Pete Dunk

Mornington Crescent!

If it's a nice instrument and you do most of your playing at home and the price is right then for goodness sake get it, you'll never forgive yourself if you don't. Then you can start saving for the ultimate session buster - a piano accordion!

Read that again Alan, I'll think you'll find it says that attempting to remove the pivot post would be fraught with disaster! Far, far easier to detach the pad from the end of the arm which will give you all of the free movement you need to investigate the problem.

A couple of months ago I had the great pleasure of playing a brass reeded Aeola treble belonging to singer Sarah Morgan, I've seldom heard such a sweet and responsive concertina. Pushing it too hard to gain volume would be catastrophic methinks. Wonderful as a solo or song accompaniment instrument it would have been overwhelmed in a session.

Nice looking 56 key extended treble Aeola here but I've never seen a red action board before. Was this common on later Wheatstones?

See, I told you English wasn't bad. The level of skill shown by non professional players like Danny Chapman isn't common, on the concertina or any other instrument. He must be very good at what he does for a living if this is the standard of one of his hobbies! You spoke of playing at virtuoso speed - perhaps you might like to rethink that in the light of what you have seen! A tenor/treble is indeed a 56 button concertina that extends eight notes lower than a standard treble, down to the C below middle C. Danny plays a tenor/treble Wheatstone Aeola, an octagonal concertina that was the finest instrument in the Wheatstone range. You don't even want to know how many Euros one of those would cost you! I'm not absolutely sure but I don't think Danny used the full lower range of the instrument in this clip but even if he did the vast majority could be played on a 48 key instrument. I should also mention that many players never venture into the upper reaches of the treble concertina range. So now you are thoroughly hooked on the concertina. Welcome to the world of musical magic and financial misery. I see Jim (who is more knowledgeable than I) has posted while I was writing this, so apologies for any duplications or errors on my part. Pete.

Life before the mast was harsh for the common sailor; miscreant musicians suffered the lash an' all.

Hi and welcome to the forum. I'm not even going to try and answer your question about the choice between anglo and English for the style of music you want to play but I can tell you that the Jackie/Rochelle wouldn't really be suitable for 'speed' playing in my opinion. I'm a great fan of the Concertina Connection starter instruments, they are great value for money, but they are hardly what you would describe as responsive. Wim Wakker is about to launch the new Clover anglo, perhaps you should wait until we know how much they will cost and what they will play like. Sorry but there aren't any easy answer to your question. There's nothing wrong with your English by the way. Pete.

George is a case in point, always keeping up with the Joneses

It's like a comedy of errors really Jim. Pull up a chair, pour yourself a beer and I'll tell you what really happened ... I had to draw the diagram twice because I 'lost' the first one when I switched to a different tab in the software before saving the changes, so I was pretty annoyed with myself. Then m3838 made his post, if you look back you will find that it was edited four minutes after being posted, I read it before the edited version and the original post didn't have m3838's diagram in it! If you read the text alone without the supporting picture it doesn't make any sense at all and I really thought he was a sandwich short of a picnic. I retired to watch a bit of television awaiting the end of an interesting auction on ebay and a little while later the cat projectile vomited a hair ball and half its' tea over my foot. In the resulting malaise I missed the end of the auction and my dastardly plan to go in with a large and hopefully winning bid in the dying seconds was thwarted and I wasn't the proud owner of bilcro's tuning bellows. :angry: I sought comfort in a couple of beers and a half decent comedy show on the tele but I was in an ill humour. I thought I'd have one last look at the forum before going to bed; when I saw you had posted I of course jumped straight to the latest post in the thread blithely unaware that the diagram had been added. I didn't read any of the quoted bits because I hadn't understood the apparently insane ramblings the first time around, unfortunately you'd written the bit about omitting m3838's diagram inside the quote. The rest, as they say, is history and it turns out to be a simple misunderstanding. So now it's my turn to crave your indulgence for a bad tempered old bloke who was in no mood to be trifled with. Edited because I'm a poor typist too!

Actually the diagram was mine. The subtitle of the thread was an appeal for a 30 button keyboard layout, presumably for a Jackie concertina as named in the thread title. I was going to point to the diagrams on the Concertina Connection website but decided to use Wes William's excellent software to create what I thought would be a more useful representation. Sorry it didn't meet with your approval. Silly me.

Well here's the keyboard layout.

According to Wikipedia the last bellows-driven mandolin was used to start up then fuel a campfire somewhere around Hawke's Bay. A copper plaque was installed to commemorate the event but regional authorities believe it was stolen and sold for scrap. So where can I get a set of strings for this?

I honestly don't know Dave, never having heard such a thing being played. I thought I'd read yet another thread debating the relative merits of tonewoods for concertina making and I believe the consensus was that such materials would have little, if any, effect on the overall sound of the instrument. I presumed that the sheer thickness of the reedpan timber, its tightness in the bellows frame and the compression from the action board would have prevented any movement so all that is left to affect tone and timbre is the ability of the materials surface to reflect or absorb sound waves within the chamber. An interesting subject but I'm not likely to make a perspex (or any other type) reedpan anyway. Just to stay slightly off topic, does making reed shoes from aluminium rather than brass have a dramatic effect on the overall sound of a concertina? Edited to add: I found the thread discussing tonewoods and perspex reedpans here. The thread contents contradict almost everything I've written above. Anybody got a cure for a totally dodgy memory?

Oh, it's a lovely thing, the work of an artisan. I'm capable of making something like that but as it's a workshop tool I'd have used something like birch faced plywood for the table and patched up the bellows as needed; functional but not pretty. It is grand to work with lovely tools and equipment and using a rig like this would give me enormous pleasure every time I did any tuning. So it's all down to how much someone is prepared to pay to own this wonderful thing, I've worked out what I think would be a fair price and then added a bit more because I want it. If anyone else is prepared to go higher so be it and I'll lose out. Having seen this one I'd have to rethink my plan and make myself something that has beauty as well as functionality. I have a singular talent for spending other folks' money.

Hi Rob, one set of bellows is from an accordion and although Ive seen a tuning rig made with a similar set they are a little large if storage and working space is limited. Another set is still on an old 'tina that I think is probably beyond repair but for some reason I'm reluctant to break it for spares just yet. That leaves a set of five fold Lachenal bellows that have been cut off the frames during replacement, these were given to me by a repairer. If I buy the tuning rig you can have those for free although it would be nice if you donated a couple of quid to c.net. You'll need to make new frames although I've already cut the 12 bits of wood and they'll just need gluing up, it might be an idea to fit support blocks in the angles (David Leese sells strips you cut to length yourself) to give the frames some strength while the bellows are fitted to them. So keep your fingers crossed that the rig sells at a fair price that I'm prepared to pay! Pete.

A collection of what - treen? If scrap cars are old bangers are scrap concertinas old wheezers?

Somewhere on this forum (I forget just where) was a picture of a reedpan made from perspex, a good use of modern materials in my opinion, removing at least some of the perversity.

Here's me sat with a choice of three sets of donor bellows (but too lazy to do anything about it) and a strobe tuner waiting in the wings. I'm awfully tempted to put a bid in!

Not quite the same but I replaced the hardware after removing the straps, the lower holes have tiny woodscrews in screw-cups in them. I wasn't trying to hide 'unsightly' holes (which are virtually invisible anyway) so much as keeping the fixings in a safe place! Had I have liked using the wrist straps on my 'tina I would have replaced the gold blocked Wheatstone ones with plain modern straps and preserved the originals as a little bit of history to go with instrument. Always assuming I don't loose them of course.

One of these days my man you'll wake up with half an Aeola on the pillow next to you.

Erm, finders fee? Hmmm?

I should add that I've taken the wrist straps off my concertina because I don't use them. Sally likes wrist straps and wanted a set on her concertina so I bought the bits from Steve Dickenson because I wanted original Wheatstone hardware for the 1916 Model 2. The pics show both the top and bottom fixings.

Parts are available from David Leese (threaded inserts and thumb strap type screws) you will also need short wood screws and screw cups for the fixed (non adjustable) ends of the straps. David also sells straps for anglos and duets so give hime a call and he'll advise on the requirements for wrist straps. Fixing points will obviously vary slightly depending on the size of the 'tina and the length of the straps. With the concertina in the normal playing position - thumb straps at the top - the screw holding the top of the wrist strap will be fitted about an inch and a quarter down from the corner on the flat facing your chest. the bottom of the strap fixes on the next flat around (facing your lap) an inch and a quarter from the farthest corner. Sounds complicated doesn't it? So here's a picture of my concertina with wrist straps fitted as described. Do be careful about the location of the fixing points and the length of screws, you don't want to foul the action inside and that's a bit harder to see in a Jackie! Pete

Looks like an olive branch to me. Time to move on ...