nils

Try to phone Jürgen Suttner, he is always slow in answering emails. Usually he his doing small repairs at the Concertinatreffen in May, you could meet him there.

Hello Yakov, if You are living in continental europe I have two instruments for sale that might interest You: Schönherr und Matthes "Prakatikal" Bandoneon (C system 4 rows). Built in 1930, restored by R. Wallschläger. Crabb Bass concertina single action. Built in 1975, restored by David Leese. If You like further informations or photos just contact me. Nils

William, your bandoneon looks like an ELA to me. This could be verified by the serial number and production date inside. ELA has been sending CBArnolds (=Chromatic Bandoneon Arnold) at least from 1929 to South America, there is a reference on an italian webside. That means they produced them for a timespan of ten to fifteen years. My guess is they made some hundreds, certainly not more than a few thousands. They produced a book with it, the Metodo E.V. Favero". Oriwohl claims that Alfred Arnold made CBArnold bandoneons and he should know, he learned to play unisonoric bandoneon from E. Kusserow in the thirties. But the one picture I found is definitely an ELA. What we call a Kusserow bandoneon has been developed by different bandoneon-makers in the twenties. It is very similar to a CBArnold. It was designed for playing melody with the right and cords with the left hand. It's main advantage is that you can play in all keyes by just moving your hand to a different position on the keyboard. If you see photos of early players in Germany they often play the bandoneon "on the corner" which makes it easier to find a decent fingering for the left hand. Oriwohl played a lot of classical music like Bach Toccatas on his bandoneon so it can be done. Nils

Is this your bandoneon? (From the Oriwohl book) CBA Bandonion.pdf

Found this on ebay today. Nils

It's certainly a Crabb, the 40 in the number is the year it was made.

I am playing Symphonetta - a kind of unisonoric bandoneon with CBA layout. Coming from the English Concertina it was a rather easy way to get into playing melody plus accompaniment. A chance to listen to it or to try it out is the German Concertina Meeting at Proitze! Nils

You could ask the bandonion-makers in Germany, Hartenhauer, Wallschläger or Harry Geuns in Belgium for spares. Nils

Just spotted a crane duet in the evening sun. Nils

Hi Jim, thank you for organising this most enjoyable weekend. And special thanks to Elisabeth for her wonderfull cooking and Arvid and Evind for teaching me swedish. I hope everybody got home safely. Robert and I spent another night on Moen where to my surprise we were the only people walking along the cliffs. My recording of our little concert came out quite well so any participant interested send me a mail for a CD. See you next year I hope Nils

Jürgen Suttner makes some, but very few English Concertinas. I have tried some when he delivered them to the buyers and they were great, even though they were not played in. For all Suttner Concertinas must be taken into account that Jürgen improved the design and the quality a lot since he started making them full time and a Suttner from 1990 is not what you get today. I have a Suttner from 1987 which is quite good and very reliable, but not outstanding. If you are looking for a concertina for folk music (like a metal ended Wheatstone) a Suttner would be a good choice. Nils

I am sure Robert doesn't mind if anyone arrives a day or two earlier. Just ask him. I can offer a lift from Hamburg Airport to Proitze on Friday afternoon. Nils

Yes, of course. If you compare the keyes of the two concertinas you can see that the keyes of the outside rows of the miniture are not in line with the inside rows like they are on english concertinas. Nils

The concertina has the four middle rows of a McCann, left hand one octave starting with C above middle C and only Bb as an accidental. Right hand starting with that Bb up one octave to A with three notes overlap. There is an extra Fsharp in that octave where the high B should be and an Eb in the place of the low A. Allthough a very small instrument for a duet (I have never heard of another)you can play duet music in C and pieces with a very limited range in F, G, Bb and the related minors. Nils

If you need a christmas present for yourself or your favourite McCann player: I sell my miniture No. 34517 19 keyes. Good condition, 440 hz. 1200 pounds. PM me if you are interested. I'm posting just one photo, more via e-mail.