Old_Squeezer

Hi R, I'm the guy that met you maybe 3 years ago at the Tionol in Seattle, the one who was struggling with my own 81-B Maccann. My 72-B is an order of magnitude easier to play, but the 81-B has a much richer sound due to the lower notes. I know I don't need another 81-B, but for some odd reason, I'm strangely interested in getting another. Let me know if you aren't able to sell this one.

Thanks, Dirge, for the reply. I've got to delay fixing the thing since I've got a couple friends having major and minor medical problems. Just like concertinas, I guess. With advancing age, you just gotta fix things. When I get some time (and after I fix the beast), I'll try to remember to let you know how it turns out.

I read with great interest Bill N's 'Gurgling Reeds' earlier posting and subsequent discussion. I believe I have a similar problem, but his situation was a bit different. The beast in question is an 81-button Wheatstone Maccann duet from about 1910, the monster truck of concertinas. It's in pretty fair shape (all notes play) but could probably use a good tuning. About a month ago, a left side Bb (233 hz) went suddenly quite flat (at least 30 cents) on the push and the sound was quite fuzzy. Increasing the bellows pressure raised the note by about 8 cents. The Bb on the draw remained clear. I ruled out a reed problems since switching the Bb reeds for each other resulted in no change in the symptoms (the previously flat fuzzy reed became reasonably in tune and clear and vice versa). I think I finally solved the problem by messing with the valve. The beast was working well up until about a week ago when the same note on the left side plus a right side C (525 hz) suffered the same symptoms as described above on the same day. Can changing weather cause problems? I'm in the Pacific Northwest and I haven't had any problems in several seasons of trying to learn to play the thing. In Bill's situation described in an earlier post, proper notes were sounding but with a 'gurgling' noise after having valve replacements. In my situation, I have flattened notes with the valves working properly until recently, and increased bellows pressure increases pitch considerably in the notes in question. Assuming it's a valve problem, is there anything I can do to the valve to fix the problem short of replacing the valve? By the way, I don't like to open up the beast until I have to, so I think I'll wait to hear what y'all have to say. I do recall, though, that inner (bellows-facing) side of the reed pan has all clean and white valves that appears to have been recently replaced. The outer side has a few nice looking valves, but most look ratty. Historically speaking, Mr. Dipper has done some repairs in 1990 (there's a sticker and his autograph), Barleycorn has had a hand in it and there is also a stamp from H. Crab & Son. There are also several handwritten names inside. Looking forward to hearing from y'all.

Hello all, My wife will be in Chico, CA, next weekend. She's found out that there's a session on Friday night and has attempted to email folks about its particulars, but never got an answer back. Supposedly, the session is on a Friday, but ends at 7 p.m. Her plane gets in at 5:30 or so. Does the session really end at 7 or is that old info? Any other info would be greatly appreciated. By the way, the wife is not the concertina player. I am. And for those who know me, yes, the rumor is true. I do now own an 81B Wheatstone Maccann. And yes, it's a bear to play. And yes, I am getting better. Not yet good, but better. Thank you all, Kevin

Hello, y'all, It's been quite a while since I checked in on the forums, literally years, as I've not had a great amount of spare time. I looked at this item on eBay which spurred interest to check the forums for a discussion on it (I was sure there would be, but I found only this discussion on duets vs. anglos). eBay item number: 300089641704 Unfortunately, at the time of this post, there is only about four hours left for the auction. I play anglo a little more than passably (mostly Irish) but for the past two and a half years, I've been struggling with Maccann duet. I own a Lachenal 46B (anyone interested?), and a 72B (mfg. 1938) and 81B (mfg. 1910) Wheatstone. For me, the duets are much more fun to play than the anglo, even though I still can't play the (expletive deleted) things. I'm starting to get passable. The reasons I like the things are that they are very 'piano-like,' and the five octave range sounds so rich. Problems I have with learning include 1) it's hard for me to have two hands doing different things at the same time, 2) the Maccann layout is quite 'interesting,' 3) it's hard to read bass clef after 25+ years of treble, and even more difficult to read two lines at the same time. Despite the difficulties, I'm having quite a bit of fun making bad noises and have been playing at least six days each week for the past couple years at the great expense of anglo and flute time. Sometimes, though, I'm pretty jealous of the (relative) ease of the Hayden guys & gals. Sounds like I'm, rambling a bit now. What am I trying to say here? I guess I'm pretty addicted to the duet despite not being able to play it well. I'll try to check the forums a bit more, but no guarantees.

Well, here's a possible answer based on what you said. First, a true story about an aquaintance's first set of pipes. This fellow went around Ireland and asked just about everyone "Tell me, now. D'ye still have that old set of pipes?' Finally, someone said 'yes' and the aquaintance went over and played them. 'Brings a tear to me eye to hear them again...' and a deal was struck. While an old set of pipes in a home Ireland would be a more common event than an old concertina in the U.S., it wouldn't be impossible to inquire of your family friends 'What happened to that old concertina?' Who knows? You might get one just for the asking! K

Well, I guess the only real thing that bothers me about this sale was that early on I gave the seller what I considered important information about the concertina in question. An experienced seller concerned about reputation would have inserted an addendum to the item description stating that the instrument was in fact not a Lachenal. This was also the first time in my experience that a seller has failed to answer a question that I had. Time to end this thread, I guess. Thank you all for your comments and allowing me to express myself. K

Out of curiosity, I checked this seller's only negative comment in the past six months. Here's the comment: >Start quote Don't buy his concertinas! Inaccurate description, leaky bellows, wrong serial # >End quote I can understand inaccurate description and possibly leaky bellows, but wrong serial #? And interestingly enough, here's the only neutral comment in the past six months. >Start quote I suppose you only get what you pay for. >End quote It's enough to 'perturb' a saint. K

Hi Folks, Can you check out this concertina that recently sold on eBay? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/ebayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=3733017430 The seller's description included the word 'Lachenal.' The description is what I call grossly misleading. I wrote to the seller on the first day after the item was put up for auction stating that it was definitely not a Lachenal, and that the description may lead unsuspecting bidders into thinking that this concertina was a 'sleeper' worth more than it actually was. I didn't check back to see if the seller made an addendum to the description until after the auction ended, nor did I get an email reply from the seller. As you can see, the winning bid was quite a bit more than what the concertina was worth. Question: What, if anything, can be done to either warn bidders? Anybody I can complain to? Old_Squeezer, now fiddling a lot of his life away.

Um,... how about a French horn? The bell is not quite aimed at the player, but at least it's aimed backward. And a resonator-less banjo lets more of it's sound at least be muffled by the player. Can you consider that hearing by absorption?

I received a return call quite late last night from one of the event organizers. The $50 registration is the Piper's fee and covers all piper-related events. The other workshops are $30 each with two exceptions (concertina players luck out - see below). Exception #1 - Whistle workshops go on all day. The $30 covers all of them. The reason is that many pipers are also whistle players. Exception #2 - The concertina workshop, taught by Michaela Cunningham, is two hours long and the total cost is $30. What a bargain. My understanding is that Saturday breakfast is included in the above. (After saying that, I hope I'm understanding correctly. By the way, Tom Q. runs a great kitchen so the breakfast is pretty good.) Kevin

Well, those full-time jobs have a way of getting in people's way. I'll try to get in contact with the organizers. I know time's getting short to get the answers to your questions. I myself am only peripherally involved in the Tionol. I told the organizers that I'd put out the word that Michaela would be teaching the workshops. Hopefully by tonight I'll be able to post the answers to your questions. Kevin

Michaela came into the Tionol program a day before I sent the info out on the Tionol. The workshops are now scheduled as follows: Concertina workshops: Saturday, Feb 14, 2004 - 1st workshop at 10:00, 2nd workshop at 11:00 Each workshop will cover different stuff. I hope to get more information from Michaela and will post it as soon as I hear. Hope to see you there, Kevin

Hmm, let's see if I can do this quote thing correctly. The wheels of the Tionol Organizational group turn a bit slowly as far as getting things up onto the info page. Michaela just confirmed a couple days ago that she'd be doing the workshop, so the answer is Yes, the workshops are scheduled to go on. The info hasn't made it onto the Tionol info page yet. See you there.

The West Coast Tionol is happening on President’s Day weekend, February 13-15, 2004 in Seattle. Usually an event for Uilleann (Irish) pipers, the Seattle event includes much more. Michaela Cunningham will be instructing the two Irish Concertina workshops. Michaela was born in Vancouver, BC, but went to school in Ireland where she picked up the music at age 9 and started playing the concertina at age 11. Her big influences include Mary MacNamara and Micheal O’Reilly. During her teens, she entered several competitions and spent lots of time playing at sessions. Other featured instructors & notables: Featured Pipers – Joe McKenna of Dublin and David Power of Waterford (David is now based in New Jersey). Other pipers of renown – Tom Creegan, Seth Gallagher, Phil White Workshops: Fiddle – Dale Russ Flute – Hanz Araki Whistle – Bill Ochs Guitar – Finn McGinty Singing & Songs – Nancy Conescu Irish Language – Kieran O’Mahony Reed-making – Seth Gallagher Bodhran – David Corey Saturday’s concert will feature the instructors plus a few surprises. Following the concert, there will be a ceíli with music provided by the instructors and dances called by Kathleen O’Grady. For more information: http://www.hoilands.com/tionol.htm or http://www.irishpipersclub.org/tionol2004.html., or a Google search for Tionol Seattle 2004.

For some more concertina weights, don't forget this page: http://www.concertina.net/guide_weights.html K

Over the past dozen years or so, I managed to get four concertinas: 1996 (?) Suttner 31b Anglo, my mainstay 1938 Wheatstone 72b MacCann duet (the latest), still struggling to learn Lachenal 46b MacCann duet, A=452. Excellent condition, except not enough buttons, hence the Wheatstone. c. 1903 Lachenal 30b Anglo, so ill it reminds me of the collander I use to drain pasta. I can't believe I learned on this. I regularly play the first two (like daily). Like many others, I can't believe the collections amassed by some. I also can't believe that I haven't amassed a collection greater than what I have. K

I certainly agree here. Such a modification would (at least to me) seem to make learning to play this beasty a lot easier. My main problems in learning to play are 1) never having read bass cleff before and 2) having both hands doing different things at the same time. Jim L. did give me some pointers while he was visiting the Northwest (USA). I'm still at it. Does anyone know how many duets Wheatstone made? And how many of each model? Seems to me I read something on this, but since I didn't own any duets at the time, I didn't pay much attention. K By the way, I'm still fumbling around the new posting format, but I'll get it yet. In fact, I'll try out some of these new smilies

OK, I'll try to get the picture up. For some odd reason, it didn't work last time. K

OK, so the picture didn't come through. I'll try again. Kevin

While still trying to learn to play a monster known as a Wheatstone 72-button MacCann duet, I've wondered about a modification to the standard fingering. Wheatstone's fingering chart was accurate except for the low A and D# which were backward. Recently, I had opportunity to open the box to clear out some dust in the reeds and found those two notes to have been modified. As you see in the picture, the levers are original and were re-routed, something which has been done probably decades ago since the patina on all the levers is the same. The re-routed A lever passes under the D# close enough to the fulcrum of the lever so as to rise a very small distance, so amazingly the modification works. I have a few questions. First, has anyone seen this modification (or anything similar) before? My guess is no, since (I understand) Wheatstone and others made relatively few of these large MacCanns. Second, why would anyone do this? Any answer I realize would be conjecture. It does make the G and A easier to finger in succession, though. Third, anybody have history on this particular instrument? It is a Wheatstone 72-button MacCann, eight-sided, serial number 35251. The previous owner purchased it in England some years ago. I could email pictures if anyone is interested. Thanks in advance, Kevin