SteveS

I have a concertina in my resto pile with glued-in reed pans. The fact I haven't repaired it yet is because I don't relish the task of working out which glue has been used (not any natural reversible glue as I recall), and unsticking them without damaging the reed pans.

Thanks - super - that's the one.

Nope not this one. The one I'm thinking of is a leather supplier, but also provides concertina spares. I'll see if I can find the details.

There is another UK supplier - I can't find their details but something like Cornwall or Cornwell - maybe someone here can provide details.

The musical chainsaw is a thing - the Swedish/Finnish band Hedningarna used it good effect 😄

Since you're in Argentina and a lot bandoneons are tuned at A442, you might want to consider whether you fancy playing tango with a tango players - in which tuning to A442 might be worth considering. Just a thought.

Nope - I play Nordic traditional music

Yes - one issue, losing the reeds.

1923 model 12a 64 key tenor-treble

Can you post the serial number too. That will help in identifying the particular range of this 'tina.

The polska (and the family of related tunes and rhythms from across Scandinavia) - frequently written as 3/4, but that is only a convenience for notating tunes that can have short first beat short third beat stretched first, second and/or third beat any combination of the above straight even beats

I know this has been discussed before on this forum, but at security, whatever you do, don't mention the word concertina - concertina is a reserved word and may be considered to be a munition (concertina wire). I always tell the security personnel before placing on the belt, that I have a small accordion in my bag/box. About 50% of the time they want to manually inspect it, and very occasionally I get to play a short impromptu concert.

Some of these reeds are to be used in a bass I plan to build. And since I restore portable harmoniums, a few spare reeds are always needed.

Thanks Don, this is exactly what I'm doing.

Thanks for the reply - very much appreciated. Whilst your suggestion is good and is correct for arranging for say strings, I believe that concertina arrangements were historically all written on the treble clef - then only the treble clef would need to mastered by band members, and anyone playing treble, baritone or bass range instruments in a concertina band could theoretically play any of the parts without having to learn the viola and bass clefs. This is because on band instruments, the middle C on the treble clef and treble concertina, then that position will be occupied on a baritone by C one octave lower than the treble, and a bass 2 octaves lower. I would appreciate comments as to whether bands did in fact write all arrangements on the treble stave, irrespective of the instrument range. This is what I was told many years ago - and I feel would make a lot of sense from a band perspective.

Sampling my concertinas is an option. My recording facility isn't setup at the moment so I was looking for another source of samples.

I've been able to configure each stave with the relevant note range of each instrument, and the sound font I'm currently using plays those notes back at the right pitch. But using strings for example, the final product with concertina is difficult to gauge - so I'm also looking for reasonably quality concertina sound fonts. (MIDI free reed sounds are pants.) Yes much easier to arrange as 4 separate treble staves since the fingering for each concertina in the arrangement is the same being transposing instruments. So far, I've got most of Treble 1 arranged, which will undoubtedly change as things evolve, I'm now working on the bass line since this must underpin the whole rhythmic side of things. I'm not sure if this is the right approach. I'll see if it works for me. I also don't want each part to be too difficult to play.

thanks - i'll give it a go

I'm in the process of trying my hand at arranging for a concertina quartet - my first such arrangement. I have a couple of piano scores that I'm working from as inspiration. The parts I'm arranging for are Treble 1, Treble 2, Baritone and Bass. Being transposing instruments the grand stave is arranged as 4 treble staves. Any tips on arranging for a quartet? Thanks

Thanks everyone. I'm in the process of arranging a couple of piano scores for a concertina quartet (my first such arrangement so I'm on a steep learning curve) using Musescore and it would be nice to have concertina sounds on playback rather than relying on either terrible MIDI free reed sounds or strings - I'd like to hear something that is closer to how the final product might sound. And any tips on arranging for a concertina quartet would be gratefully received. I've started a new thread.

Anyone know of any freely publicly available instrument sound samples of concertinas? Thanks

Try this video for a starting point:

I waited just over 4 years from placing an order to spec:ing my Parnassus TT.

This is exactly what I did to make a new brass reed - cold hammered the brass sheet to work harden it.

There was a baritone in Bb for sale on this forum in the last 10 days or so.