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laticsrblu

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Posts posted by laticsrblu

    Sessions In A Changing Ireland

    in General Concertina Discussion

    Posted · Edited by laticsrblu

    Back to the Irish sessions, in particular, Doolin in County Clare. I stayed there for a week last yr whilst on a family holiday. My family and I were among the tourists crammed into O’Connor’s and McGann’s to hear live Irish music. The musicians had been paid by the pub to entertain the tourists and fill the pub, this kind of arrangement can never be a "session" merely a pretence of one and the pretence should be dropped. I was disappointed, not in the quality of the music but in the unintentional rudeness of the musicians who were trying to keep the session myth alive. They sat in a corner, half of them with their backs to the rest of the pub chatting amongst themselves between tunes and playing with little acknowledgement that there was a large expectant eager audience watching with all eyes on them.

    The session set up did the musicians no favours. The least they could have done was to nominate someone to introduce the next tune or ramble on a but about it.

     

    To me it felt like we were intruding on the privacy of a group of friends.

    Attaching Ends To Bellows Frame?

    in Instrument Construction & Repair

    Posted

    As well as the previous advice. Always tighten the nuts a little at a time and in sequence so that the grip on the bellows is always more or less evenly spread. eg if you number the sides of the concertina 1 to 6, tighten 1 a little followed by 4 then 2 and 5 then 3 and 6, then tighten 1 and 4 a little more etc etc.

     

    Do the reverse when undoing them.

     

    Also a good idea in future, so that the nuts always go back in the same place that you took then out from, is to store them in a numberd location. I use an old toothpaste tube box with numbers written on next to small holes for the nuts. Works fine so long as you remember which end you decided was number 1 and whether you numbered it clock or ant-clockwise :)

     

    Ian

    Rusted End Bolts

    in Instrument Construction & Repair

    Posted

    I have had end bolts that have been held tighter by the wood along there shank than by the thread. Fortunately the Lachenal end bolts have large enough heads to be gripped securely by a good pair of pliers or as mentioned before mole-grips.

    If some of the end-bolts survive removal, I have found that they can be renovated by rubbing with wire wool to remove any rust etc and then rubbing with candle wax to ensure smooth troublefree use in the future.

     

    Ian

    Shock-absorbtion

    in Instrument Construction & Repair

    Posted

    [When you press a button, the lever initially breaks contact with the pivot before clacking back into place and raising the pad, hence a lot of clatter. The instrument would be a lot quieter if you changed it to having a riveted action. quote]

     

    This being the case, what Robin should do is wrap his wifes super absorbent socks around the tops of the wire pivots :) well maybe a very small piece of it or better still glue a sleeve of it around the levers where they make contact with the pivots

     

    Unfortunately I doubt that changing to a rivetted action is an option.

    Has anyone ever successfully done this?

     

    Ian

    Numbered And Leather

    in Instrument Construction & Repair

    Posted

    Thank you all for your great advice

    I think that I might take up Malcolm's idea and recover the leather ends. I also have some re-patching to do on a couple of the top folds. If the colour of the new leather is very noticably different I might put an extra layer on all of the top folds all the way around

     

    PS what the heck is "skivved" leather, web searches have been fruitless.

     

    IAn

    Numbered And Leather

    in Instrument Construction & Repair

    Posted

    Hi

    I have a 20 button Lachenal anglo with numbered buttons which are in random positions. I'm taking them all off anyway to clean and bush, so sadly being a perfectionist, I'd like to put them back on the correct place if possible.

    Any ideas?

     

    Also on the leather (green) that is on the wooden bellow end frame it has a small area of leather scuffed off and several areas of rubbed/roughed up leather which have lost there colour.

    What would be the best way to improve its appearance?

     

    Any respopnses would be much appreciated.

     

    Ian

    Concertina Mute

    in Instrument Construction & Repair

    Posted

    Rather than interfering with your concertina's innards or outer, why not make a muffler for it

    Put your concertina in a cardboard box that will comfortably hold your concertina and be long enough to allow for full bellows expansion, surround the cardboard with a tube of lined material that has elastic at both ends for your hands to push through and also a zip at one end so that you can get the concertina in and out

     

    Stuff the lining with sound absorbing material that will allow your hands to breath, so not bubble wrap, maybe several layers of a thick woolen material, heavy sacking, or polystyrene chips might work and be much lighter :)

     

    Place the muffler on your knees and you can rest one end of your concertina as usual but inside the box which will have to be big enough to prevent your concertina from rubbing on the cardboard whilst playing.

     

    Maybe I'll patent it :D

     

    Ian

    Concertina Has Arrived!

    in General Concertina Discussion

    Posted

    I've had my Jackie a few weeks now and like you find it difficult to follow the Tutor's advised bellow movement. I'm sure the directions are fine if you can play the pieces perfectly however whilst learning the tunes we take time to hit the right button, hit extra buttons or wrong buttons which all take air so I guess its natural that we run out of puff earlier than expected.

     

    I ignore the bellow direction advice until I can play a tune (almost) without mistake then try to follow them. I suppose the tutor is showing us best practice.

     

    Ian

    Makinge More Than A Melody.

    in Teaching and Learning

    Posted

    In a recent General discussion thread brightfield posted a link to his performance of The North Wind brightfield - North Wind Like brightfield I to have only been playing a few weeks and have added this lovely tune to my list of practice peices.

     

    I love the simple purity of a single melody line when played on the concertina but coming from a piano playing background I alsp feel the need to fill it out in some way.

     

    I was wondering what an experienced player would do with a simple tune like this.

    Would they just play the tune as written or embelish it in some way

     

    Would any of the more experiences playerd care to give us newbies a few suggestions?

     

    I should probably add that I play an English, maybe embelishment on an Anglo would be different

     

    Ian

    English Cd Tutor

    in Teaching and Learning

    Posted

    The Jackie is great.

    Don't know how Concertina Connection do it for the price.

     

    I had a teething problem with mine but Concertina Connection were very helpful and all is fine now.

     

    Only problem now is finding the time to play it :(

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