philapilus

The ‘echo’ is the reed vibrating. When you stop a low note by lifting your finger, you’ll stop the airflow to the reed, but the reed will keep swinging a little longer. Large reeds, especially when they have a weight at the tip, need time to stop all movement. Rochelles and Jackie/Jacks have special foil valves (manufactured in Germany to our specifications). Unlike leather valves, they will always stay flat on the frame. Wim Wakker Concertina Connection Inc. actually the vibration is coming from the opposite reeds. i play the lowest note on the instrument on the left hand side, and there's this odd tinny echo from the reeds on the right side that weren't being played. the instrument is lovely tho. I'll keep you posted on whether the tattle and buzz stops of its own accord..

Lady D! you gonna paint your box? thats such a cool idea! i was thinking of carving a little thing on my new guitar, but as it is nearly a century old i may not. but my little clementina rochelle, now that's a different story, and she was much cheaper than the guitar.....

it came in a soft carry case, in which the instrument stands on its end. or that would seem to be the way it should stand given the location of the strap and the fact that the case is circular in section. should i store it differently? planning to get a hard shell case asap...

thanks Wim, its great to be able to get help from the guy who designed it! sounds like i should keep playing away for a few weeks and see if the rattle and buzz goes away by itself once the reeds have centred. the rochelle is gorgeous; i would hate to have to part with it even for a day if i had to have it looked over. amazing tone, and much better than anything else i tried out, including several slightly more expensive ones. I'm very impressed. By the way, any idea why there might be the sort of echo of the lowest notes sounding through the reeds on the right hand side of the instrument? its not terribly loud or anything, but it just has this annoying little reverberating noise. is that gonna be the same problem?

that and the fact that you're a bellowhead fan, which pretty much makes it impossible not to end up being eclectic!

ok, so after hours and hours of research and trying out concertinas and reading everything i could find on the internet, i got a rochelle concertina, to avoid all the problems of low quality build and general uselessness that has been ascribed to other low price/affordable entry level instruments. so i'm kind surprised that after three weeks there is a buzz and rattle on the alternation between push and pull of the bottom c/g button (left side middle row lowest button), a button i have barely used, and also when the note sounds there's a kind of echo of it ringing/rattling on the reeds of the right hand side. erm, do i take it back?

oh you gotta have a name! or else me and clemmy will feel sad! i love my concertina. but i'm so crap! its kinda funny; i've been playing quite tricky fingerstyle ragtime and blues on the guitar, and now i'm back to london bridge is falling down!!

you found a name in the end. sure did Lady D!! yours got a purty name yet missy?

I was brought up in a very musical family, including several professional musicians, and I was pretty much the least talented! But I've been into folk for years, i grew up with an uncle who played accordion in a morris troupe, and a few older second cousins would be playing traditional instruments at family gatherings when i was a nipper back in the eighties. So i was hearing dulcimer, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, accordion and all those great things alongside other relations playing classical piano, cello, flute, piccolo and violin (and my eldest sibling is a professional early music singer). I started playing guitar at five, but got discouraged because compared to everybody else i was so crap i think! But when i left home i kind of picked it up again, and began teaching myself stuff, and that gradually spread to mandolin as well, and that was all fun, but then i decided that i wanted a really different sound, and an instrument i knew nothing about, so i could go back to the beginning and learn music properly. and voila! I've now owned my darling little rochelle (clementine) for a week and i couldn't be happier! (anybody else sad enough to name their instrument? )

thank you everyone, lots to digest there. but basically would i be right in summarising that there is no particularly more useful fingering pattern than finding what fits best? btw, have to say i don't think i have ever fallen in love with the sound of an instrument so quick!

Well my first anglo concertina arrived a couple of days ago, and frankly i have been utterly delighted with this little box of joy, even if i can't get anything good out of it yet! just a thought though, have been looking at http://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php...hl=anglo+chords (thank you Tina, it's SO useful!) but am finding some of the chord fingerings a little tight, which kinda surprised me as i have played mandolin and guitar for years and am pretty used to awkward contortions for chords! i'm sure it will just take a while to get used to, and i'll put the hours in til it does, but was just wondering if there are any 'recommended fingering' charts out there at all, or whether most people just do whatever feels comfortable? I've heard that using one finger for two buttons is not a good plan, so i'm trying to avoid that, but is there anything else i should bear in mind? any help or pointers would be much appreciated! cheers!

Thank you everyone! I love your profile picture drbones, where'd you find it??

Hi Michelv! thanks for the links. my concertina is an anglo, rather than english, but it looks like an interesting site anyway, and im sure the tunes are applicable provided the key isn't beyond my little box! (g/c) i live in london. But i have some belgian relatives...

lots of helpful advice from everyone! Thank you all i certainly intend to learn by ear (but i will need the books for chords; i can read music as i play guitar and mandolin, but apart from picking out single line melodies i'm happy to admit my limitations as far as working out anything more complex, chords with sevenths and augmentations etc) so what were the first tunes you all learnt?

lol! Interestingly tho a simple melody line of that was one of the first things i learnt on mandolin... My concertina is a G/C; will i be able to play in D easily? One thing i want to learn is the beautiful old tune that was used for the hymn be thou my vision (aka Lord of all hopefulness)