gavdav
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Everything posted by gavdav
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I have a 20 key brazillian rosewood Jeffries. Does anyone know what sort of era we'd be talking for these type of boxes?
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I did try moving a few reeds around on my tedrow - it is all much easier on an accordion reeded box as the plates are all the same size and I wanted to try out having some extra reversals of notes. Part of the problem is that on an anglo you're moving a pair of notes, one of which probably doesn't make sense in a new position. Otherwise on a better box the size of shoe/reed/slot/chamber is not the same throughout the instrument. Conceptually I guess you'd be moving towards a new style of instrument. The short answer to your question is certainly for anglo players, that yes, diffferent styles do like subtly different layouts - Irish platers seem to favour the jeffries layout, whereas a former melodeon player I find I prefer the wheatstone accidental layout. Left hand layout can also puzzle me when picking up someone elses concertina sometimes and there are other people experimenting with new layouts all the time. I guess something like a midi or virtual concertina gives a good way of experimenting with layout before committing to the mechanical facts of building it!
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you could, but I'm unsure as to why you'd want to. As a guitarist (in open tunings) and anglo player I find the anglo is just some patterns to learn and becuase of its size everything falls under the fingers - on the guitar the use of an altered tuning opens up new voicings ie. a string against another that woudln't be available in standard, or to put similar patterns into one fret position. On the concertina, assuming it has enough buttons, then all the voicings are already there and the stretches are never mind boggling, unless I'm missing something? On a technical note - not all reeds or shoes are the same size on a traditional concertina and you could be doing harm to a valuable instrument. On an accordion reeded box the reeds are often two on a plate.
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I could be wrong but I understood the dominance of the piano to be connected with the development of an equal tempered scale, and the piano being one of the earlier developments of a chromatic instrument. Couple that with the seperation visually and physically of the sharps and flats, the fact that chordal and melodic musical theory ideas can be easily demonstrated and "work" on the piano in a physical and visual way which they don't on any other instrument as far as I can see and it seems natural it would achieve a certain dominance, at least in academic and compositional terms.
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Interesting. My choking reeds were fine under gentle pressure, and spoke instantly, but then wouldn't produce a note as I played harder. If I squeezed the bellows hard straight off on that note, then nothing; gently, it was back. I need to look into the reeds which ONLY speak under high pressure now. all fun and games
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The reed starts initially under gentle pressure, but as pressure on the reed (i.e. a harder squeeze of the bellows) increases, the reed ceases to speak - this is the "choking" described. So, as long as you are playing gently and quietly it can be fine and sweet and responsive. Try and bust out a reel or switch bellows direction a lot and the reed can simply stop speaking.
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Sidmouth late night extra band
gavdav replied to Ray Collins's topic in General Concertina Discussion
A Glory-ous occasion, by any chance ?? Indeed, plus a more serious Hekety LNE on the following evening. -
Speed of reed speaking/pressure issues
gavdav replied to gavdav's topic in Instrument Construction & Repair
I hope you have now bought his book! Nice one Theo, but Gav's Dad actually helped publish edition 1, its a small world Dave E I did buy it, as soon as it was published all those many moons ago, and also recommended it to some US concertina sales persons, way back when -
Sidmouth late night extra band
gavdav replied to Ray Collins's topic in General Concertina Discussion
SWEB stores? Gav (off to play yet another LNE this year in less elegant company) -
Speed of reed speaking/pressure issues
gavdav replied to gavdav's topic in Instrument Construction & Repair
If its fouling the slot you usually hear a buzzing or tinkling sound. To raise the tip of the reed place a thin flat blade/shim etc under the reed and lift it just far enough to bend the reed tongue slightly. Go carefully, a little at a time. Once you have it speaking correctly you will almost certainly have to adjust the tuning too. It was too low, Dave Elliot very kindly helped sort the stalling reed out and it seems to be playing well! Phew! -
Speed of reed speaking/pressure issues
gavdav replied to gavdav's topic in Instrument Construction & Repair
Ok - it seems too low, at first I wondered if it was fouling in the slot, but I don't know how to adjust it. -
Speed of reed speaking/pressure issues
gavdav replied to gavdav's topic in Instrument Construction & Repair
Ok - so in serious mode. I have a reed (D push on the left hand) which will not speak at all under high/fast pressure, but sounds fine under low pressure I have checked the slot, cleaned the reed, reseated the shoe and it seems to make little difference. Is it just a duff reed? should I have it retongued? Will it make any difference or is this a mechanical/build problem? -
How did other manufacturers wriggle around Wheatstones Patent
gavdav replied to Alan Day's topic in Concertina History
Lachenal used McCann's duet system patent (Patent number 4752) to make their "patent" concertinas. George Jones also patented a more complex anglo system (9314) which was alleged to play chromatically a friend owns one of these, though it has been sadly retuned to a more "conventional" system. think these were both 1884 - both ae effectively fingering system patents I suppose. -
Speed of reed speaking/pressure issues
gavdav replied to gavdav's topic in Instrument Construction & Repair
I have carefully preserved it, in anticipation of an upsurge in music hall, and it can be reattached at any time. -
Speed of reed speaking/pressure issues
gavdav replied to gavdav's topic in Instrument Construction & Repair
Well, apparently not. Being impatient, I just removed this and the drone key is now working fine - I'm now simply puzzled as to why it might have been installed in the first place. -
I'm just fettling a recently acquired G/D anglo and have some questions for the experts. The box has a left hand G/G drone, which is very useful, but presently seems a little weak. The air hole in the board has a donut of wood around it to decrease the diameter compared to the other buttons, but this seems to be making the air pressure disproportionately high when I give it a good squeeze and the note bends out of tune like an asthmatic cow. Would I be damaging the box irreperably if I removed this donut? The box plays pretty well with the drone "quietly" i.e. low pressure, but struggles as speed and volume are upped. Is this simply a side effect of such a low reed? (this is a traditionally reeded concertina.) Are there any other minor technical issues that could make a reed slow to speak. e.g. sticky valve, (levers are fine) as some of the other notes seem a little slow too and I'd like to bring it all up to speed.
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Connor Concertinas - models and reeding
gavdav replied to gavdav's topic in Instrument Construction & Repair
Would this have been better in the general forum? I am curious about Connor concertinas, have just acquired one and wanted any info members might be able to share. -
Hi, I just had a look inside an old (I'd guess 80s or early 90s) Connor Anglo. I was expecting salvaged reeds, but they are pretty obviously a "new" set in aluminium shoes. In fact the whole box has a very Crabb like feel to it - bellows construction etc, and I know that Connor learned at least some of his trade with Crabb. What I wondered is what makes the difference between a standard and a special? This has fancier endplates to the standard shown on the hobgoblin site, but not is not as flashily appointed as his Jeffries copies. Do you think the reeds were made for this box, reshoed or soemthing else entirely i.e. perhaps "new old stock" from Crabb or something... any experts out there? Any feelings on the quality of Connor's own reeds?
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Not implying that it would - the new (double) one is aluminum and steel all round, my other cases are plywood, glue and tolex.
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I've looked at Storm and Peli cases but can never work out which model I need to put two concertinas in when shopping online.
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Bloody heavy, and that is I guess, an inevitable downside of a "Flight" case. My problem is really number of hands. To do a solo gig I need to be able to carry two concertinas and a guitar, plus a bag full of stuff and to be able to chuck it (not too literally, but sometimes not far off) into a car or van. I found the one box over each shoulder was fine if I wasn't carrying the massive guitar case or backpack. That said I'm fairly confident the new case would withstand a severe battering that my ply cases simply wouldn't.
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Once again, I'm resurrecting this old thread again - maybe this should be in buy and sell, but I saw these on ebay and bought one. This thing is absolutely bomb-proof, I would trust it in the hold of an aircraft if I had to. Again, it makes a good seat, has plenty of room for blocks and pads, a central divider and is absolutely pro quality. The price however was amazing and it arrived next day! (less than a standard plywood concertina single case, or a deluxe bag). As a pro musician, I use a lot of flight cases of varying quality, but the hardware and construction of this is amazing. http://tinyurl.com/ccutfb If in doubt, I have added a couple of photos of my two concertinas inside said case. Available in other colors I believe (mine is red). Disclaimer - I am simply a happy customer, no links to the seller. Iron maiden stickers are an optional addition, ahem. next step is to add a shoulder strap and put a few foam blocks in. Oh yeah - an important note, the lid is removable, so some care must be taken with the hinges.
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My cat's ears twitch visibly on certain notes only (high Bb on my Jeffries ) Still they both love the bag!
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The good news is there appear to be two different, very nice, genuine Jeffries Duets for sale on ebay.co.uk right now.
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exactly what I'm after in so many ways - just need someone to buy my duet!!! Gav