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PaddyLosty

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Everything posted by PaddyLosty

  1. The mic jack is in the photos on Facebook as well, so likely it is. Unless it was a standard feature for Colin back then, the 70s were wild 😆
  2. When you pushed the reeds back into the dovetail, did they feel like they went in snugly, or did it feel like they were still quite loose? There may be a need to shim them with a little sliver of paper. However with warmer weather and some humidity the issue may resolve itself, at least until the fall when it gets dry again.
  3. There are a lot of innovations out there, but its fairly iterative as the thing that most of us like about these instruments is linked to the tone and style of the best of the vintage period. Things like the use of more stable wood veneers and cleated woods (Dippers), and the use of cast resins or composite materials (Carroll and Kensington) for stability, improvements to the pivot mechanism (Carroll, Edgley) reed design and mounting (Kensington), efficiency in manufacture by utilizing CNC and wire EDM. 3D printing like Jay instruments. The use of high end accordion reeds among all of the hybrid makers. With the light weight and amazingly quick reeds in modern instruments, its hard to find anywhere that improvement is needed, but its interesting to see the minor improvements the best makers make to their instruments over the years.
  4. Yup just slide it out with your thumb. It might be a little stuck, don't force it if it seems unreasonable. Chance it could be a loose though based on the symptoms. If it won't snug up when you push it back in then let us know, there are ways to fix that but hopefully won't be necessary.
  5. Open it up and slide the offending reed out of its dovetail and then push it back in snugly (not too snug though). That seems to solve a lot of mysterious issues.
  6. Here's another clip, looks like the same instrument (and Frankie is in F).
  7. Tuning my D string to C, so everything down two semitones essentially. I have a fiddle I leave in that tuning now with a set of heavier strings on it, since my wife is a C#/D box player but has a really great sounding B/C box, most of the time at home we play in C. Old high pitch is nice as well and a bit more forgiving on the fiddle. I have a Jeffries that is in A452, old temperment Bb/F, should be great for playing with other fiddlers once its done its day at the spa.
  8. I love tuning my fiddle down to C and playing with and playing with an F flute player. Sean Gavin and Jesse Smith's album inspired me to do so, and it's great. I've experimented a bit with doing the same with the Bb/F and playing tunes in "G" equivalent, but my closest buddy with an F flute is a few hours away.
  9. SV for the air lever (single valve or slide valve) and WS for the Wrist Strap.
  10. Two things that are abundant in our beautiful country!
  11. To add the the possibilities, the price of a Suttner is fairly attractive in USD at the moment, and his wait list is listed as 1 year. If it were me, I'd go check out that Dipper. Chris might have other G/D instruments on hand by then to compare to also. He usually has at least one Jeffries in that key kicking around the shed.
  12. Yes, fiddle for a long time, since I was in my teens. The piper Nick Brown lent me his grandfathers old Stagi because I was hooked on Mary and Andrew Mac's Open Hearth album, and that was that. It was only in the last 10 years that I had a decent instrument to learn on though, so still a relative beginner on the concertina. Congrats on the album! Hopefully our paths cross some time for some tunes if you're over in the US or Canada. Cheers! PG
  13. As much as I love a Jeffries, your tone as well as Liam O'Brien and Hugh Healy's really makes me appreciate the old Wheatstone sound. Great tone all-round. I play Dwyer's similarly. I first learned it on the fiddle (my main instrument) from that same fabulous album, but then more recently learned it on the concertina. I like your take on it, there's some phrasing there that I'll probably adopt. Tory Island, where did you pick that one up? I always called it Murphy's Greyhound, from Junior Crehan, as well as Kitty Hayes (I play it on the row like her). Joey Abarta plays a nice version of it as well.
  14. Hey Paddy, I've been enjoying your album the last few days, some very nice stuff on there. I particularly like your version of Finbar Dwyer's. Your Wheatstone sounds fabulous, perhaps you can tell us more about it, for us instrument dorks out here. Cheers Pat
  15. 1938 http://www.horniman.info/DKNSARC/SD03/PAGES/D3P0250S.HTM
  16. Wally, I have heard whisperings of these cast resin instruments. Better is always (usually) subjective, but do you have any descriptors of what the difference in tone would be? Do you think that the resin is being more resonant or having a damping quality?
  17. While I support the argument that Irish music can be played on other systems than the Anglo, I've never personally heard a convincing example of it. I don't know that the issue is the bounce from the in-out. Most Irish players will seek to finger a tune in a way that avoids bellows changes in favor of smooth transitions and cohesive phrasing. The anglo lends itself well to the cuts, crans and other ornamentation that does a reasonable job fitting in approximating the uilleann pipes, and as such is consistent with the dialect of the tradition. I'm sure Irish music could be played well on systems other than the anglo, but I don't know that trying to imitate the anglo is the way to do it. Having a deep understanding of the music and approaching it from the ground up would be the way to go about it. I'm sure there are a few people out there who have done this successfully. Rick Epping makes good use of the English, as an example, and is well regarded amongst Irish trad music circles. Hell, here is a well-played example of a couple jigs played on a Nintendo DS. This person obviously understands the tunes and how the phrasing is essential. I bet they could make good use of an English or a Duet in a pinch. But why wouldn't they choose the anglo, given the choice?
  18. What key is your concertina in? It doesn't look like Radie is playing her usual Dipper there, and it sounds to be in G/D or somewhere thereabouts. Its a pretty simple tune if you are able to transpose it to your instrument.
  19. Yes, its a lovely instrument. It has a distinctive tone of its own and is light and responsive. I had to make a decision whether to keep the Jeffries C/G or the Dipper and the Dipper won out in the end. We don't see as many Suttners on this side of the Atlantic, but I would rate Carrolls right alongside each of them, just to make your decision a bit more difficult.
  20. Last winter, happenstance led to my having 4 different Jeffries and a Dipper on my dining room table, so I took the rare opportunity to carefully compare each of them. They were quite different instruments - 3 Bb/F, including a 50 button C. Jeffries, a 30 bone button C. Jeffries and a 30 metal button Jeffries Bros. The C/G a 30 bone button identical to the Bb/F. The biggest impressions on the two of us who were playing them was that they all felt quite different to play. Although they all played really well, each had its own characteristic feel, but at the end of the day they were all uniquely Jeffries instruments. The sound shared that characteristic - each of them had a slightly different voice and volume, but were easily identifiable as Jeffries. My thought is that they were probably all very consistent early in their lives, but depending on how they were played and treated over the years, as well as who had worked on them over their long lives, led to the differences. I think Suttners as well as the other great makers are likely the same. Instruments today that are relatively young will have a high degree of consistency across the board. The next 100+ years of experience will lead each of them down different paths.
  21. I wouldn't put any kind of oil on it, as it could potentially migrate through the wood to somewhere you don't want it. Apply some heat with a soldering iron or similar heat source, that should loosen it up. Then grab with pliers.
  22. Couldn't be more true. A great exercise is going through the scales but for each note, play every location of that note. Really gets you familiar with the various options. Concertina is an instrument of "possibilities"
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