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I need to paste in my comments from the old part of Concertina.net! Short version: I've played anglo since 1992, English since 2001. Mostly Italian boxes, Lachenals, a Morse, and a Kensington. One of the people behind the curtain at Concertina.net.
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Location
western Pennsylvania and northern Indiana, U.S.A.
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Ken_Coles's Achievements

Heavyweight Boxer (5/6)
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I'm tempted to speculat that might be one of many badge names for instruments made in China - someone here may know better and can correct me. The quality of those factory instruments varies a lot and you can likely do better. Where are you located? Someone nearby may be able to help you choose an instrument or show you some examples. Ken
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Binaural Recording of Concertina
Ken_Coles replied to aeolina's topic in General Concertina Discussion
Folks, please stay on topic as in the original post rather than hashing out other debates. Thank you. Ken -
Playing Irish Music on an English Concertina.
Ken_Coles replied to Ptarmigan's topic in Concertina Videos & Music
Ken Sweeney (northeast US) also does amazing irish music on EC. Another person who IMO was doing very well at it was Ed Delaney (Indiana, US) but I hear he is playing Anglo lately. Many great examples. Ken -
One way to sort of get the buttons farther away is to raise your hands on taller handles. I do it by cutting up inexpensive pipe insulation. (An article from the static version of concertina.net two decades ago). It's cheap and quick to try and see if it helps with any fingerings. Good look with your impressively ambitious work! Ken
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German concertina circa 1900
Ken_Coles replied to Steven Barron's topic in Instrument Construction & Repair
Topic moved to Construction and Repairs forum - thanks Bill. Ken -
Are you looking for someone to do repairs, or do you wish to sell? If the latter, I will move this topic to the Buy and Sell forum, where it will get more attention. Ken
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In the case of anglo concertinas, some of the notes are necessarily under your palms and they sound different to me than the ones that don't have my hands in the way. Ken
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World Concertina Day 2023!
Ken_Coles replied to Daniel Hersh's topic in General Concertina Discussion
Policing a thread to ensure it contains only posted recordings and nothing requires a significant effort from your administrators. The only "administrative precaution" I can come up with is for Paul and me to moderate and approve every single post in that thread after an unknown and variable delay. My guess is some people will avoid such a process and start their own thread, as they are welcome to do. Another approach any one member could curate themselves (feel free!) would be to follow the model of the "Current makes of concertina" thread: Edit current links to each recording into the first post and let everyone add posts to the thread as they wish. That is how a community like this tends to function - people read/hear something and immediately think of, and want to post, a response. We're happy to have them do so. Ken -
So sorry to hear this. When I visited Australia in 2006, Chris G. arranged for me to visit Richard up in the Blue Mountains - a spectacular setting. It was a great experience and his knowledge of the instrument was fascinating. My impression is that he was a bridge from the old days to the modern era of the concertina in Australia. Ken
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Rochelle 2 vs Wren 2 vs Vintage Lachenal 20b?
Ken_Coles replied to Jack Gravez's topic in General Concertina Discussion
There is another thread on this very topic here. Good luck. The upgrade option is a good one; and "riding a bicycle before you get your first car" isn't all bad. While a 20-vintage may limit what you can play, a Rochelle or Wren will too, in another way. I didn't find missing a few notes on my Italian 20b the first two years was a handicap; there were plenty of other things to master anyway. And while you can't do every melody, you can do partial chords (D, A, B, etc.) on a C/G 20b - I have songs I still accompany that way, and that was good early training for me also. Ken -
To all, The way to promote gentler language is to quit posting in this thread and instead open a new one (with a nicer title) if there are things worthy of discussion. Ken
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Is this a golden age for concertinas?
Ken_Coles replied to Clive Thorne's topic in General Concertina Discussion
Years ago, in some other thread here IIRC, someone called our current era (since approx. the 1990s) a "silver age" where the original golden age was late 19th century up to the 1920s (when we had Wheatstone, Crabb, Jeffries, and yes, Lachenal). Ken -
Why not write directly to Dana at Kensington? He'll know better than anyone how to treat/retreat the bellows he made on your instrument. I know he'd be happy to do it. Ken
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First Concertina for Irish music
Ken_Coles replied to Fiddling's topic in General Concertina Discussion
Perhaps she can report her experience to us here at some point (using your account or one of her own). As an admin I can tell you one of the things I get to do is remind some of our adult members that we have children on this forum also, and we aim to keep it family-appropriate. Regards, Ken -
Aha, this is from the fiddle-and-music scene in northern Vermont, which I hear is pretty strong. I've thought about spending some time there once I retire (not long now)....Thanks. Ken
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