RP3
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Posts posted by RP3
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Dan, I think you got those from me, and if so, I would ask that you pass them on to Greg Jowaisas.
Thanks,
Ross
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It is interesting that this concertina has a seven fold bellows with a C/G tuning. Hopefully the reeds have not been re-tuned upward from a lower tuning which is more commonly seen with seven fold bellows. Checking the reed pitch stamping should help to confirm or reject this suspicion.
Good luck with the sale.
Ross Schlabach
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While Jim has recommended the best source for info regarding your concertina, to me what you have described is the sound of a noisy valve. Valves are generally made from some kind of leather -- frequently goat though some makers even use Mylar -- and if the valve curls up a bit, when air pressure hits it, the valve can make a light flap sound as it seals the opening -- just as the note starts to speak. This condition would be unlikely but not impossible on a brand new instrument. If this is the cause and the concertina in question is one of Frank's higher end models with traditional concertina reeds, it would be a shame for you to have to send it back for a valve adjustment or even replacement that would take five minutes or less for someone with the skills to fix it. But if you have one of his hybrids which use Italian accordion reeds, they may have Mylar valves which are not commonly stocked by most concertina repairmen.
Hopefully Frank can do a remote diagnosis and help you through a quick self repair. Best of luck and let us know how it works out.
Ross Schlabach
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I'd say they have the description wrong. Instead of "Cosmetic wear from age and use" but I think it should read "Serious wear from neglect and abuse"!
Ross Schlabach
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Thanks Bill for the correction. But Laitch, the auctioneer's estimates are frequently a mere fraction of the amount actually realized. More likely, the final bid will be two or more times the pre-auction estimate especially considering the vintage of the concertina. Just sayin......
Ross Schlabach
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The Wheatstone ledgers at the Horniman Museum confirm that this concertina was sold in April 1930 but did not specify pitch. There was a term "Hoc" in the description which I do not know how to decipher. But I agree with Jim that it is likely a flat pitch instrument and as such is likely Ab/Eb or lower.
Regards,
Ross Schlabach
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Well, it was working this morning when I posted to your thread, but like you, I can't get into this part of his website. Sure seems like a website problem.
Ross Schlabach
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Hi Drew,
The home page does seem to be inaccessible, but you can still go to some of the other parts of his site like this:
http://hmi.homewood.net/concertinas/
And you can try sending him an e-mail.
Ross Schlabach
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Adam, I agree with the others who are suggesting that the 20 button models you mentioned are not worth the "upgrade". With either of these instruments, you will be looking to upgrade again shortly if you stick with the Anglo. If you hope to truly play across the rows, you will at sometime in the near future be wanting a 30 button Anglo to explore the keys of D and A (assuming that you are interested in the C/G concertina).
I could recommend that you wait until you can save up enough money, but if your better half is opposed then even that idea may not fly. But at the very least you need to try and find a 26 button Anglo which can give you the extra notes for the keys of D & A. In short, a 20 button Anglo as you described might give you a better experience but I am afraid that your satisfaction will be short-lived. Finding a decent Lachenal of maybe a Jones with 30 buttons could meet your needs without breaking the bank but will be beyond your target range. I wouldn't suggest a Mayfair Anglo but if can you play one and are satisfied, far be it for me to deter you.
Good luck,
Ross Schlabach
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G.O. has taught at the Swannanoa Gathering and in my opinion is a very good, if somewhat professorial instructor. He also taught a good range of tunes -- including delightful rare tunes from important but obscure players from Ireland. And our class he shared very interesting stories about those players he has recorded and interviewed during his research. In all, his class was well worth taking.
Or if you have a choice, Father Charlie is an even better choice. His tunes are generally more simple in construction, but his selections are fun to play and wonderful additions to your repertoire.
Ross Schlabach
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Stuart,
Before you proceed too far, you need to be aware of a very important issue. Different notes do not necessarily have the same size reed shoe. So while it might be easy to swap two reeds that have same size reed shoes (I've been able to do it with C# and D#), moving other notes that are further apart on the scale may mean different size shoes that can't easily be swapped. Retuning offending reeds is not advisable in most cases since the acoustics can be upset or there may not be enough metal left for the reed to work properly if it's pitch is moved too far. A professional concertina repairman would be needed to do a proper job of resizing the different double dovetailed slots or retuning reeds, but even then the swaps you might be considering could be too extreme in terms of the sizes of the reed shoes involved and the different sized chambers -- which themselves can change the acoustics and most definitely will upset the reed tuning.
In short, please consult a Highly Skilled concertina repair person before you try to make any serious changes to your new Jeffries or you could have a real mess on your hands.
Best of luck,
Ross Schlabach
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With the addition of the "Plethora" in another post, it looks like Greg is building his annual concertina Christmas sales tree one layer at a time. But it is especially nice to see a really diverse collection of Anglos in this season's offerings. If I hadn't already contributed repeatedly to Anna's college fund through my past purchases, I might have been negotiating to acquire one of these jewels myself.
Warmest holiday greetings to all,
Ross Schlabach
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Judging from your attached photos, I'm going to make the sometimes dangerous conclusion that you are somewhere near my 69 years. If so or if I'm close, then you may be facing the same problem I'm experiencing. When this pain starting cropping up for me, I addressed the issue with my GP. She felt around my hand carefully and then pressed one place -- giving me an exquisite pain. After I recovered from that, she announced that I was now enjoying the benefits of arthritis! She gave me a prescription that I have yet to fill since so far I have been able to tolerate the pain. And a wet, warm towel provides modest relief. But the more I play, the more I ache.
Hope you are not in my shoes!
Ross Schlabach
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You have accidentally touched on a common complaint with concertinas -- but not always in a drone context. Frequently low notes on a concertina (English, Anglo, Duet) will tend to drown out higher pitched notes. Finding an instrument with good balance between high and low can be a challenge. Also certain notes are sometimes more resonant than their neighbors which can drown out the higher melody notes.
Anglos can have a separate button or buttons tuned specifically for drone usage, and I believe these can be "adjusted" to not drown out melody notes through adjustment to chamber size or switching out valves types, but doing so reliably is more an art than a science. Your English is a different matter all together since you have to use one of the regular buttons as your "drone". Trying to change the volume of that one note can mess up its balance with the rest of the low notes which you would not want.
Put another way, you may have to find an instrument with better balance to achieve your goal -- unless the G is too loud for its neighbors and needs to be "softened up" anyhow.
Good luck,
Ross Schlabach
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With the new class location, NHICS is endeavoring to eliminate some of the shortcomings experienced at former MidWest class sites. The new location, Todd Hall, is farther into the mid-section of the U.S. than Cincinnati, but it does look like it will be a delightful location with private bathrooms (yah!) and plenty of room for all.
As Greg has suggested, Noel can challenge you and he works hard to make sure that every student (no matter what their performance level) gets the most out of their week in class. We each get at least two new tunes a day and, as Noel points out, "the Winter is long" and you will have plenty of music to keep you busy and challenged for long after class is over. There is also the special benefit of the Friday final group session where he encourages students to make special tune requests for him to play and dissect so that anyone can have a chance to explore a specific tune of interest to him or her. BTW, that's where I've been introduced to many new and tempting tunes. And we usually get an evening concert during the week.
I've been going to NHICS since 1996 and keep coming back. It's been worth it every time. I expect to be back again next year too when I'll be 70 years young! If you have questions about the class, don't hesitate to post them here and we'll be glad to answer them to the best of our ability. Hope you can join us.
Ross Schlabach
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Stephen, as you have pointed out above, the early Jeffries concertinas appear to have been made by John Crabb. But my question to you is this: did Crabb also make the metal ends and reeds for these or just the casing and bellows? The reason I ask is that I have several early Jeffries (both 28 and 30 button models) and I find the fretwork much finer than on any early Crabbs I've seen and I detect a difference also in the sound -- especially in the lower ranges.
I don't think there has been any general consensus on these points and I'd like to hear your views.
Ross Schlabach
PS: Sorry if I've appeared to hijack the thread. Didn't mean to.
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I had an early Suttner raised end Anglo and did not find the ergonomics that good. I don't attribute that to Suttner's construction but instead don't think the raised end feature goes well with Anglos. If the palm rests aren't taller than on a flat ended instrument, then your fingers have to be held back more to get them in position to actually play the instrument -- a very unnatural position.
IMHO the original reason for the raised ends was to provide more room under the ends for the action. With English models, having the raised portion in the middle of each end did maximize the space for the action since the buttons are in the center of each end. Anglos on the other hand have their buttons offset and thus the raised end feature is of less utility.
Given the choice, I would pass on a raised end Anglo in favor of a well designed flat ended one. I doubt that English players would have the same criticisms, but I have no experience playing an English, so they can voice their own opinions.
Ross Schlabach
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Jim and Don,
Maybe I should have said "poteen"?!
Ross
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If you are interested in learning Irish music, the Noel Hill Midwest class is moving to a location just a short hop from St Louis. The week is Aug 2 to Aug 7. Noel is an excellent teacher. I have been doing his class each summer since 1996 so you could say that I have drunk the KoolAid!
Ross Schlabach
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Based on the seven fold bellows which could be original, I will go out on a limb and suggest that it likely was/is an Aba/Eb or a G/D. How good was my guess Bob?
Ross Schlabach
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Maybe there is no need for concern here BUT keep in mind that at one time in England, it was common for unscrupulous individuals to try to rebrand concertinas so they would be mistaken for Jeffries concertinas. As the story goes, pawnbrokers would only take Jeffries concertinas, so there was one incentive to change the apparent identity of an instrument. And a number of instruments look like Jeffries so it can be hard to otherwise distinguish imposters from the real thing if the imposter looks like a Jeffries AND appears to have a Jeffries stamp. For these reasons, any apparent discrepancy from the "C Jeffries Maker" should immediately raise a red flag. AFAIK there are no genuine Jeffries concertinas with either "Jeffries" misspelled or the "C" missing, so buyer be very wary if such an error is present!!
Ross Schlabach
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Concertina22, the C. Jeffries Maker labeled Anglos are generally regarded as having been made during the lifetime of Charles Jeffries (Sr.) but there is no way to prove that concertinas carrying these markings were/weren't made after his demise. The 23 Praed Street location was apparently used by the company between 1891-1908 and numbers of Jeffries concertinas exist with both a 23 Praed Street label and stamping of C. Jeffries Maker, but Jeffries Sr. died in 1906. And Jeffries Bros continued to make concertinas at that location through 1923. So,the general logic is that if you want a concertina that could have been worked on by Sr., then you want concertinas labeled C. Jeffries Maker but with no reference to Praed Street on the label. (This is in spite of the fact that Jeffries operated out of 102 Praed Street from 1879-1891 but AFAIK they didn't label their concertinas with that address.)
I have an additional bit of speculation that others may be able to confirm or shoot down. All the bone button Jeffries I have seen are labeled C. Jeffries Maker only and may be from the earlier period when Sr. was still alive, but I haven't seen any bone button Jeffries with Praed Street labels. Of course, buttons could be changed but I think it is fairly safe to assume that most of the Jeffries I have seen/played have their original bone buttons (I admit I have a 28 bone button Bb/F that was metal buttoned at one time but there is no way to know for sure what was on the concertina originally). Can any of our forum members confirm or debunk my speculation??
Ross Schlabach
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Pistachio, before you create a distinct problem for all of us vintage concertina owners vis a vis the CITES laws by continuing to imply the widespread use of ivory, you should be made aware that Ivory was not commonly used in vintage concertinas. Instead, the buttons were made of bone which, while still not meeting your vegan goals, do no make use of any poached materials or otherwise despicable collection methods. This is material that would have otherwise been disposed of, or as in the case of French prisoners of war in the 1800s were used to make ship models and all kinds of other decorative items that were sold to keep them better fed and alive til the war was over.
Ross Schlabach
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Peter is right about travel and the number of concertinas. IIRC I don't think I've ever seen Noel arrive at the NHICS class with more than two concertinas (not counting the miniature which frequently tags along). For all the class sessions, he plays a standard C/G. But when he transitions to concert mode on one or more evenings, all bets are off and many times it has been the C#/G#. Last year he used his new C/G Carroll in class, but I don't remember what he played at the concert he gave at Wally's house.
It will be good to see him again in about two weeks. This is year 18, I think , for me at NHICS, and it always gets my concertina batteries recharged!
Ross Schlabach
20 Button Anglo Or 30 Button Anglo?
in General Concertina Discussion
Posted
Hi Darticus,
You haven't mentioned what kind of music you like to play or what keys you would like to play in. The switch to a 30 button concertina will open up additional keys like D and A. Keep in mind that the 20 button concertina represent the lower two rows of a three row (30 button) concertina. So with a 30 button concertina, you can still play the tunes you know and grow into the wider capabilities of the 30 button concertina.
About tightness, going from a 20 to 30 button is not that dramatic a switch. But saying that, do recognize that different brands of concertinas do have different ergonomics. Personally, I find that the Wheatstone and Lachenal concertinas generally have a slightly tighter overall pattern than Crabb and Jeffries anglos. If you have big hands like me, you might be more comfortable with one of these latter two concertinas. And what this shows is the importance of trying a concertina before buying which is what I advise you to do.
Since you are new to the Anglo concertina, I would not recommend trying to learn two or more different concertinas at the same time. A few have accomplished this, but trying to do so merely makes the learning process more difficult.
Ross Schlabach