John Pearse

I have a restored 46 key and have sent you a PM with more info. John

Personally I cannot wait for Duet International to come out to give me more of an idea of the range of music played on a duet. I guess I'm one of the (Maccann) duet players playing in isolation - I have met 3 duet players in 3 years. Maybe I should get out more? There are some interesting examples of Duet playing on the 'Concertinas at Bradfield' (Garland Films 2004) but there is no reference to it on the current website. The DVD is reviewed here: http://www.concertina.org/ica/index.php/pica/subject-index/43-recording-reviews/104-concertinas-at-bradfield--this-label-is-not-removable--ghosts-and-lovers--the-lewes-favourites However there is the Rueben Shaw video. http://www.garlandfilms.co.uk/reubenshaw.html A few more snippets of duet playing - try 'On the Street where you live' ... (there seems to be quite a lot happening in there), or Jakanapes Polka or Buffoon. http://www.herbertgreene.net/ on the Music Downloads page.

I type new music into Noteworthy (version 2). http://www.noteworthysoftware.com It's not free ($49 when I last looked) but you can enter simple tunes in a few minutes, transpose to any key (while playing back in the same key or a different one - useful for transposing instruments), play at any speed and export to MIDI format. There is a free player so others can hear your tunes. The program size is fairly small and the tune files are tiny.

Playing my copy now. Brilliant! Worth the wait If only my music reading were up to joining in.

Very interesting. Tempting even. I imagine I could fail to master yet another instrument !

If you double click on the speaker icon in the bottom right hand corner of your screen you should get several slider controls. Check that 'Wave' (and 'Volume'!!) is not tuned down or muted.

And for the real masochists among you, try the 'why is temperament necessary' link (or the foot of the page ) at http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl/temper.html I also like the video demos at http://www.larips.com/ and wish the concertina was as (apparently) easy to retune. JP

I found this site very helpful. http://www.j2b.co.uk/tuning/ It seems to me to illustrate why close chords on concertinas sound rough using equal temperament tuning. You get beats all the time, which is common to all instuments, but in addition the harmonic content of a vibrating reed makes a concertina sound worse than other instruments. JP

syndrome

Only 5 viewings and it's gone. The seller who didn't do his research? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CONCERTINA-MADE-BY-C...A1%7C240%3A1307 Or will the repair cost be higher than I imagine?

What about 26228? If you mean 28823 and 28824 (p153) I have taken the 'do' to mean they are Cranes. (Please note that I have only studied the ledgers and am not an expert on the instruments themselves.)

I make it 390 but have not counted ones with no date like #33041. Approx. 290 from 1910 to 1945 and 100 from 1946 onwards. Sad, isn't it.

Sea air must be more dangerous than I thought. Look what's happened to the concertina being played by the guy on the left at the front !

I expect ebay designed their user interface to be used by humans, and you could reasonably expect it to work when so used. But I expect there are caveats in the small print which absolve ebay of responsibility if it fails. Is there a programmers interface to allow sneaky software to make automated bids? If not then I would not expect ebay to guarantee the bid system will work. In which case the responsibility might be said to lie with the sneaky software suppliers. And there is also the possibility that all the bids failed for forseeable reasons. Someone using snipe software would appear to be trying to gain an advantage over other bidders. What happens when almost everyone uses snipe? Would ebay still function? Dirge is right about the highest bidder still winning. And I like the idea of extending the deadline until no more bids have been received for a short time. But it needs thinking through - for example, what's to be done about the very small number of people who need to be protected from themselves? (those who will keep bidding until they win).

What a fine idea (he said, departing completely from the subject). I used to be able to ride a unicycle (it's somewhere in my garage). And I can almost play the concertina (and it's a Maccann). So, . . . if can get the two together I might claim be in a set of one on this planet . . . . . . . unless there are any other claiments? John

This is my all time favorite from a Chinese concertina on ebay. I defy anyone to keep a straight face when reading it. With the adornment of the timber situation the Celestina Accordian of the old type at"consider as to discover" first circumstance. Read in the paper label of this piece, " the LACHENAL& CO patent right the musical instrument of the hexagon of the similar organ, the age of this piece is in 1850's to 1900th. This early tool at both of be over up use to decorate of the timber carvings article have astonishing outward appearance. At similar organ of hexagon of the timber of the musical instrument and the timber situation's using the loss result of the only smaller quantity surface apparently is a red sandalwood. There are 17 button keys on the side with 16 at another up with at liberty all ambulations. The 40% discount layer bellows with have no fracture. Both of the rope support very good monk's being not touched by person. The musical instrument of the hexagon of this similar organ measure 6?" x 7". All, stick of can collect of the piece is an early facial expression because of that good conduct!! ??

Hilary, When I was looking for info on Herbert Green I came across this old post and couldn't resist going a few miles down the road to see the photo. As you can see I managed to capture it. It could be Greene.

The reference to Perci Honri in para. 7 should be Peter Honri. John

This 22 lb instrument has the key layout of a 72 key Maccann on the left and an 80 key on the right (minus the top 'D'). The levers in the handles select from 1 to 4 accordion reeds (three in unison and one an octave below). The construction quality is about what you would expect of a good pre-production model or one-off. Inside the case is a label stating (among other things) 'Herbert Greene', 'Leading Exponent of the Concertina and Accordion', 'The Inventor of the Concordeon', and the address '65 Cobham Road, Wood Green, London N22'. There is also a patent number which the Patent Office says is not valid, and the label is signed 'Herbert Greene 1965'. In the photograph of the action, the mechanism for moving the sliders which control the air to the 4 sets of reeds has been removed. The reeds are mounted exactly as in an accordion, i.e. in pairs on aluminium plates, on long tapered wooden blocks. When I first got it, much of the action and most of the air supply sliders were seized up, and while I have freed off some parts, some of the sliders may require all of the action removing to sort out, which I am reluctant to do for now. In addition, many of the reeds are fairly rusty (one has a hole in it), and most of the reed valves are curled. Approx. 25% of the notes play and it sounds awful since some notes are up to a semitone out of pitch. This brings me to one of my reasons for this posting, which is to get opinions on whether I should replace reeds, valves etcetera to make it playable or whether I should leave it as it is? My other question is: Does anyone know anything about the previous history of this instrument and its inventor please? I bought it on ebay recently from a guy in north London who says he has owned it for 15 years and never played it, and is selling it because he is unlikely ever to learn to play it. He said 'it was bought from a music shop in north London owned by two Irish guys which is no longer there'. I have spoken to Neil Wayne, who knew Herbert Greene and this instrument from when Herbert played at the Kingston-upon-Thames Concertina Convention 1969->mid 70s along with Perci Honri. Neil says that 'Herbert was a practical sort of fellow who made the Concordeon in his own workshop'. And 'Herbert also made a version with gold contacts under each button that fed into a Leslie Speaker!'. Neil has offered to swap the Concordeon for something more playable and this option will look increasingly attractive as time goes by, since I prefer to play an instrument rather than look at it, but at the moment I am not planning to sell it (I have been trying to master the Maccann for 16 months). Herbert had a son, Peter, who wrote an obituary for Herbert in the ICA Magazine #282, January 1981 (thanks to Wes Williams for the lead). Peter says ICA members can contact him for details of his father's life. Does anyone know of Peter's whereabouts? An observation. The address given for Herbert Greene is only a few hundred yards from the address given for Sid Ive in Chris Timson's article on the Accordeaphone on his concertina.info site. Coincidence? And finally, my thanks to Paul Schwartz and all the contributors to this site for entertaining and enlightening me for the past year. John

I too am interested in your 67 key duet. Looks and sounds very nice. What price are you asking, please? Many thanks John