Hooves

hey this is great news, I never heard of anybody replacing the action on an older instrument, though it makes sense if its not functioning properly. I had read on these forums that some of the lachenals did not have very good action. I'm curious: can you post a picture of your new improved action? Maybe this is a cost effective way to improve an instrument.

Stuart! you are an inspiration. Your accent and the playing remind me of Robyn Hitchcock (one of my favorite musicians), like somethign he might have done. The chording of the duet adds a very haunting quality to the tune, lending the lyrical content more potent. I appreciate the fact you provide us with samples of your playing. Now you should do "Sundown".

Take what they say wih a large helping of salt. They don' t really know whereof they speak. Shold make it clear that Rochelles are not crappy instruments. I regard them as the best value in starter anglos you can currently get. About their only disadvantage is that they are only available as C/Gs, not G/Ds. I do hope the estimable Mr Wakker brings out a G/D version some time. Chris I never said Rochelles were crappy, I meant the chinese junko i bought was crappy, and it is quite so. I was making a general reference to the really low end models, I have never played a Rochelle and cannot compare it. No insult intended to Rochelle or thier supporters. I listed my expierence with 2 anglos, I personally would rather have an instrument that sounds good and has a limited range, than being fully chromatic with a harsh crappy sound. I once asked an orchestral conductor if an instruemnt with a 1 octave range had value in the orchestra, to which he replied "most definitely". Pro models sell for 1000's because they sound good (like a "concertina"), they play well, and they look stunning. Maybe your chinses box is actaully pretty good, its night and day when i compare my chinese anglo to the vintage german and my lachenal duet. But that chinese box does have the extra keys. But to each his own, fortunately we have choices. I'm glad to hear you have found a choice that works for you, thats' all that really matters. Some food for thought: if you were up on a stage and your precious C# button got stuck under the fretwork, what would you do?

I intentionally left off standard concertinas as I am only interested in what I call "Speciality Concertinas", that is concertinas that are somewhat unusaual: Minis, Duets, and Novelty keys in my mind equate to "specialty" as they are not run of the mill additions or features. Another poll might focus on the standard concertinas such as Anglos and English, if you ahve your own ideas for a poll you should run one. BTW, I have your book its very useful, I am re-valving my MaCaan duet in the next month.

I haven't yet voted, in part because some of my responses would be "none of the above". Thanks for your response, yes, I should have palnned the answers/questions better, its the first poll I have ever run, but so far the results are very interesting. Thanks to all who have taken the time to vote and I apologize for not providing more options, I didn't want to bogg people down with long lists. I will keep it open till the end of the month, if you ahve your own ideas for apoll you should crete one, its fun!

Call it curiosity wrapped up in market research. A few Speciality concertina questions.

I don't really play the Anglo but I can tell you this: my first concertina was a 30 button cheapo, it discouraged me so much I pretty much shelved the idea of playing concertina. Then, on a whim I bought a 20 button german, and it made all the differrence in the world: I could hold it and play it, the buttons didn't get stuck under the fretwork and sounded much much better. I think from my expierence you are better off with a nicer 20 button than a crappy 30 button.

Quite the contrary. The piano has 100% overlap, since both hands can range over the entire keyboard. O.K., you got me on that one. Good point. However I would like to see you play the far treble side with your left and the far bass side with your right at the same time without turning backwards. Allthough I only studied piano briefly, for beginers at least there is a tendency for bass side with left hand and treble with right, at least thats how I was being taught. But the query remains: is there anybody who has a reference to such a non-overlapping system? I looked quickly on the web at definitions for "duet" and I didn't see any that siad the melody of the two parts had to overlap As for me, I'm sticking it out with my MaCaan and keeping an eye out for a Crane, puttinga few squeezes on the button accordion, and in the back of my mind designing that perfect set of keys...

Well actaully I'm working on Ragtime Guitar and Delta blues. Although Ragtime started on piano, there are quitea few rags that sound really good on guitar. My observation when I'm attempting to Rag-it-up, is I play a lot of chromatic passages. I like the open E tuning, but have also used open G and D (since open D is so much like the DADGAD tunign used by some celtic guitar players). I should not have used the Wakker series concertinas as an example, I meant in general all concertina builders. Of course if you can make any type of concertina you can make the others! It would be interesting to get potential quotes form the pro-builders as to how much they would charge to build say a 55 key Crane duet. I mean this as a point of comparison, if any pro-builders out there actaully read my posts (a handful at best) it would be nice to be private messaged (PM) as to what it might cost, no names mentioned, Hooves' Honor! Related but slightly different topic - I know duet is supposed to have overlap, but I wonder if there has ever been developed a system with no overlap at all, that might faciltate bass with one hand and treble with the other, that seems more like a piano to me than the current duet systems (not that it needs to be anyhting like a piano). Oh-oh, am I looking at the anglo again...

Ah yes, good point, bass on one side. That makes perfect sense, should have thought of that.

Jack-and-Jill? I'm sure you're right and they could do one, but you get the impression they're going flat out already supplying the much larger English and Anglo markets without needing to bother with the 'minority interest' duet. Even if they did it would be yet more small Haydens, getting people interested just to find they had little hope of graduating to a decent sized instrument. If no one will go into serious production of bigger Haydens then they should make 'entry level' Maccans. At least then someone buying one has the option to progress to a better instrument without having to learn a completely different system. Actually, although I really like my MacCaan, I think there are probably enough entry level McCaans to satifsy the market, as people graduate to larger instruments (if they can find and handle them). I was thinking more on the Crane line for a production concertina, such as the 55 key Crane. I have never played one, but looking at the key diagrams I think it would be a good system. Dont' get me wrong Dirge, I plan to keep working on the McCaan, but I have to admit the Crane system looks like it would be a nice alternative. I might change my mind if I got my hands on one and gave it a go for a few weeks. Though I wonder which would win for chromatic playing, for use in ragtime and jazz.

If they can build an English, shouldn't they be able to build a duet just as well? Maybe another instrument in the Jack, Jackie, (Jack-xxx)* line might be a duet. *(insert any "Jack" name you feel appropiate.)

Ok thanks. Thats actaully a bit larger than I had thought, my 46 is "standard" 6.25" concertina size, but it has no air button and it does look cramped inside. Those extra reeds got to go somewhere. So a 48 key English can be found in the standard 6.25" size, and will sometimes have an air-button as well, yet the McCaan only has 46 buttons and no air hole. I don't know enough about the english to know its range, maybe its overall range is higher thus allowing smaller reeds?

Could somebody provide dimensions for the 55 Key McCaan? I've been thinking seriously of upgrading next year (after I get my tax return) to the 55.

I'm not seeing any papers on the bellows, until you explained further I thought it might be a salvation army band since the concertinas were so plain. But its hard to tell in the small picture. Still a neat photo, funny to see them in those Bowler hats (the front guys). Was that some sort of ranking? lead players in Bowlers in the others in the straw hats.

I agree. And calling the legitimate dealers nasty names isn't going to help any of us get that dream concertina. All it does is chase them away from accessible markets such as eBay. Its not easy to visit a shop in person, or to dig up contacts, though if you have a dealer in your neigborhood that would be the way to go. As for me, I usually have to explain what the squawking box is. Take a look at how much a custom Dipper fetches, then compare that to a restored vintage instrument, unless its particuliarly rare (likea Jeffries), the New concertina actaully costs more. I have a junko-german box with wooden action: it sounds far better than the first chinese aluminum-and-rice paper box I got for the same price, and the buttons although moving at an angle don't get stuck under the "fretwork" like the Beijing special.

Hello Dirge, This is what it looks like and here you can listen to it (it´s from the concertina connection site). Actually I don´t know whether it´s a Dutch or Belgian thing - I never came across an instrument in this country... Christian What a funny song! That foot bass is a bit intriguing, I will have to keep my eye out for one.

What Gilly describes isn't 'shill bidding.' If a dealer is bidding on concertinas he "has no intentions of buying, and doesn't even want," he runs the risk of getting stuck with them. 'Shill bidding" is anonymously bidding on your own item, which means that if no one tops your bid, you still have to pay the auctioneer's commission (or eBay's fee). Not a very profitable strategy, it would seem. And it would take an awful lot of shill bidding to influence prices on the open market. Simply putting a reserve price on the item accomplishes the same thing, without penalty! My apologies, I misread the initial complaint, it sounded like shill bidding but you are correct, if another party bids just to make the selling price higher and they are not working with the auctioner then that is not really "shill" bidding. Thats just being a jerk.

Its called "Shill Bidding" and we disscussed it some time ago. Its not just concertinas, its everywhere on eBay and I wouldn't be surpised if it happens at live auctions as well. For example, I bid on a bodhran, no other bidders to the last moment (of course), I was outbid. Less than 24 hours later I got a "2nd chance offer" at my highest bid price. Does it not seem strange that a seller has a bidder make a bid, then in less than the required 3 days for a response is reselling the item to you? (and even stranger, the mysterious bidder gets no negative feedback...). 5000 pounds a fiddle, I should have become a fiddle maker!

So... Dust My Broom on the concertina then? Do you know, having started this and then the computer-aided notation thing, all with a view to generating some suitable music to learn, I shot completely sideways and am currently working on Victorian sentiment jobs and baroque stuff (good practice for BOTH hands). I think it was all getting too complicated. But it's not forgotten, I'll be back at it. A jolly tune you could try if you're bored, sort of related, is Take Five. Sounds good on a concertina; play it in A minor and use that interesting E flat. It doesn't seem to need more than basic chords to sound fun. Or maybe even "Sweet Home Chicago" - Robert J on tina? What you bet when Johnson met the devil he was playing a squeezebox! Take 5 or any tune in 5/4 might be a stretch for me, I tend to stick with 4/4, 3/4, and 6/8 and songs which maintain the same rhythm, alot of songs do change time for passages in the songs, especially in Delta Blues. As for the tina, I consider it my 3rd instrument (Guitar being first and Mandolin 2nd), as aresult I spend less time practsing it, though I like it for inbetween Guiatr/Mandolin practice, thats why i initailly got interested in squeezeboxes, to rest my fingers from holding down steel strings.

Certainly I would not be cruel enough to curse you to have to listen to my progress! Tuesday night is one of my "guitar prcatice" nights, I found that after making the statement of the left doing most of the work, my right is still doing quite a bit, I just see the left as actaully doing the melody work - I must be associating bass with the right as I often use my thumb for playign bass parts to the fingerpicking. A few weeks ago there was a humorous disccusion of the "BAD" concertina (Bisonoric anglo Duet), I suggested a "half a Tina" strapped to each leg. I think I could play a Half-Tina (anglo) with my left and beat a small bodhran or other drum witht he right, that would we great for solo performance, but I digress. Thanks for your comments and insight.

Ok so I'm right handed, yet I find it much easier to play melody on my Left hand then Right. I believe it is an artifact from playing guitar so many years where the left hand is really doing most of the work. I find on my button accordion that I prefer holding it backwards, with the melody keys on the left and my right playing the chords/bass buttons (I know this is CONCERTINA.net but many people on this board also play the button box), which actaully makes it somewhat diffcult to hit the air button, but I manage. I was wondering if other people mostly Right handed with everything else find melodies easier to play with the left (perhaps the opposite even for Left handed people, or those who are equally handed). Maybe the agility will surface after more playing as I have read you can develop ambidexterity with practice.

Agreed--that was my approach too. Incredible!I reported it... anyone wants to bet when it is going to appear the next time? Christian And now it's gone again. Daniel I would like to compliment the Concertina.net community for keeping such a strict eye on these re-surfaced and phony adds. I can't imagine any other instrumental community actaully watching out for stolen or false adds. Well done lads!

Cool stuff: I like Delta Blues and ragtime too, Ive been playing that type of stuff on my acoustic guiatar as well as my octave mandolin (both of which I use several different alternate tunings). Personally, I think the McCaan Duet system is great for guitar players: the scales zig zag across the buttons, much like your fingers zig zag up and across the neck of the guitar. Of course this is just my thought, and honestly although people say the Mccaan system is hard to learn, it just feels more natural to me even with its quirks, I believe this is because I'm already use to zig-zagging about and fumbling for notes (you may adopt your own theories) Alot of the guitar music I like is in alternate or open tunings, meaning that the TAB has different notes than standard guitar tuning. One book I have of Irish fiddle tunes has tab, but for the DADGAD tuning.

It's politically incorrect and an insult to Cuckoo Nation, and we urge you not to disseminate stereotypes. Politcal Correctness is just a vain attempt to cover up the underlying reality, weather it be Cuckoo or Coco-puffs. I forgot to mention Stuart plays very well. I like the fact you play more than one system. The song itself however I think is too straight to the point, it would have been much more clever if they beat-around-the-bush rather than being blatant. I didn't really catch any witty plays on words which as an American we come to expect from the English, Irish, and Scottish balladeers. But then, I don't much about the history of this particuliar song and it may have been translated into English so lost any word play particulair to its origin. Could be worse though: the crows nest?