Wendy M. Grossman

The baritone-treble I bought late last year came with its original leather box. The stitching at the top side of the box had come apart, and a whole side of the top had come away. I took it to Bag Repair in South Kensington, because they had done a good job when I needed the wheels on a suitcase replaced and they said they had worked on this type of thing before. They did a wonderful job at a surprisingly modest price. So I'm mentioning them FWIW in case anyone else has a similar problem. They say they've also worked on bellows. wg

Now you've got me wondering if that RH Ab could be an E2 instead. : ) (In fact, I now realize that moving the Eb means two identical notes right on top of one another. One should be something else. wg

Sorry, yes, a fourth. I plead that I was tired. : ) Here's the right side chart: F# F D Eb Bb B G G# Eb E C C# G# A F F# Eb D B Bb G# G E Eb C# C A Ab I'm told this is a former Salvation Army instrument, and they required customization. Not sure how much. I know the F2 is an artifact of that. All instruments require compromise, of course. I suppose it depends how it's going to be used. You may be thinking in terms of playing melodies and runs of low notes. I often use low notes for drones, however, in which case it's helpful to have the note on the outside where the finger holding it down doesn't get in the way of other fingers doing other things. This is very helpful. Thanks for taking the time. wg

It's an F2, so in a lower octave than the A and C. I think it stays where it is, but thanks for the idea. It's a fifth below the Bb, so that's logical enough for me. wg

Actually, *this* tenor-treble has a Bb in exactly the position where I'd propose moving the Bb on the BT to. wg

I made the same mistake about my former concertina (which got stolen) - I now realize that was a 64-key extended tenor-treble. I never could understanding the purposes of those dog-whistle-high notes... On this baritone-treble, my inclination would be to swap the Eb and the Bb at the bottom on the left hand side there. wg

Argh, yes. Edited to fix. (And that is of course the left side) wg

What's the range and key layout? wg

Interesting suggestion. Thanks. btw, here's the layout of the instrument I'm looking at, top to bottom (for this purpose I have not cared whether the note as described as # or b): C# C E Eb F# F A G# Bb B D Eb Eb E G G# G# A C C# Eb D F F# F G B Bb wg

I think I might struggle with a baritone in Bb. I grew up with classical piano, and the mapping of white keys to center rows and black keys to outer rows is pretty strong in my head. I suppose I'd adapt... wg

Geoff: I'm inclined to think you are right that I'd be better off with an instrument that sounds an octave lower than the one I'm contemplating. Or maybe not. I remain confused. Thanks. wg

Thanks for the tip. If the instrument doesn't have this issue, is it likely to develop it later through playing? wg

Thanks for the comments. The one I'm looking at is a Lachenal edeophone baritone-treble in excellent condition with the low G on the LH side and the G# next to it replaced by a low F. I also have a Wheatstone aeola tenor-treble, which I'm used to singing with and playing some tunes on. I think of the baritone-treble as a superset of the tenor-treble. I love the low notes, but thinking through the keys I sing in (a lot of Bb!) I'm not sure how much I'll be able to use them. So I'm wondering how much use I'd get out of it. Hence my question what others like to do with theirs. wg

Anyone own one of these rare beasts? What do you play on it? wg

They only get away with it if no one reports them. Don't know what anyone else did, but I reported this listing with a link to this discussion, and the listing has now been removed. wg

I just have to ask, how do you know it's the same one? I don't know how he knows, but the vendor replied with this serial #: 30363 Plug that into Google, and it's the serial number of the concertina Keith B started a thread about selling in here. Feeling frisky, I emailed him back to say I recognized it as one sold on eBay last October, and could he tell me how much he paid for it. Of course, he can read that easily enough in KeithB's thread. wg

Quite apart from the zero feedback and the short duration, how is it that an alleged registered business seller has no other items for sale? There could be a perfectly innocent explanation, but it looks to me like a sound case for calling Rentokil. I've messaged to ask the serial number. Just for fun, like. wg

Greetings. I have in my possession a 64-Key with ebony ends serial no. 23926, but it is probably a Contrabass - the lowest note is the C 2 octaves below middle C, and the keys are arranged so that the normal fingering is in the tenor range. In the baritone/bass range everything is the wrong way up, if that makes sense. After a while you begin to understand why it was necessary to invent the Duet system. 23926 seems to be between the period of the Wayne and Dickinson ledgers. Steve D said he hadn't seen another one like it the last time that I took it to him. That sounds very like the one I had. If my name and then address are stamped inside the end it *is* the one I had. (If you ever want to sell it...) Only 33 of them made! Damn! wg

If you sing with it, of course, you can sing the third and play the fifths, and minor/major is conveyed quite well. I don't know how things work on an Anglo, but on the English I find if I want to play the third I often add it later. And you can play with octaves and other stuff so the temperament isn't such an issue. Because I have low notes (tenor-treble now, formerly baritone-treble) that also gives me more options - and in fact I often wind up playing four-note chords and sometimes 5-6. wg

Thanks for the explanation. I have to say that I've never quite understood why trebles were the popular ones; I think the lower notes are far better for accompanying singing, and they are much nicer to listen to. Some of the high notes on the treble I swear to god only dogs should hear. wg

I think it's the high starting prices, really. At that level, you're not going to bid casually, and it's really only casual bidders who bid before the last 5 minutes these days. I think I've only once seen a bass - didn't Roger Watson used to play one? I'm going up to visit Chris soon, so I'm kind of hoping it doesn't sell so I can see this one. What are the implications of being single-action? wg

That one sounds familiar to me - I'm thinking it might be Lea Nicholson off a record he made in the late 1970s of absolutely amazing concertinz music. wg I posted that, and then checked by backing up a directory on that Web page - yes, it's definitely Lea Nicholson's record. If you can possibly get a copy, you should - or listen to the MP3s there of the Brandenburgs and other stuff. I was given a copy in 1981 by a musician who said he thought it was the best concertina playing anywhere, and I agree with him.

You can hear one almost exactly like it - ebony ends instead of wood - in this cut, recorded in 1980. (Sorry for the self-promotion.) Sir Patrick Spens - http://www.compulink.co.uk/~wendyg/rosevil...trick_Spens.mp3 wg

We call that turning a liability into an asset. We had to do something like that on one cut of my record - we couldn't get the foot out so we made it louder so it sounded intentional. wg

Those big jumps are because when you bid on eBay the system only puts in the minimum amount necessary to beat the existing bids. If a bidder has a limit that's a lot higher than is currently showing, when a new bidder comes in with a higher bid the system jumps to whatever's necessary. In this auction - as in many - the significant action happened in the last five minutes. I owned a concertina of the same specification but with ebony ends - that's the one I had stolen in 1984. I don't know how many were made but I assume it's more than two. wg