RP3
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Posts posted by RP3
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I have to agree that this is a re-badged something: Crabb or otherwise. My reasoning is that the label shows this instrument as coming from the 23 Praed Street location. They did not move to this location until 1891 which is some 21 years after their first recorded location at White Lion Passage. I don't think anyone knows for sure when Jeffries started making their own instruments, but it is reasonable to assume that after at least 21 years, they were probably doing their own building. Of course, if Geoff or someone else has contrary information, I'd love to hear it. Of course, a way to see if this 'tina is in any way a Jeffries is to open it up and look at the reeds.
Ross Schlabach
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Randy, I'm shocked! You were brought low by a little olde appendix? I wouldn't have thought your devotion to photocopying would have allowed you to miss class -- even for an appendix!
Glad you'll be there -- minus appendix!
I second Randy's assessment of the facilities. Marydale has been the MidWest NHICS home for number of years and is a delightful and relaxing place to learn concertina. Each participant has a nice quiet room to sleep in and a separate one to practice in. It works out great. The grounds are pleasant for those who need some walking exercise or prefer to practice outside. (Beware, Noel sets a wicked walking pace!!) And there is a large, comfortable lounge for tunes, conversation, and beverages. The airport is not even 5 miles away so getting to and from flights is no problem. It's nicely air conditioned too!
Hope we'll see You there.
Ross Schlabach
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There are considerable numbers of tunes that are not very bellows friendly but are intimate members of the IT repertoire. A perfect example is ironically The Concertina Reel! And there are others that do fit the "no air button" pattern. But more than a few times I've encountered IT tunes that are commonly played on fiddle but are very difficult on Anglo. When you consider that many tunes are made to fit the no air pattern by careful selection among the fingering options available on an Anglo, I think the basic assumption is interesting but incorrect.
Ross Schlabach
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I'm coming back for my annual thrashing! Wish I'd taken up the anglo before I turned 49! This makes #16 for me. Looking forward to seeing new and old faces as well as trying out some different 'Tinas!
Ross Schlabach
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Get in line and make sure your checkbook is well padded!
Ross Schlabach
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I'd hate to see this thread turn into a subtle bashing of an unnamed player/teacher. But rather then pick on the teacher, let's remember that each student needs to do more than just learn the rules -- they also need to become proficient enough to know when the rules need to be disregarded or just don't fit the tune. One way to develop this skill is to take classes from multiple instructors and get exposed to different styles and fingering. I recently attended classes taught by Florence Fahy. The wonderful tunes she taught us come from northern Clare and are played along the rows, and my training thus far had been primarily across the rows -- so I did have a fingering challenge. But rather than criticize any teacher, this showed me that I could benefit from more time spent learning the alternate fingerings and when each is more appropriate. And I didn't have too difficult a time adapting in class.
With regard to Frank's comment about the B, C, C# triplet, this "nameless teacher" is not locked into draw B and Cs and does advocate switching to press combinations for situations like this if it is more comfortable for the tune. Possibly some students are misinterpreting the focus on certain fingerings as some kind of law never to be broken, but I've attended these classes long enough to know better.
Ross Schlabach
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Greg did post a picture of this concertina in his Christmas concertina pyramid. Look back to his December postings and you'll see a picture of this concertina.
Regards,
Ross Schlabach
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While I won't go quite so far as David Levine in endorsing Noel's class, I can say that I have been participating in the NHICS since 1996 and believe it to be an outstanding learning experience. And at the same time I have attended classes in other venues with other instructors -- including attending the Swannanoa Gathering on multiple occasions. Out of these different teaching venues, I would rate Noel's class as being the best for learning concertina. Some people -- mostly people who have never attended his class -- seem to think he is some kind of a tyrant in his teaching methods. This is far from being the truth. But I would caution any new NHICS student that Noel will expect you to learn his fingering methods first and progress to tunes next. Some find this off-putting but once you have his method down, you will find it greatly eases your further progress. Should you be concerned that this will limit the number of tunes you get exposed to, relax. Noel teaches two tunes a day and provides a whole winter's worth in the Friday wrap-up session. You will get your money's worth and more.
Some people want to take a class but are looking as much or more for the total festival experience. If this is your goal, then Noel's class may be too focused for you. If you decide to take Noel's class, I think you will be very pleased with the experience. As with most things, you will get more out of it, if you put more into it -- meaning practice, practice, practice.
Hope to meet you in Kentucky with the rest of the faithful!
Ross Schlabach
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Flanna,
I can understand your wanting to avoid the risks associated with eBay, but you might want to re-think your refusal to use PayPal. Your potential purchasers have your same worries about scammers, and PayPal provides them with some of the same protections you want yourself. Now, if your purchasers can all make their purchases in person and therefore pay in cash and take possession as they pay, then my suggestions have no value. But if you must deal with them by e-mail, letters, etc. then my comments should be taken into account.
One other way that you can protect yourself and offer some protection to long-distance buyers is to work through a recognized business that can act as an agent for both you and your customer. Another way is to use this forum. This forum tries to be very open and supportive to sellers who themselves are open and cooperative, so you might find some benefit to trying to sell your concertinas through this forum board. Members can frequently suggest ways to arrange for ways to have instruments checked out/verified, point out issues or special features of instruments posted or even means of making delivery. So good luck and hope we can help.
Ross Schlabach
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Alan, when you spoke to the auction expert, did you by any chance broach the issue of the wrong font on the Jeffries stamping or the possibly of a forgery? Maybe I'm all wet, but the possibility that an instrument got sold as a Jeffries and brought a Jeffries price when it might not have been seems to me a real issue here and the fact that the auction gallery had photos taken of the instrument with it improperly put together doesn't exactly give me much confidence in their "expert"!! I'd be very interested to hear your views.
Ross Schlabach
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The audio file worked fine on iTunes.
Ross Schlabach
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Stephen,
That's a huge change in reed tuning that would take a lot of metal off the reeds. How did it sound? I also wonder if the larger chamber sizes resulting from the larger overall instrument size was having much effect on the tome??
Ross Schlabach
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Hi Lawrence,
I just got my Bb/F Carroll back from Greg earlier this week and I will definitely bring it. Had a great time at last year's event, and I'm eagerly looking forward to a repeat good time.
Ross Schlabach
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Paul, I think you are right about this seller. I haven't done an archive search on our forum, but I do remember that seller being discussed previously in the manner you mentioned.
I find any seller's reluctance to list serial numbers very disturbing and off-puting. His unwillingness to give out the serial number could be related to an effort to disguise its vintage, past ownership or any other number of unsavory reasons. But I can't think of any valid reason not to give it since a potential buyer might then be able to search the on-line ledgers and learn more about the instrument. Even without the serial number, the appearance suggests a 1950s or early 60s model, don't you think?
Now, continuing in the eBay vein, what should we think about the very sad ?Jeffries? that has also recently come onto eBay?
Now there's a real fixer-upper.
Ross Schlabach
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Hi David,
Florence Fahy has moved to the Boston area and is an excellent anglo teacher from North Clare. Here is a website link that can help you get more information about her:
http://www.learningmusician.com/flo_fahy
She taught at the Southeast Tionol in Atlanta last year and did a great job. Based on that, she also has a nice bunch of tunes!
Ross Schlabach
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Paul, you have every right to post a response to Greg's posting, but I think it's in poor taste to hijack Greg's thread to basically post an ad of your own. Don't you think you should have posted your ad in a separate thread?
Ross Schlabach
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Wes, I don't mean to create any friction but I'm not sure I would consider anybody lucky to buy an instrument with worm holes -- without some careful prior investigation and careful fumigation -- two things eBay make nearly impossible! Most folks I know on this side of the pond are seriously scared away by woodworm. Is the English attitude any different?
I would also like to pose another question which is related to Ball Beavons in general. What are other peoples' opinion of the BBs. I've had (temporarily) two different BBs and found those two to be inferior in tone to similar vintage labeled Crabbs even though they look virtually identical -- except of course for the Ball Beavon stamping on the wooden sides -- and have similar actions.
Thanks for the comments to come and Happy Holidays to all our forum members.
Ross Schlabach
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Having spent many an hour at the foot of a Hegner scroll saw, I can vouch for the effort that goes into this process. Your work so far looks really nice -- especially now with the finish and the fittings back on. You should be really proud of your hard work. Next time put bigger pictures up so we can really appreciate your craftsmanship.
Ross Schlabach
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I second Michael's comments. Greg did similar work on my Dipper and I have been delighted with the results. He is very meticulous and takes his time to get it right. Don't expect him to be fast because this kind of work takes patience and skill, and Greg has both.
Right now, he's doing some additional work to my Carroll Bb/F. I know I will be just as happy with that work too! I highly recommend him.
Ross Schlabach
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Hi Lawrence,
This is very good news. For those who are not aware, Florence taught concertina at the Southeast Tionol held in the Atlanta, Ga. area this spring, and her class was very well attended. Florence is a lovely player and came to class very well prepared with copies of all the tunes she was teaching -- even though she was doing the actual class sessions by ear. Even though classes only ran for about a day and a half, she covered a lot of tunes with us -- many being ones I had not been exposed to elsewhere.
I am already committed to attending and I am even more delighted knowing that Florence will be our tutor!
Ross Schlabach
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David, I agree with Paul. I too have a 28 button Jeffries and the fretwork was identical. The ends on my Jeffries are the same outline and the same color - stained wood, not black. The strap adjusting knobs looked the same too. We couldn't determine the key -- other reeds were sounding. That could have meant a stuck button or a warped reed pan or whatever. Can you explain why you thought it didn't look like a Jeffries -- other than the obvious of no stamped name??
Ross Schlabach
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Hi Paul,
I was thinking along the same lines, but I had the seller look all over the outside of the instrument and there was no stamping anywhere. I did compare the filigreed ends with my 28 button Jeffries and they matched perfectly and the filigree work was much finer than any I had seen on similar vintage Crabbs or Ball Beavon concertinas. When I spoke with the seller and she tried playing different buttons, multiple notes sounded and made it almost impossible to evaluate the instrument -- soundwise or pitchwise. Without looking at the reeds, it would have been very hard to come to any conclusion and even there it would have been at best an educated guess.
The instrument had apparently had the pads redone at some time cause they looked too new to be original. And, of course the bellows had the same papers and stamping as on Jeffries, Crabb and Ball Beavon so no help there. Any other reasons you suspected it to be an unstamped Jeffries?
Ross
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Today an auction finished and there was no one talking about it on this forum -- normally people here are quick to draw attention to it:
The concertina was not in very good shape and I tried to work with the seller to determine the pitch but was unsuccessful. I'd be interested to learn what others have concluded about this concertina and whether they think the buyer (not me - my bid was too low) got a good deal or not.
Regards,
Ross Schlabach
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I plan on making the trip too. I had a great time at the one this year in Atlanta. We had lots and lots of concertina students, so hopefully we can fill the enrollment requirements again.
Ross Schlabach
Another one on Ebay...
in Buy & Sell
Posted
This Lachenal is probably priced more than twice what it is likely worth in it's current condition. There are always the questions of bellows condition, structure, reeds, and the other internal components that can raise repair costs. Even without bellows replacement, this instrument might need over $1,000 in work and still not be worth more than say $2,700. Look at the Button Box site and you'll see some similar models not selling at this price, showing that the seller's expectations are unreasonable.
Ross Schlabach