find a wood supplier in your region, take the instrument with you. I'ld try to get wood from old stock in a matching colour. Marien

How about a Hohner Lilliput melodeon? It has been designed to fit a bagpack.

edited to remove double entry

Maybe it is easier just to check how many reply levels you need before it blows up the site. Currently we are at 18 levels.

It happens that I'll be in Latvia next week. I don't know if there are any members from the Baltic States here. I'm having a concertina and bouzouki gig in Riga. Here is an announcement in Latvian language, http://dancolaci.blogspot.com/2009/05/riga...o-holandes.html I don't understand a word of the language, but it is 4th of June, 7 PM, restaurant Pie Kristapa in Riga. Marien

It's true that it has crept into Spanish usage (though only for "bye", whilst the Italians also use it for "hi"), but you did start off in Italian... It's true, I did start in Italian and I ended up spanish, using the chao as a goodbye. Maybe I switch languages too often. Should I conclude that I am dyslanguactic? BTW is there a word for hitting concertina buttons in the wrong order? Would it be something like dysbotonic or does somebody have a better word for it? Marien

Hi Allan, Chao is correct spelling fo ciao in the spanish language Cheers Marien