Jake Middleton-Metcalfe
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Posts posted by Jake Middleton-Metcalfe
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Jake,
don't let people put you off, its not rocket science, have a go. Yes, it might not be as straightforward as "lower all of the reeds for a quieter faster effect" but there is a large amount of truth to that statement. If you do some research, perhaps go looking for a few old reeds to practise on, ask more questions just as you started doing, and look for encouraging people who know more than you do, you can do this. Try on melodeon.net as they have the same sort of reeds. An email to AP James would not be a bad move, he may be completely happy to talk about it. He might tell you his reed setting parameters and if yours will respond to this treatment.
If you had asked about traditional concertina reeds you might have obtained a more positive response here, many people here who can sort out their concertine first did it because they had to, now they know what they are doing. Few would be as familiar with the inside of hybrid concertinas because they are mostly fairly new and well built and have not yet developed the sort of issues which have you reaching for a screwdriver at inopportune times.
Just don't be in a hurry, do your research, practise and go for it. You can make a nice job of this and then put it back if you don't like it when you are finished. Did I say, just don't be in a hurry? Oh, and watch out for addiction, in no time you will be repairing and making them...
Chris
haha, cheers, I might send mr james an email and ask him a bit about it
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ok thanks for letting me know
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hello
I have a question about voicing concertinas. It is my understanding that a reed can be adjusted to sound quickly but not as loud by having the reed tip closer to the frame or the reed can be set higher and further away from the frame to make it loud but not quite as quick to respond.
I have an ap james concertina and recently played an instrument made by the same guy at a festival (it was on a stall at sidmouth folk festival) and it was quicker to speak but quieter. These are hybrid concertinas with accordion reeds. I am wondering If I could have the reeds set a bit lower to make it quiet and responsive as I dont really need it to be that loud.
Has anyone tried doing this themselves, and if so how did you find it?
jake
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Hi
Ok so at the moment a have a lot of time on my hands. Ive been learning amusing little tunes with lots of goofy little sharps and flats, tunes like the theme tune to red dwarf and monty python (liberty bell march) The concertina is an anglo in C and G
Im now trying to learn st bernards waltz - I have found a couple of versions - one in D and one in F. I would like to get one in c or g with chords. I dont really know that much about transposing the score I found in F and the one in D was from the session website and was not quite how I remember it going when I have danced to it in the past.
Could anyone point me in the right direction to find a suitable score?
jake x
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HI
Yeah it is a jig i changed the title. I don't know why i called it a hornpipe i think i heard someone call it that once and didn't think about it when i uploaded it. EMBARRASSING!
Anyway im glad folks like it - If you look on my morris side's facebook page you can see a video of us dancing to the tune here:
http://www.facebook.com/nonesuchmorris?ref=ts#!/nonesuchmorris?v=app_2392950137
Edit: if your not all to interested in hornpipes by this point
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Ive been trying lately to upload a video to youtube but with very little success. I finally got it to work now though so here is a video
more to come!
jake
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ok so basically ive uploaded before from this computer and its been fine. the problem is this:
the video uploads but is 1 minuet 42 seconds long instead of its actual length 2:39 as a result of this the audio is cut off half way through as the video ends and the video itself is sped up to fit the shortened time frame, here is the best I have managed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu1SRANFI5w
as you can see it is completely out of sync and cuts off halfway through. I have been at this for about an hour trying the basic uploaded the advanced uploader and the normal one and im not getting anywhere.
can anyone offer me advice? jake
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I havent ever seen anyone post about this maker before, here is his website: http://www.apjmusic.co.uk/
I've just received my apj concertina after the 6 month wait. Ant used to work for andrew norman and also made quite a few of the hobgoblin "sherwood" concertinas. I originally wanted one of those but hobgoblin said that the waiting list was like 2 years so after some more research I found this, and I'm very pleased with it. Ive not seen anything on the net about these instruments so I just thought would say they are pretty decent, like the sherwood but apparently better and with a shorter wait
Anthony was very easy to talk to and was quite happy to make me an instrument to my exact specifications: 7 folds, metal ends, Lachenal bellows papers and hand bars that are precisely 27 millimetres high (very important to me!)
here is a video of me playing it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfVRw_kNXzc
the tune is from one of my morris sides, nonesuch morris and is called the Kennington hornpipe, its taking a bit of getting used to as im more used to a melodeon but its getting there
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thanks all for your replies, dave actually turned out to be the guy who i had met in the session. Thanks for the contact details
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Hi, Im based in bristol, uk
I was wondering of anyone on this forum is also in bristol? I know theres one concertina player who ive seen at sessions occaisionally but havent met in a while and cant remember the mans name!
There are loads of sessions in bristol, sporting heaps of fiddles and tonnes of melodeons. Only ever seen one other concertina.
If there are any other tina players about in bristol it would be nice to get in touch
jake
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This is brilliant, the price you pay for the kit is excellent for what you seem to get out of it at the end, makes me wonder if I should have gone for that instead of my hybrid.
I would imageon people dont have to bother with a waiting list when you buy a kit? Is this so? If so that would be a big plus for a lot of people.
well done sir!
The kit is a hybrid isn't it? It has accordion reeds?
yeah the clovers a hybrid, I just ment its cheaper than the hybrid I went for
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This is brilliant, the price you pay for the kit is excellent for what you seem to get out of it at the end, makes me wonder if I should have gone for that instead of my hybrid.
I would imageon people dont have to bother with a waiting list when you buy a kit? Is this so? If so that would be a big plus for a lot of people.
well done sir!
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that sounds lovely. its 6 in the morning and my after-morris ale has woken me early. This is a nice wakeing up slightly hungover sound for me
it is realy quite interesting what those duets can pull off
jake
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One concertina, 12 dancers, a lot of noise:
that was rather good, nice to see a healthy morris side, and a morris musician who aint playin' too bloody fast!
nice one mate
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PS Antony (AP) James also makes a nice Anglo - he used to work for Andrew Norman, but now is in business on his own and may not have such a long waiting list.
I am on the AP james waiting list, currently 6 months. I do plan to do a proper reveiw when I recieve it. He worked on the hobgoblin "sherwood" anglo also. Despite what his website dipicts he does offer his instrument with metel ends and traditional strap screws if you want em, also extra bellows folds!
jake
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Im another leftie
When I first started playing the melodeon it took a little while for my right hand to get used to the more active role but after I learned my first couple of tunes I was away, no trouble there. Subsquently Im haveing no trouble with concertina, I play harmonic style. If I had started tina first It would have been the same.
I think you would take a little while getting used to anglo whatever hand you use, especially if its the first instrument you ever learned. I know a couple of lefties who play their melodeon upside down, being left myself I find myself asking "is that really necisairy?" or are some people perhapse more left handed than others?
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thank you all for your advice, Seeing john k and all the rest donig it is good, I know it can be done. What I should really do is meet up with nigel cooke who is one of the bristol morris musicians. Heres a vid of him playing:
Thing is hes been so busy with work recently he hardly ever gets to come to practice
I must get talking to him at some point, perhapse he would even give me a brief lesson seeing as Im probably going to be playing for the side next year.I played a lovely connor anglo in hobgoblin the other day and found it a lot easyer to play standing, it was very light. I think the anglo im borrowing is just rather heavy and un-responsive ie: you have to push harder to get the note. making me have to work a lot harder, but that should be good to build up the playing muscles.
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hey there. for what its worth, I have been playing anglo a couple of weeks I had a similar problem and this is how I overcame it.
Maybe its just me but when I first picked up the tina I found that I had to sort of curl my fingers inwards to play on the middle row, it was most uncomfortable even when resting it on my leg. The root of the problem for me was that hand bar. It was too low, What I did was to put a padding on the bar that raises it up. I just used pipe insulator, I have atatched a picture of what I did - this stuff is cheap from a hardware store like focus.
Basicly this ment my fingers dont need to be tense when pressing the buttons and it really helped - try putting some padding in and haveing a go - it might help
jake xx
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Quite right steve if i was going to do it I should probably have the actual instrument there in the first place so I can make sure my measurements are exact. I think your right in saying I should get him to do my original ends for me, they are metel also wich I cant do.
If the guy has his own lazer I could probably give him a design in advance... good idea.
Well, in the meantime I should come up with a design
I will keep you posted on how this goes.Few people have their own LASER cutting device ( none of the current makers I know of ). They are pretty expensive pieces of equipment. As you say, universities sometimes have them, and laser cutting businesses have them and will generally do your job for you at a price, but the cost is not insignificant. ( the price starts to come down when you are doing a lot of ends ) If you really want your own design and don't want to go to the trouble of making your own concertina, talk to the person who is actually making it and see if they would be willing to have your design on their instrument ( remember, you didn't make it and bear no repercussions if your instrument made by someone who I presume values their name, doesn't appeal to someone else ). Most of the maker's I know of have gone through a substantial development process for their designs and in some way the designs represent the maker. If you send the design either printed or on computer media to the maker they can cut the pattern themselves. This saves you the trouble of not only cutting your own end, but doing all the careful work necessary to actually make a concertina end to cut in the first place and have it match and fit your concertina. if you really want to do it yourself, keep in mind that if you are planning a nickel silver end and not wood , it requires a much higher power laser to cut since the material tends to reflect the ray rather than absorb it. Stainless steel cuts easily as does wood, but a wood end requires much more work to make than a metal end. A laser may save a lot of effort for a maker who is doing dozens of instruments, but for a personal one off it takes more time find a jobber and get the file to them than it would take to cut by hand, not to mention the rest of the wood or metal work involved.
yeah but I can use the cutter for free pretty much any time. I think I would rather let my maker stick to his normal end designs and when I get the instrument possibly look into designing my own. I mean... the main thing at the moment would be that I get an instrument i can play.
sorry I dont think I said it very clearly earlier. I would be useing wood, our machine cant cut metel at all, it goes up to wood 2 cm thick. When I have the actual instrument in my hands I would be able to measure it and ensure my thickness of wood/ spaceing of button holes/ exact location of screw holes would all be correct.
basicly I think maknig my own ends is somthing I would think about after Ive been playing with my one a while
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Quite right steve if i was going to do it I should probably have the actual instrument there in the first place so I can make sure my measurements are exact. I think your right in saying I should get him to do my original ends for me, they are metel also wich I cant do.
If the guy has his own lazer I could probably give him a design in advance... good idea.
Well, in the meantime I should come up with a design
I will keep you posted on how this goes. -
Hello
Many makers these days cut their fretwork concertina ends by lazer these days. Its quicker and easyer ect. At my university we have a pretty advanced lazer cuting device, basicly you draw the shape you want cut on adobe illustrator (can be drawn by hand and scanned in), press go and the machine does the rest, it can cut wood, but not metel.
When I saw this I felt a brainwave coming on, I believe It could very easily be done to cut my own ends. Styleisticly the typical swirly floral type patterns dont seem to have changed much over the 150 or so years the instrument has been around. Though I am sure there are exceptions for example Frank Edgly does a lovely celtic lion design.
Perhapse some people out there are a bit bored of the traditional designs? I mean you could really do anything on that little 6 sides shape... My concertina is going to be ready in july and I am seriously concidering asking the guy not to bother making the ends and do them myself.
I think it would be an interesting thing to explore, and I bet there are quite a few people out there who would love to do their own design, what do you think?
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Thank you, I will try this
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I have considered a neck strap, thing is though i recon all that jerking about might be a bit annoying on the old neck, still though, its worth a try. I could experement with some string first and see if that helps
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Spiers and Boden were great. Mind you, when he was playing concertina he did tend to rest one of his legs on the concertina case, so that the concertina itself was resting on his knee.
One of the Border sides just outside Bristol has a concertina player who plays standing up. If I remember rightly, he tends to hold it quite high, chest level while playing. I can't remember which side it is now. It's the side that does a Mummers play at Chrsitmas every year (not Keynsham). Maybe Winterbourne? He's a nice chap with some nice concertinas.
yeah i noticed that resting on knee aswell, I will try different angles of holding the thing and see how that works for me, spiers sort of seemed to gently hold the instrument whereas I find I have to jerk it about so as to get at the air button at the correct time (leaky bellows not helping there)
Advancing technologies and their effect on concertina building
in General Concertina Discussion
Posted
Hi there people, I haven't posted here in a while but I have just stumbled upon something that I feel is really quite important to the concertina making world and and indeed .... the whole world.
I had a very interesting lecture yesterday about 3d printing and cnc cutting and various computer aided design and cutting technologies such as laser cutting. For those unfamiliar with these methods basically these technologies allow you to create a 3d models on a computer and then a machine simply makes the object.
-CNC can cut wood incredibly precisely, here is a video:
-you could laser cut yourself metal ends if you had the computer file - also you could do the action mechanism
-most amazing of all is 3d printing. Here is a video of a flute someone printed on a 3d printer:
What has this to do with concertinas? Well there are many places that will make your 3d computer file a real object for a small fee. It would only take someone to put a concertina part file public and everyone could very cheaply and easily make most of a concertina by making the parts and then putting them together. The reeds and the bellows would be the only hard part I suppose probably having to be purchased. It would be like getting most of a concertina kit (the wooden and most of the metal parts) for very cheap. The thing is these technologies are becoming more and more available, indeed 3d printers are becoming a consumer product.
This could effect concertina makers in a similar way that file sharing on the internet has effected the selling of music. A lot. Its not just concertinas, indeed the toy industry must be scared stiff at the thought of a world where you can pretty much print out any shape, requiring files that could be shared on the interned like music is.. 3d printers becoming a household item will probably effect the economy worldwide. Imagine a world where instead of buying .... well most things, you instead downloaded a file and printed it. here is an example:
though these inventions effect many things I would like this thread to be about how they effect concertinas, the concertina market and makers.
Discuss