Azalin

Well, with my 34 buttons I went with simple logic, simply reversing notes that can only be found in one direction. So on the LH I have a reverse F#, E, G# and Bb, and pretty much the equivalent on the RH (with one exception I think). So far, the LH push F# and the RH push Bb has been quite handy, I'm not using any other at the moment, it takes time to assimilate, and my brain is already overdosing with the rest of the standard layout.

Are you suggesting, M. Azalin, that you took advantage of someone's financial distress to acquire a concertina below market value? Where's the morality in that? Nope, I possibly had to wait less than I would have otherwise, but nothing to do with prices. I don't even own a vintage concertina anyway. By the way, if you're going to start assuming things and distorting the facts to prove some of your obscure points, I'm certainly not going to take part of this.

Well, I can't disclose details, but let's say that the economic downturn worked in my favor in acquiring a good concertina... but I must admit I'm pretty much in debt since then

Well, my own point was, "free markets" are never really free, and involve some sense of morality. Ever heard of bank bailouts and greedy bankers? Now, the bankers are being accused of taking actions deemed immoral to abuse this "free market". Also, if the market was so free, we would not have the US government rushing to regulate Wall Street. I really don't buy the use of "natural" in this "free market" thingy, and I also think morality should be part of dealing with concertinas as much as anything else.

In June 2005, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in Chaoulli v. Quebec (Attorney General) that Quebec's prohibition against private health insurance for medically necessary services laws violated the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, potentially opening the door to much more private sector participation in the health system. Fortunately, the concertina market is not controlled by government mandates or courts, but simply responds to the natural economic pressures of supply and demand. I'm always amazed at how much people entrenched in capitalism see this "free market" as natural. What's natutal about it?

Hmmm, this is not what I've been seeing on the market. Demand, or perceived demand drives the price of oil. In time of recession, there is *much* less demand for oil, because factories close down, boats aren't used as much, planes... Exporting countries kept on reducing output for 1-2 years now but it was not enough to keep the price from going down... they did so to avoid further damage, but by itself did not control the price of oil at all. Anyhow, the rest of this debate is purely philosophical. The "free market" as explained here is part of capitalism. Not all of us agree with all aspects of capitalism. In Quebec, we refuse to allow richer people get better health care, but if you go in the US, if you're rich, you're definitely going to get better care. We have a entertainment park that was bought by a US company (6 flag?) a few years ago, and they tried to make it so that if you paid extra, you get on a fast lane for their attractions. It created a storm here, it was basically unacceptable for us, the concept of bypassing poorer people when you have the money... Is is it good or bad? Depends on where you live, how you see life, what's your cultural background... I personally would not like the idea of having a bunch of good instruments I barely play. It wouldn't feel right to me. It would feel overly materialistic, and I keep on trying not to get on that road. It's a personnal choice. No need for people to get upset because I see it that way.

I think it's a sad story, but the moral of the story? Never, ever, send an item before receiving payment. Make no exception. When money is involved, the worse can always happen. Actually, I think the eBay system works only when you send the item after receiving payment, if you don't, then it's not really broken, it's that you didn't use it properly. That's my two cents. I also agree that Paul is 100% trustworthy, I sent him more than one concertinas over the time and always did an amazing jobs on them. This guy in Ireland, well, it's very suspicious.

My own question would be: why are you only talking about vintage concertinas, when there are great concertina makers alive today who make amazing boxes. I haven't tried hundreds of concertinas, but I doubt I'll ever find an instrument I like as much as my Dipper. You can simply get on a waitng list, save money and get a new instrument at a fair price from the makers.

Just an advice, you can actually quote a section of a post, instead of the whole thing, will make the thread more readable ;-)

Well, there is hope for the likes of us. A maker like Colin Dipper will definitely give priority to someone who doesn't own an army of instruments, especially to someone who has a passion for concertinas and is in need of his/her first top concertina. I mean, I don't want to talk for Colin, as I don't know him well, but this is the overall idea I formed based on different accounts. Yes, I agree with you, it *is* frustrating.

Well, I could not agree more :-) We're not robots after all.

I'm pretty sure I'll go this year, too many interesting things to miss it out. I didn't know there was a third, secret Kane sister!

I'll make it a brothel for the rest of the year... that's what I told the banker to get my financing anyway ;-)

Yeah, and music or not, they all sound the same anyway! Not so. I'm sure I've noticed that there are at least two... major and minor. That being said, the father of an ex girlfriend of mine who lived in Ireland was in a band, playing guitar, and the box player was pretty much only playing major tunes... when my ex's dad asked him why he was not playing more minor tunes, the guy said that's because they were not called 'minor' for nothing, in the sense that they were lesser tunes. Unbelieavable but true!

Yeah, and music or not, they all sound the same anyway!

Well, that's all good in theory, but in reality... there's been many debates about this on this forum, so I guess it's beating a dead horse, but for some reason, most english concertinas I heard in person has never played irish music convincingly (I know there are, have just never heard one in person). If the instrument can actually play it, then who's to blame? Are english players less concerned about learning to play a style? Take you for example Dick. You are a great musician, and your sea chanties and english music stuff is of the highest quality. But when it comes to irish music, in all due respect, you just don't have the swing of it. You are teaching how to play hornpipes, but I can't recognize any of that swing that makes hornpipes so beautiful in irish music. Is it because you play them english style? Maybe because you haven't listened to enough irish music? I don't know. So people can go on and on about the fact that irish music is actually english music or scottish music, or whatever, but I think it's just an easy way out of trying to properly learn a style. You know, I'm from the province of Quebec. I've heard quite a bit of quebecois music. Quebecois music has been influenced heavily by irish music and some scottish. But it's just not the same. I can hear the difference. A reel in irish isnt phrased the same as a reel in quebecois. To learn to play quebecois, I would need to learn more than just the notes. I'd have to "infuse" myself in the style, meaning many years of listening, and trying to learn what makes quebec music sound like quebecois music.

Actually, I think most 'hardcore' musicians, who usually aren't open to change, would be open to any instrument as long as it sounds 'right'. I was once at a session where a hammer dulcimer musician showed up and most musicians were frowning and sending quiet insults... but as soon as she started to play, she was playing irish music so well, people warmed up to her instantly. Now, if you show up with a saxophone, people will probably dislike you, and for good reason. For starters, no matter what you do on this thing, it will probably be too loud to be enjoyable for others.

When will English players give up trying to play irish music???

I love Friday Harbor's festival, been there twice. I will definitely try to make it in march!

With my personnal experience, I will never use eBay ever again for concertina transactions. I'm sure it's fine most of the time, but the risk is too high. For buying one, I'll always want to try it first, unless it's a new one. As for selling one, a private sale on this site would be as far as I'd go. I don't have much pity for people who get 'screwed' with important transactions on eBay. It's always a sad thing, but I think we should be aware of the risk involved.

I'm sort of surprised that they don't scan the text for such things when an auction is created, and automatically prevent the auction from being listed in the first place. There's the catch. He used images. Can't efficiently scan images for text, yet :-) There's text recognition software, but it's easy to scramble the text using some imaging techniques.

Even if that auction were ligit (and it's not), the auction would get cancelled because telling people not to use certain features (like ask seller a question) and telling people the auction will get cancelled if under a certain price (without using reserve) is against eBay rules.

Good luck with your 40 buttons Ben! Jim, the extra button my mainly give me a reversed F# and E on the left side, also reversed G# and Bb on both sides, and another reversed F# on the right side. So far, I've only been using the reversed #F on the left side but I might add one note every year so might end using using the extra notes in 7 years

Well, I finally did the webpage about my dear Dipper concertina, this is something I meant to do for quite a while but was in some kind of hibernate-mode. I'm a bit of a freak, really, to go into this trouble for a musical instrument, but when you're obsessed like me, and you love instruments... Anyhow, here's the link: http://www.metayer.info/dipper/ My friend came over last week and took a few pictures with his super duper camera, I really like the pictures! I pretty much cancelled my daily practice to do this, so it's not something I'm going to do again anytime soon. Missing practice time is blasphemy! Anyhow, I hope some people will enjoy seeing a Dipper up close and personal.

Haha, yes, I know what you mean :-)