Steve_freereeder

http://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=10546&view=findpost&p=105903

I would agree with Peter. Definitely easier to play in F on a C/G rather than a G/D. Listen to the playing of Brian Peters who often uses the key of F on his Crabb C/G, as does John Kirkpatrick sometimes.

Shellac (French) polish - black in the case of ebony or ebonised ends, clear (Button polish or White polish) for amboyna.

Spot on. It's the local name. I've long harboured a desire to start a band called the BoA Constrictors ... Chris Not feather Boa then? I've got a red feather Bradford

Bradford-on-Avon.

That's OK. You're welcome.

Congratulations Theo! Good luck with your new venture. I hope you do well.

Is this the chart you are looking at? http://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=10372&view=findpost&p=104218 On a 20-button C/G anglo, you only have the notes available in the keys of C and G, in other words A, B, C, D E, F-natural, F#, G. Therefore you can only make chords which contain those notes. You asked about A major and E major: The chord of A major has the notes A, C# and E. You don't have a C# on a 20-button anglo, so the only way round this is to play a 'neutral' chord using just the two notes A and E. This doesn't have the third in the chord (the note which determines whether a chord is major or minor) so it would fit in a tune or song where you needed an A major chord, but it would sound a bit 'sparse'. You can play this on the LH G-row on the pull, using buttons G3 and G5. Similarly for E major. The notes in the chord are E, G#, B. You don't have a G# on a 20 button anglo, so you will have to make do with a neutral E chord, using the notes E and B. This is obtained on the LH by playing E on the C-row (button C4 push) and B on the G-row (button G4 push). For the full chords, you would need a 30-button anglo, which would give you the missing accidentals on the third row. You are experiencing the limitations of the 20-button anglo here, but in a way, that is part of the fun of the instrument. There's usually a way to get round things, but at the same time, don't expect to be able to play in the key of C# major! The 'harmonic' or 'English' style of playing generally uses the LH side for chords and the RH side for melody, although there will be some overlap sometimes. It is also perfectly possible to play chords on the RH side, especially playing a melody with a harmony a third below, by using the next button to the left of the melody note at the same time. Hope this helps.

White Spirit is a commonly-used solvent for painting and decorating and is also a degreasing agent. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_spirit

And why not? There's nothing wrong with playing in F major on a C/G anglo. It sits on the instrument quite nicely, and it sounds nice and mellow. I'd rather play in F than in D major if truth be told. Far more opportunities for LH harmonies in F. Just listen to the playing of Brian Peters - he often uses the key of F on his C/G anglo. John Kirkpatrick is not averse to it on his C/G either.

Yes - Newmoon is definitely still alive. I've needed to contact them recently to update my insurance policy and found them to be efficient and courteous as usual. I have found them very easy to deal with over the phone; they seem to expect it rather than web/e-mail contact. I agree that their website is not one of the best, but I don't hold that against them. They are insurance brokers after all, not web designers. The chap I have dealt with is Joe Carne, e-mail: joe.carne@newmooninsurance.com

Another issue connected with the hard case vs soft case debate is the importance of keeping the concertina bellows snugly closed shut when not in use. Instruments which are habitually stored with their bellows partly open may develop a 'set' in the bellows at that storage position, which may then result in slightly increased resistance on the push when passing through the 'set' point. This is annoying at best, and at worst can lead to a loss of bellows efficiency. Ideally a hard case should have internal blocks tailored to the instrument to keep the bellows closed. Not all hard cases meet this requirement but suitably placed padding can help. A soft, gig-bag type case rarely keeps the bellows shut unless it is a really snug fit, but then the issue becomes getting the instrument in and out (especially out) of the case without putting undue strain on the bellows and maybe the hand/thumb straps. Because of this, my personal opinion is for a hard case every time. I've made a couple of concertina cases and melodeon cases too, and I ensure that as well as snug internal blocks to keep the bellows closed, I also use a minimum of 10mm foam and polyester padding covered by plush fabric lining on all the internal surfaces. This not only looks nice but it also provides a shock-absorbing function. I've also seen hard concertina cases carried inside a tailor-made soft gig bag with a shoulder strap. This would seem to be combine the best features of both ideas.

Spot on, Brian. I agree 100% with your posts.

PMs are available in the profile of the member you wish to send to, on the LH side underneath the portrait, marked 'send me a message'. All the messages on the old forum are still there.

Sorry, Dirge, but no it's not. The first bar is just about the same, but then it's quite different. Many thanks anyway for the suggestion. Steve

Thanks Pete. I'll give it a try later, but I don't think it will be too successful, as the Tune Finder seems to be just for traditional (Irish) tunes.

This is perhaps a bit of a long shot on this forum but on the other hand, I bet there are a lot of light jazz fans out there. I'm looking for the name and details of this tune, please. I've known it for years - it used to be the sort of tune that came on the television in the 1960s and 1970s to accompany the ticking clock face whilst waiting for the next programme to start. If you're old enough, you'll know the sort of thing I mean. I've tried to transcribe it into ABC as best I can, although I've not tried to notate the easy jazz swing of the dotted notes. My ABC player makes it sound too strict and march-like. I've put it in the key of Am for ease of transcription, but I don't know what the original would have been. This is only the A-music too, there is a B-music which I've not attempted to transcribe. The other feature of this tune was the wonderful descending walking double-bass pizzicato on the A-music. Does it ring any bells with anyone please? I'll try over at melodeon.net too. Thanks Steve X:1 Unknown jazz tune T:Unknown jazz tune fragment T:Can anyone identify this please? M:4/4 Q:1/4=120 K:Am P:Easy swing tempo E | A>B c>d e a2 e | f2 g>e-e3 E| A>B c>d e a2 e |^d>=d c>A B e2 E | A>B c>d e a2 e | f2 g>e-e3 e|(3^d=dc d>c e e2 A- |A6-A :||

Odd that following the steps to get a "harmonic" quote, the documents it gives you at the end are for the natural product, which would limit the claim to £2000... Umm... I think you are misinterpreting something there. I have a couple of melodeons insured for > £2k and a Wheatstone Linota insured for in excess of £5k. Before signing up to insuring with them, I had an in-depth telephone conversation with one of Newmoon's staff discussing my exact requirements, and there was absolutely no hint that claims would be limited to £2k. If this were true, they would be laying themselves open to mis-selling and hefty fines as a result. These guys are reputable professionals and I don't have any qualms about dealing with them.

Over at melodeon.net it seems that many of us are switching to Newmoon Insurance http://forum.melodeon.net/index.php/topic,1514.0.html Newmoon is a company set up by former British Reserve and Allianz insurers. They provide a good service and their premiums are around 1/2 to 2/3 of theose charged by Allianz, Hencilla, etc. I switched my insurance to Newmoon just today and saved over £80 on the premium. Definitely worth a look. http://www.newmooninsurance.com/musical/index.php

Don't be too scared. Concertinas are designed so that for the most part they can be taken apart and reassembled again relatively easily. You sound as if you've done the reading and that you can do this responsibly. Just go carefully and you'll be OK. On the humidity problem, I think Chris may well be right in that a significant change can cause problems with loose reed frames and this seems to be borne out by your results with the humidifier. A year or so ago I had a similar problem with a Crabb which had spent some years in South Africa before returning to England. Dave Prebble fixed it for me while I watched and saw exactly what needed to be done. (Thanks, Dave!)

Just to add to Greg's excellent advice.... When adding a paper shim to secure a loose reed frame in its dovetail slot, use two short paper strips: one at one side of the rounded tip of the reed frame, and another strip near the reed tongue screws near the open end of the dovetail slot. The idea is to have no paper shim along the slot length of the reed frame, as this can distort the reed frame so that the reed tongue comes into contact with the edge of the slot. There is very little clearance here and it is surprising how even the thinnest of paper shims along the slot length can cause the reed tongue to foul the slot. Good luck with your trouble shooting. Go carefully, a little bit at a time, and as Greg says, always review where you are at every stage so that you know you can always put things back as they were.

The American Federation of Musicians has links to insurance services. Try their website here http://www.afm.org/

It's actually in D major, but the key signature has been written incorrectly. The first sharp sign ought to be F# on the top line of the stave, not D# as shown.

My guess is 50 bucks. I bought one of these in about 1983 before I knew any better. As I remember, I paid about 25 UK pounds for it, but I soon sold it on again for a tenner within a matter of weeks. It was horrible! Wheezy, slow to respond, out of tune. The person who bought it from me reported a few months later that first one of the straps broke, then the reeds went really out of tune and a couple of reeds actually broke from fatigue. 50 bucks? I wouldn't even give 50 p for it. The only use they have is for firewood.

On my C/G anglo I mostly play a mixture of English and Welsh tunes. Welsh tunes work very nicely on the anglo. More recently I've started to explore French and Breton traditional music.