Ken_Coles
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Posts posted by Ken_Coles
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If you have answered yes to 3 or more of the above questions you are in grave danger of slipping into Concertina Compulsive Aquisitive Disorder.
Bill, I saw in the other thread where you say you coined the term CCAD, but Paul Schwartz beat us to it. In about 1996 or 1997 he wrote on this site (back when he did all the writing) about COAD. Concertina Obsessive Acquisition Disorder. Easier to pronounce, and entered my vocabulary long ago. But the same great idea!
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I voted "I don't have enough experience" though the truth is I have too much experience (and too many boxes!). At present my anglo time is divided between a Morse Ceili and Kensington number 8 (finished last summer). I love each in its own way (therefore I am on the fence) and can afford to keep both. They are literally at the extremes of weight (lightest and heaviest I have owned) which is an issue for me orthopedically - the summer was tricky getting used to Dana's box and we are going to make different handle for it, but it is working out. Rich M. definitely has that part of the market which must have the lightest box available! I have some weary Lachenal anglos but seldom play them now.
I agree that an open market segment waiting for someone to jump into it is a 36 or 38 key hybrid anglo. Rich M. perhaps you can fit those reeds from the Albion in there? After seeing Jody and Tom Kruskal in workshops I see the uses for these and for now you have find an old one or wait years for a custom job.
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I'm jealous, Al. I haven't seen a Salvation Army band playing carols for years.
Every year from 1997 to 2002 in Logansport, Indiana I played many nights with the members of my brass quintet for the red kettle. Our tuba player grew up in the SA church and got permission for us to use the music (the SA in the U.S. used to limit who they let use the music). We were not the SA professionals but could play pretty well. We could raise money significantly faster than a bell-ringer, especially on sub-freezing nights. My theory was folks figured that if we could stand to be a little less comfortable maybe they could too, and they would dig into their pockets. This was outside a major chain store where many of these same folks later came out with extravagant and expensive presents the recipients probably didn't even use. I used to leave the French horn at home and use cornet or alto horn instead, they all work for the SA books and easier to keep a smaller horn warm enough to play.
One disappointment of being in Massachusetts last December and this year in Pennsylvania is that I've not found fellow players to do this. The SA is always interested to hear from me, but no other players about and I can't quite carry it alone (and no, I'm not up for solo carols on concertina in way below freezing weather). But each year I'll keep looking.
So the tradition lives on here and there, Ho ho ho.
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......also under Links click on David Leese...springs 40pence each.
I was under the impressions (as someone who edits the Sponsors page and the Links page) that David Leese IS Concertina Spares. Have I missed something? Right after I put him on the Links page, Paul wrote me that he had also become a sponsor here.
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I'm told Wes is working with others, like Chris Algar, Jim Lucas, Randy Merris on a comprehensive study of age constraints on Lachenals. The flip side is that I've gotten the impression from Wes that he is weary of being misquoted from the article posted here (e.g. by antique sellers on ebay) and any revisions will appear elsewhere.
The 350,000 figure was speculative and is clearly outdated, I gather. The highest number I had seen was just over 201,000 and we all assumed it was from right around Lachenal's demise in 1936 or so. Presumably a real 205,000 would be around that time. More or less the last one put together.
There are some real experts here, they might chime in with better info. And (sigh) I guess the old Lachenal dating articles in the Buyer's Guide need editing or at least serious disclaimers attached to them.
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Good point Helen. That leads to a bit of a catch-22. If I'm posting so much I don't have time to play concertina, then I have no concertina playing to post about! Ouch, my brain hurts now.
By the way, I plan to play my concertina tonight. I expect I'll enjoy it.
Well, that makes me feel better. Let's just say I've been playing too much (after giving exams all day) to do any site administration work!
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BTW, if G.O. tells you of any other upcoming teaching he has scheduled, we'd love to post it in the 2005 classes page (due for revision soon). It's been a couple of years since I've seen him down for Augusta or East Durham or Swannanoa. I'd like to study with him also.
Ken
(not near San Francisco)
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Well, until Invision updates the hosting software, I guess the moral is to use Google! An interesting test, Michael.
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Thanks for the suggestion. This has been on the to-do list for some time, and a big reorganization will eventually happen. Bear with us.
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Similar models are sold by many folks as Hero, Schillying, etc. No doubt the same factory. I saw them on Olvera Street in central LA a year ago for cheaper than anywhere else (and some cool colors too, even purple!); I may fall for one when I am in L.A. next month! They are fun if very air-hungry, I have a red one somewhere back in Indiana.
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Legal, in-print photocopies are available from Andy's Front Hall in Vorheesville, N.Y., near Albany. We may have a link for them on the Links page; I'm not sure, but a Web search will certainly turn them up. I started with this tutor and it is great if you already play another free-reed. It focuses on finger placement and training and got me started. Welcome aboard. PA is a great instrument but you do hear a lot of stories about it getting too heavy for folks at some point in their lives (at least a 120-bass).
Ken Coles
one of the hosts here
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Well, I myself started with the Ali Anderson tutor and recording. I have (and used) Anderson's tutor, as well as the books by Butler and Miles. And I kept a copy of the review of Pauline's book by Del Blacketter back when it came out. So we can add those impressions in too.
Ken
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Tom, your personal observations would be a great addition. And if it hadn't been a year or more since the pictures were submitted in response to a request I made (I think two of them came in over two years ago) it would be easier to remember how they got here!
I've had some offers of pictures off the forum also, so will start collecting again, but won't wait so long to add them, I hope.
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After "finishing" the English Buyer's guide (already yielding useful suggestions for revision), I want to transcribe the very interesting maker's forum from the 2004 Northeast Squeeze-In. Tired of grading astronomy papers, I sat down tonight to work on it. After typing the first 5 or 10% I found myself just listening to the rest of it. It is fascinating! Frank Edgley, Rich Morse, and several audience members had a lot of useful and interesting stories and observations. My best hope is to work on it over the school holiday. If I finish it, Frank and Rich will get final editorial veto and then we will share it here.
I hope in a future year to get an even bigger roundtable of makers at the NESI. Is anything comparable done in the U.K., or are trends in concertina making and the concertina market so evident there that it isn't necessary?
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Thanks, Stephen, great suggestions. I have in fact been hoarding reviews in my "drafts" file and have enough for a skeleton page. No doubt it will be a little while. I'm trying to enjoy the accomplishment of what I just finished!
Personal opinions and experiences are just what all the good advice here is assembled from, and the more the merrier!
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I have had this draft Buyer's Guide page for English concertina and a page on playing both anglo and English kicking around for a year and a half. I finally ignored all the other pending tasks here to get them in a condition to post. The English Buyer's Guide will of course benefit from your additions, expansions, and suggestions. Imagine what you would like to read there if you were a prospective first-time buyer and then send it in. (Opinion, on the other hand, always has a place in the Forums!)
Seriously, I am excited by this overdue addition. Next I hope to reorganize the Learning page, adding anglo tutors like those by Alan Day and Simon Wells, and moving the English tutors to a separate page with recent additions there also. And who knows, maybe a Concertina.net T-shirt and mug one of these days with an English concertina on it!
Also, please note that it is now much easier to get to the new (really, the current) Forums from any of the original ("static") pages - the link at the top of those pages brings you here. A direct link to our sponsoring advertisers has been added at the top of the Forum pages. Paul took time from his two jobs to revise this in the dynamic code - thanks!
Ken
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Oh, and I have an upgraded Ceili, number 036. I recall the changeover (for top runs, at least) as being after the first 40. The synthetic held up great, except for wear on the end where it rested on my leg. When I finally did the upgrade my top runs it was fun to go straight to the head of the six-month repair queue at the Button Box!
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Maybe I'm the only one who has this impression, but I thought most (if not all) vintage concertina bellows used goatskin (not bovine). Incorrect?
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Truck is still broke, not diagnosis yet. I had to get back to work so rented a car (can't wait for the bills from this trip). I did edit some pages while sitting in bucolic Bucyrus, they will appear soon.
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Details of Bob Tedrow's next concertina tour are posted in a new Tedrow 2005 tour forum. Consider signing up, and do so early.
Cheers,
Ken and Paul
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Details of Bob Tedrow's new concertina tour are posted in a new Forum under the Discussions category. This tour was very popular last time, so apply early to be one of the lucky 50 who get to try a new Tedrow concertina. Concertina.net thanks Bob for his support of the site when he sells a tour instrument and for letting many of you have a free trial.
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I remember these were reviewed in an issue of Concertina and Squeezebox when Dr. Bastari came out with this model.
C'est bon! Bienvenue a Concertina.net
Ken (who has no French)
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Oh, just on the outside. We certainly didn't go to the effort of opening it up! I should add that in the U.S. shoe polish is usually a dense paste. I have no idea what passes for shoe polish elsewhere (though I know it has come up in past threads).
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Jim, I'm guessing Ross is using the term the way some of us anglo players do, and as uillean pipers do. A modern set of pipes in "D" is "concert pitch." Uillean pipes in C or B are called "flat pitch" by pipers. Similarly, something below a C/G anglo (a Bb/F, or an Ab/Eb) could be referred to this way. Not a common usage, but I have heard it before. If I know Ross, and his ability to specify what he is after (he works in banking, after all), this instrument was undoubtedly built in A440.
Dating Lachenal Anglos
in Instrument Construction & Repair
Posted
Well, sorry for that misimpression, Wes (maybe I got it from looking at that avatar)! As for getting things done you have company, many of the overdue site revsions get started many times by yours truly and set aside before they are done.
Meanwhile I will keep a note of this thread, some interesting info to include whenever I _do_ revise all that dating info.