Bob Tedrow

Now, I have some experience here. My family and friends are big campers. We camp at the beach for days and play on the beach for hours. I have also taken my concertinas aboard a couple of cruise ships where we play on board as the sun sets every night. I have done this regularly for years with two of my concertinas. I can find sand in my concertina, but have yet to detect any sign of rust on the reeds. No pitch problems and no bellows problems. My National guitar, however is rusting a bit, but that makes it look better. Bob

I'm sure that we all have *considered* it. It doesn't take much consideration to realize that making real concertina reeds is either incredibly labor intensive to make them one-off by hand or very expensive to make them by machine (tens of thousands of dollars). Providing that one has the time and money (and can deal with the slow to no-payback depending on volume), both scenarios take a lot of skill and knowledge to develop the reed design and to be able to fabricate them well. -- Rich -- I can make a *very* nice traditional concertina reed/brass shoe assembly. I have obsessed over a procedure for many years and have made many many dozens (not hundreds) of traditional reeds. It takes *me* WELL over an hour to cut the reed, rough it out, cut the brass shoe to size, cut the vent to size, fit the reed; bell the reed shoe; drill and tap the brass shoe and install the reed into the frame, rough tune the reed, install the reed; measure and fine tune then voice the reed. Albeit fascinating, this is not romantic work by any stretch of the imagination. To repeat 60 times is real work and will triple the price of a concertina from my shop. Concertinas with good handmade traditional reeds are worth every single penny they cost. Bob Tedrow

It ain't necessarily so. I have a sneaking suspicion that many early Lachenal concertinas were huffy chuffy and marginally responsive when they were brand new. I once bought on looks alone, a Lachenal that was almost dead mint and unplayed. It was stored properly and had no mold or detritus apparent. It was disappointing and underwhelming to the last reed. Bob

Completely unrelated note here. I will be in DC for the Sommerset Harp Festival second week of July. My son is a brewer at the Capitol City Brewery in DC. I think I might buy beer for all my pals one night that week. Anyone want to drop by for a pint? Bob Tedrow

Yep, too bad I am no artist. I cannot draw anything that beautiful, only reproduce it. Looks nice though doesn't it? The veneer is glued to a black cellulose product that is used in electronic products. It is very very hard. It takes an average of one blade (a very good blade, mind you) for every three cut out sections. I can cut a solid mahogany top with two or three blades. I did not break many cutting this top but they lost their edge and became less managable very quickly. Easier than cutting metal though.

http://hmi.homewood.net/fretwork

Question/comment for me, I assume? If given the possibility, I would have chosen "crimped" or bevelled ends (the edges you are "missing"?), but at that point in time I didn't know how that was done, so I opted for the "inset into the wood"-ends = a flat plate. I know now how the crimp is done - last year, Geoff Crabb posted a couple of Aha!-photos of the necessary tool here . And with that knowledge I would still have opted for the flat ends . Nothing fancy about the tool, except you need to have it... The "Jeffries"-part only applies when we are close to the edges - it stops as soon as we approach the buttons /Henrik Was refering to Bobs ends; the circular out edge trims the traditional pattern. I think the round edges contrast the very square concertina. Bob

Rochelle Anglo concertinas Jackie English concertinas Jack Baritone English concertinas $335.00 in stock now. Homewood Music Birmingham Alabama 205 879-4868 hmi@scott.net

http://hmi.homewood.net/blacksquare

Well, I do enjoy looking at it after it's done. (It's not) There is a nice hand cut look to the sawmarks and when the top is buffed, all the inside edges roll off in a cool old timey manner. .030" nickle silver has a nice look, not too thin. Actually, it's a large piece of jewelry that I will let into a concertina top. I build a lot of "one of" instruments, I don't know if I could reach the economy of scale that would make CNC cheap enough. It's a heck of a lot of work though, I would be happy to have precut ends available. Bob

.030 german nickle silver, hand cut and finished (well, almost) Anyone care to guess how many hours are in this one piece?

Hello, Don't try to remedy this problem by tightening the screws. The screws are there to hold the instrument together, not to make it airtight. The metal screws are probably the most stable part of a concertina. All the other wood and leather parts are more susceptible to the whims and fancys of time temperature and humidity. If it leaks, it is probably not from a loose screw. If you play a note and have a second note sounding as well, look to see if the notes are adjacent in the reed pan. They well may be. Try this simple remedy first. Find the strip of chamois common to the offending reeds, pull the chamois free of the wooden rib where it resides. Run a small bead of glue onto the rib, white glue will do. Place the chamois back on the rib, but don't try to press it down. Reassemble your concertina, snug the screws. The end of the concertina will now function as your "clamp" and will press the chamois to the correct height automatically. Now be careful and don't be slopping a bunch of glue around to glue the top to the reedpan. If you do I will deny ever making this suggestion. Bob I'm wondering if a couple of ends bolts had loosened. If the action board isn't sealed tight to the chamois on the fins you'll get leakage between cells and hence double notes sounding. Dirk, I tend to support Pauls' suggestion, however one tip I will give you: DON'T OVER-TIGHTEN OR REPLACE SCREWS!!!! you will get yourself pain without measure if you start stripping or shearing bolts and thread in nuts! So, before you re-fit the action box, rough up all the gasket Chamoise leather in the chamber tops and the bellows frame, (inside face and on the outer edge). Use a nail file, a screw driver tip even your thumbnail. Blow out, or vac out, any resultand dust, and re fit the end in the usual way to the normal bolt tightness. Happy scratching Dave E Hi Dave, Paul and all, i did scratch and reglue some chamois with the sweat in my hands. When i closed my EC again the problem of double sounding was still there. More on the side on my knee than on the side of the thumb strap (top). When i opened the EC again i saw that the chamois is glued on top of the 4 triangular blocks and not on the other two (at the knee side). Could this be the reason for my problem? Could this cause air leaks inside ? what can i do to solve the problem? Putting some chamois on the other two blocks? Or take away the chamois on the other 4 blocks? any suggestion is very welcome. Thanks beforehand Dirk

For your perusal and approval: http://hmi.homewood.net/square Bob Tedrow

Well, I'll be snookered. Here in Alabama it refers to a hound dog.

Here is my punchlist for that problem 1. Button has to pass nicely through top button hole/bushing without binding 2. Button "hole" must be concentric with the pin "hole" look down from the top, old warped instruments can be out of alignment. 3. Lever must neatly bisect the plane of the buttonhole/pinhole 4. button should be able to rock on the lever about 5-7 degrees 5. lever should move easily throughout its entire range of motion. with and without spring attached. 6. spring should have even tension and of course be "springy" They can die. 7. pad should not hang on adjacent pads or on the wood case work. It can hang up on the underside of the top when completely assembled and look ok when the top is off 8. the plane of the lever fulcrum should be perpendicular the the action board. If a riveted lever is leaning over a couple degrees, the button can hang up on the top as it can not move exactly perpendicular to the top with out the lever turning a bit in the button aperture Hope that helps Bob

http://hmi.homewood.net/blackandtan/

Ha, I ask my students if they can summon a mild obsession and a measure of tenacity. I think that is more important than an equal measure of "talent" if there is such a thing. I further posit the only (ONLY) activities that feel just right when first attempted are either illegal, immoral or fattening. Skills must be developed to be enjoyed. That separates the wheat from the chaff and sends the occasional student running.

Available with a modified Jeffries system. http://hmi.homewood.net/rochelle

I believe can set the record straight here. Over the last 60 days I have built and delivered three concertinas for Noel. What he does with them, I cannot say. Bob Tedrow here in the states he teaches with a wheatstone, so i would agree he probably not teach with a tedrow. beyond that, you'd have to ask him his preferences. i have seen him play mostly wheatstones, and a couple jeffries. i very much like noel hill as a person and a musician, but i do not think his taste in concertinas has anything to do with a wikipedia article.

Matt Hensley of Flogging Molly plays a Tedrow c/g Anglo

posted by Bob Tedrow Hi Sean Cleland from the Irish Music School here. Would you mind forwarding this video about our upcoming Sunday, Nov 11 concert to your family and friends. Thanks a million! Sean www.irishmusicschool.com Watch Now http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1271951634

Hello Dan, Yes I did receive your note requesting a Rochelle and did answer it promptly. My email often smells suspiciously like that of a common merchant and is easily ferreted out by even the most elementary of spam/scam dectection devices. My apologies. You are on the Rochelle Concertina list. Bob

I have added quite a few instruments to my availables page, including some "project" concertinas that I will never have time to repair for myself. Many of these are "trade ins" poke around, maybe you will see something you like. http://hmi.homewood.net/available Bob Tedrow

Oh, for pete's sake......you young whippersnapper.......why, I oughta.......

How many of you have concertinas tuned a=454?