Pete Dickey
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Posts posted by Pete Dickey
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I don't know if you have heard but Sony have just brought out a new minidisc which is not only backwardly compatible but wiil allow direct connection to a computer via USB for BOTH uploads and downloads of recorded material. I understand it will allow you to upload the contents of the both the original minidiscs and also the later high density ones. I believe there is some software preventing the uploading of copyrighted material though. I've definitely got it on my present list.
Pete
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Ken - pack your case and move to Yorkshire. One or two sessions almost every night within 20 miles, English, Irish, Oldtime American, singing, all sorts of stuff. Loadsa music.
The way work is going right now, I'd love to take you up on that, Joy! Music is definitely one factor in choosing where to live, always in the back of my mind.
You have my real sympathy. Go to Yorkshire, Ken. Yorkshire's great, nearly as good as Wiltshire!
Chris
Well just a thought Ken, Chris et al. Why don't you get up here for 11th to 13th August and join in the Bradfield Traditional Music Weekend and you will meet and play along with many excellent local players and experience the pleasure of the Royal Hotel, home of the famous Royal Concertinas. The last two BTMW's have been great and I for one will definitely not be missing this one if I can help it.
(As a bonus, anyone who comes is welcome to have a play on my Jeffries or Linota GD's if they want - just ask)
Pete
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.....I noticed that Geoff Crabb's latest instrument has stainless grills. They only need an occasional wipe to keep them looking new. Not traditional, you say? Stainless is very difficult to cut and polish, and if the early makers had laser cutters they probably would have used something like stainless too.
Just a note to add that Geoff did not use laser cutters on his end-plates on this instrument but cut them by hand
Pete
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I've got to endorse Mark's comments in that the new Crabb is a superb instrument as pleasant to play as any CG and I feel a step up on my own 40 Key 1979 CG Crabb.
The concertina both looks and feels terrific and as expected, Geoff's engineering and fabrication skills are to the highest standard and his innovativeness with the combined air bleed/dump lever is a work of art. Amazingly although a lever, it can also be pressed in and used like a button if desired although it is extremely easy to get the hang of the lever operation.
A minor correction to Mark's comments only for the sake of exactness is that the lockable drone is located on the left-hand side of the instrument (I always knew that lawyers didn't know one hand from the other - not that it mattered as both hands were in your pockets after your money
) I feel Geoff deserves a big pat on the back on his production of an instrument that can readily rank among the best of the vintage concertinas from the top makers.
Pete
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Been to Royal Concertinas tonight and listened to a very interesting talk from Geoff Crabb about the latter days of the Crabb business. It seems that a heck of a lot of their work in the 1970's was redoing bad repair work carried out by "repairers" who didn't know what they were doing. Apparently the work was frequently to such a poor standard that the costs of repairing the repair were often significantly higher than the cost of fixing the original problem.
The message is therefore to leave it to someone who knows what he (she) is doing.
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I also stayed in Portmagee two or three years ago and what a superb place it is. The band in the Bridge may have been the same and I was sorry I hadn't taken an instrument to join in. I chatted to the fiddle player later who said I should have introduced myself earlier and joined in although I must admit that I would have struggled on a concertina but may have managed on a guitar. The Fiddle player then was a guy also called Pete and came from Liverpool although living locally and teaching fiddle. He posted some music over to me a few weeks later - I must reciprocate.
On the smoking question I first came across the ban shortly after it was introduced in Ireland, on a weekend trip to Dublin with my son's Rugby club. I was thinking that there were an awful lot of ladies hanging around the streets near the pubs and why did the police allow it. Moaning about it to someone they suggested they were smokers and not ladies of the night
Pete
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It must have been about a year ago when I went down to my local boozer on a Sunday night, a bit later than usual. Walking in I saw some new faces one of which was vaguely familiar. We started playing and these guys were very, very good, one playing both English and then Anglo concertinas and the other playing a duet superbly and joining in when I started a tune off. He then came over and introduced himself as Ralph Jordan and his friend Keith Kendrick (which is when I realised why he was familiar). Ralph was up in Derbyshire sorting a few tunes out with Keith and they had come to the pub for a rest (some rest
). They were really pleasant guys and stayed for the rest of the evening. We had a great session, I only wish I'd got there earlier.Someday they may do it again with a bit of luck.
Pete
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Rhomylly
So is it true that in addition to all of the usual keys on your Edgley, Frank installed an "OM" key as well
Pete
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Hi Steve
I seem to remember someone telling me it should be finger-tight plus a quarter of a turn. Geoff Crabb's words I think.
Pete
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Looks like you may be coming to the Bradfield Traditional Music Weekend to collect it Scott
Pete
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My concertina is no longer available I'm afraid, as I have just this afternoon swapped it for a 38-key G/D Jeffries.
As the owner of a good 38 key G/D Jeffries myself, I can say you are in for a real treat. Lovely, lovely boxes.
Chris
Thought you had a 46 key GD Chris or do I remember you selling it on to fund other purchases. I must say that it would take an army to get my GD Jeffries off me although I recently bought a lovely GD 40 key Linota
Pete
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So we could be looking at up to 5,000 or 6,000 total production.
And with a comparatively high survival rate.
I do wonder about these "fake" Jeffries, as mentioned by Peter. I have handled a fairl number of concertinas over the years and I cannot honestly say that I have ever seen a so-called Jeffries that had any evidence of false labelling, but I have heard many stories about them.
Apocryphal???
Anyone with any first hand knowledge?
MC
I suppose the trouble would be with "fakes" is that say with an 1890's Crabb if properly stamped it would be identical to a Jeffries since thats what Jeffries was doing anyway.
If Wes's guesstimate is somewhere near then a pretty high percentage of survivors must exist compared to Lachenals for example. This must in part be due to the sense of "worth" placed on them by the pawn brokers.
Of course this brings around the other perennial topic of "what made Jeffries concertinas special?" The reeds, the reedframes, the reedpan, the materials?
(Its my can of worms and I want to open it
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I believe that other makes of concertina including in particular such as Crabbs, Ball Beavons etc. often were doctored to look like Jeffries with the restamping of end plates or even fitting of false new end-plates so that the pawnbrokers would lend money on them. I believe you are correct about the timing Malcolm although perhaps one of the eminent historians could confirm if we are right.
By the way where on earth is Stephen Chambers? Does anyone know if he is okay? Seems to be months since he last posted.
Pete
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So we know from records that Lachenal numbers got into the 200,000's and Wheatstones into the 50,000's and there were a couple of thousand Crabb's some of which ended up as Jeffries.
What I would like to know is roughly how many Jeffries concertinas were made? Given their scarcity, it seems that every time you go to a decent session, there is someone in the corner playing a Jeffries of some description, be it a C Jeffries or Jeffries Brothers with 30 to 40 keys in whatever tuning, or sometimes even a Jeffries Duet of the type not yet converted into an Anglo.
For something apparently so desirable there do seem to be a lot of them about or were more than we think originally Crabb concertinas which were renamed? Even old fraudulent Jeffries copies may be more prolific than we know?
Pete
(the owner of a C. Jeffries GD - I think
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I must endorse Chris's comments about Swaledale which I attended last year. Brilliant socialising both Friday and Saturday nights including sore head/semi-state of conciousness Sunday (apologies Samantha). Terrific tutors as well who deserved a pat on the back for their patience and brilliance.
I even attended a class in Irish music playing as Mary Macnamara was the tutor and found it excellent despite being an English traditional music player. I certainly hope to be going again this year and would recommend it to all.
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Might depend on whether she played it in the style of a Morris tune or that of an "Irish" reel. I think Chris made clear that "English" is not so much a matter of the names or even origins of tunes, but the style in which they're played.
I came across a chap a couple of years ago who demonstrated this perfectly. A very good melodeon player in his twenties, he had the ability to join in with an Irish tune, take the lead and gradually change the pace etc so it turned into an English style. Sounded excellent and very neatly done but annoyed the hell out of the Irish music players
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As an aside, I find it slightly curious that concertina.net has such an emphasis on Irish music,
I can only say that it doesn't seem so to me. While the majority (but by no means all) of the Americans on the board play Irish music, there is a solid representation of Commonwealth players, the majority (but by no means all) of whom don't! Then there's the Europeans ...
Cheers,
Chris
The sad thing is the gross under-representation on Concertina.net of English Traditional music players in the UK.
I put a lot of the blame at the door of that sad excuse for a national broadcaster, the BBC. They seem to have a downer on anything traditional English in favour of any other type of music. Consequently we get lots of Irish music and American styles such as blues music and we recently had to listen to Mike Harding present an hour of folk artists singing Beatles songs. Nothing wrong with the Beatles but don't they get more airtime themselves than the rest of the folk music world combined? Thank goodness for proper folk programs such as Make it folky with Christian Mayne on www.209radio.co.uk
Seems such a shame when you hear Irish traditional music every few minutes on such as RTE if you go over there. This puts that kind of music into the minds of the people and as a consequence the number of young players is tremendous. Its as if the BBC don't want to offend anyone from another country living here and feel it is politically correct to ignore our national music. Or perhaps the commercial music business has got such a say on the music to be played that they can dictate what we hear.
In view of the above its no wonder that not a lot of our own traditional music is played. (Must get out of my grumpy old man mode
before I go to bed or I'll never get to sleep) -
this has already been the topic of a discussion here:-
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So you log into Concertina.net to find out what the latest happenings are in the concertina-playing world and what do you get? a recipe for chocolate cheesecake!!!
I think I've seen everything now Sounds pretty good though. We'll have to have some of that for the next Arran weekend.
Are you offering to make it?!
Samantha
I must be the worst cook in the world. It would probably come out looking like gravy and tasting similar. I'll bring a print-out of the recipe and a few ingredients if that would help.
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Maria and I will be in Europe for 3 months - March to May this year.
We will be based in Delft, The Netherlands, and I would like to meet some of my fellow c.netters over there.
Are there any sessions planned around that time? (Anywhere near Delft, which is near Rotterdam)?
We will probably take the chunnel across on a few occasions as well.
(And I will be taking my new Suttner, of course).
Not that far across the sea to the Midlands of England. Would be nice to see you at one of our gatherings in the Sheffield area e.g Royal Concertinas at Dungworth
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So you log into Concertina.net to find out what the latest happenings are in the concertina-playing world and what do you get? a recipe for chocolate cheesecake!!!
I think I've seen everything now Sounds pretty good though. We'll have to have some of that for the next Arran weekend.
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Also, this doesn't seem to be a Jeffries from the top drawer; although it has the C Jeffries maker stamp, it appears to be from the era when John Crabb was making them and before he made his own (according to the history articles on this site. The case is certainly not a Jeffries case.
Alex
Correct me if I'm wrong but I seem to remember Geoff Crabb saying that a Crabb concertina from this era was the match of any Jeffries - presumably he meant both before or since
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Hi Michael
Tutors for English concertinas are, I believe pretty few and far between. However as a starter can I suggest you visit the Royal Hotel at Dungworth on the North West side of Sheffield at least once, as there is a group of us concertina players of both Anglo and English persuasions who meet there once a month. In addition there is a group of mainly English concertina players who also meet there monthly. You should get most of your questions answered there and there are a few Derbyshire folks who get there including myself (from south of Chesterfield) and Neil Wayne from Belper.
Next full meeting is Tuesday 17th January at 8.00pm. although there may be an English meeting before then. Mark Davies who generally organises the main meeting may be able to tell you, he is a member of this forum, just drop him a line.
Pete
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A Very Merry Christmas to all of the smashing folks on this great Forum
Best Wishes
Pete
Can This Jeffries Be Saved?
in Instrument Construction & Repair
Posted
A 30 Key CG fairly recently made £5,500 in Ireland in decent condition. On the back of that I had toyed with a reconditioned figure of around £4500 - £5000 for this one as I felt that it would not be quite as popular as a 30 Key. I roughed out a repair cost of say £1000 to include new bellows and one or two reeds and consequently had reckoned on a final figure of £3000 to £3200. At £3050 I felt it wasn't too bad a buy given the present market. The buyer appears to be a dealer and can be seen bidding quite often.
Pete