DickT
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Posts posted by DickT
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Andy, see my post re Thomman Lucan goosenecks. It was posted on 12th July this year in General Concertina Discussion.
Dick.
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English players can get lazy; suck till it's full, blow till it's empty with the bellows working in a straight line. The minimum needed to lift the music is reversals phrased with the music and slightly fanning the bellows to avoid the dead spot at full extension and closure. There is no reason not to use bellows reversals as it is done on an Anglo. By not creating dynamics and phrasing with the bellows EC can become very bland; I think this is the reason why it is not respected in ITM. Listen to Alistair Anderson; not ITM but he has all the techniques that can be used to give great punch. The added advantage with EC is that you can easily play legato when it is needed e.g. slow airs.
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Looks more like a hand muff to me.
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I have recently tried the Lucan 200 gooseneck mics from Thomman in Germany. They are condensers needing phantom power and because the outputs are not twinned they need two inputs at the desk. They were put through a small Yamaha desk into an AER combo amp. The output from them seems to be quite high, I had to reduce the gain quite a lot and they needed a fair bit of low end roll-off to reduce action noise. Apart from that the sound is very good and they did not feed back when tested in the lounge at a fair volume. They have not yet been used live. Plastic P clips from my local garage provided the mounting hardware which was secured by the wrist strap thumbscrews. The screws were awkward to tighten adequately so I will probably use home made clamps under the thumb strap screws. An added bonus is that with specific mounting clips from Thomman they can also be used for other instruments. The good news is that they are only £59 each.
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Very Steam Punk.
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OK, I see what you mean.
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The screw holes are there showing that there was a bushing board or that the instrument was designed to have one. The Linota stamp on the handle seems a bit rough, is this normal?
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Some of Edward Jay's concertinas come with mics on goosenecks. It might be worth asking him what he uses.
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Is it a flutina?
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Wally, if you can tell one instrument from another then you can certainly tell if the tone has changed over time, whatever the cause. I have observed this effect with more than one guitar; I do sound for live gigs and for recording so am used to critically listening and analysing. As to the Grandson, yes his fluency, articulation and bowing greatly improved as he played in over a few sets but I still maintain that the instrument improved as it was played in (so does he).
At a local folk club gig a well-known singer and player turned up with four guitars, he explained this by saying that the instruments needed to be played to maintain their sound so he played them all. I am certain that instruments not regularly played loose tone which can be recovered with playing in.
I would endorse your idea of reviewing a mix at a later date when your ears have had a rest.
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Wally is sceptical of breaking in a guitar with speakers; I can say from experience that it really does work. I had a high end acoustic that was disappointingly rather dead on the middle strings, a few hours strapped to a speaker opened it up very well. In addition, my Grandson had not played his fiddle for a quite a while and when recording for a Zoom interview it was dull and unresponsive. By the time he had played two or three sets the tone had very noticeably changed for the better. Whether this effect occurs with concertinas is moot.
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The only thing that I have seen like this is if the mic gain is too high. Zoom cuts off the sound for a short while then resets. Check Audio Settings to see if the meter is going into the red. You may have already done this in which case I am of no help.
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My mistake.
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Mystery solved.
On 11 Aug David Robertson mentioned a serial number query from June 2019 for a 56 key ET Edeophone. He now has a 48 on his bench with the same serial no. The confusion was caused be me; in my query I gave a sn of 39825 for my Edeophone, it should have been 39823.
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Totally incorrect, but brilliant.
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When tying to play anglo I have had a tendency to use all my arm muscles to move the bellows. I have noticed that better players seem to use a lot of wrist rotation to do the reversals.
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I have always removed both the left side top Bbs on a 48 key or the top Ebs on a 56. Since neither of theses are valved both are open when the key is depressed so the closure is quite rapid, easily as quick as a factory fitted air valve.
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I have removed these reeds on all my concertinas for years and never had a problem. As Alex says, make sure you keep them incase a new owner wants them.
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I can endorse gtotani's recommendation of the Dabbler. I have had the the prototype for a week now and find it a very easy playing concertina. It is light in weight, normal sized and has voluminous bellows which are very flexible; the tone is good and the dynamic is well controllable. The construction is unconventional but it seems to be well made; I expect it to be at least as durable as the competition if not more so. There are some neat details such as the hand rest being adjustable for reach and rake.The only similar concertina I have played is an Elise duet, the Dabbler is far in advance of that in quality. The Elise was an instrument that got in the way of playing in a way that the Dabbler does not. The only drawbacks so far are that is a bit leaky (Paul says it is due to the type of pads) but this is well compensated for by the size of the bellows, also the buttons are un-bushed. They work smoothly but I cannot say how they will wear. I am a long time english player who started on anglo decades ago but could not get on with the system but I am now having a second try. After several upgrades I am now playing Aeola and Edeophone tenor-trebles so am comparing the Dabbler to very high end concertinas.
Hope this helps,
Dick.
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Clive, I have always heard it pronounced that way since I first got involved with concertinas in 1969.
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Richard, they must have been musicians and had hidden it.
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Very good to have this review as I have a 30 key on order. I am a long-time EC player but have decided to challenge myself
with a new system and this seems to be a good way to get a not too expensive quality instrument to try. Now all we have to do is persuade Paul to make an EC.
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This is what I call a large crane duet! (sorry, I'm bored).
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Keagan, the Rochelle will do you well for a while but will eventually be limiting. As in anything, you get what you pay for and a more expensive instrument will be better in all ways. The bellows will be smoother and easier, the reeds will sound richer and will speak more easily and the action will feel better. It will also be more durable and will hold its value. I infer from your post that you have not encountered any other concertinas; when you do have a chance to try higher quality instruments you will readily appreciate the differences. The better tinas are not overpriced even though they are a lot of money. You can get a reasonable guitar quite cheaply these days but that is because of the volume of sales; quality concertinas are a niche market with low production volume so economies of scale do not apply.
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Why not more "expressive" bellows changes on the English?
in General Concertina Discussion
Posted
I do like 4-5-6's post.