Chris Timson

I created it but DoN hosted it and the associated mailing list. Access to servers was much more difficult in those days so DoN's help and support back then was invaluable and it was in gratitude for that that the committee made him an honorary life member. Chris

If you want to post images from Dropbox then take the Dropbox link and paste it in using the "insert image from URL" dialogue, but before you save it delete the dl=0 at the end and replace it with raw=1. This really works - it's how I display the images in my post in Buy and Sell. Chris

I've had no contact with DoN for many years. A great shame as he is a real gentleman. We stayed with them for a few days long, long ago. You're right about his suspicion of forum software. His web site was hosted on his own home server. If that's still true then the fact that his page is still available is a good sign that he is still alive and kicking. Chris

From my experience with Jamulus I'd say you've got that bang to rights there. Chris

You did and I replied. For various reasons I've been away from the forum so many apologies to you and also to Nabio. As you requested I've made a recording of Anne playing it and I thought others would like to hear it so here's a couple of tunes. The first is one of hers called Eating of Maidens is a Horrid thing to Do (it's the tune of a song from an opera Anne wrote in which a dragon is reprimanded for his anti-social activities), the second is a chordal arrangement of Lark in the Clear Air. You will hear that it has a very sweet sound that is typical of brass reeded instruments. Downsides are that they are slow to speak and hence take more work to get them to sound and because it only has four-fold bellows you have to change direction quite frequently. Both of these considerations are, however, reflected in the price. I recorded the tunes in my studio using a Rode NT4 stereo mic. I applied no processing whatsoever afterwards so what you hear should be a fair reflection of the sound. Here's a link to the file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/jtowz8unfh5bqa6/Lach%20concertina%20demo.mp3?dl=0 Chris

Thanks for the thought but that'll be for the next owner to buy. Cheers, Chris PS Jake, I believe it was.

Hi, We've got a a 48 button Lachenal brass-reeded English concertina with mahogany ends that we'd like to sell. These, of course, are not the world's greatest concertinas but they can get a person going. We had it fettled a bit a few years back by Colin Dipper as we wanted to lend it to a couple of people (like Anne's composition professor at university ). All notes play and are in tune (concert pitch) Four or five are a little bit buzzy but nothing excessive and should be readily sortable. As you'd expect with a brass reeded instrument it's not the lightest box to play by any means but it does have an undeniable sweetness of tone. We don't have a case for it, sorry, but it will be very well packed for posting. We'd like to get better than £300 plus postage for it if we can. Here are some photos: Cheers, Chris & Anne

That's done. George has been helpful about the status of a couple of other people mentioned above and I've updated the FAQ appropriately. John, the fall was serious enough to keep me feeling sorry for myself for a couple of weeks but I'm fine now. Cheers, Chris

George Bolliger and I are now exchanging emails. And thus does progress happen. Chris

That's 9pm where I live. Might be there. Chris

It seems he may well have been present at the very first meeting of the ICA: "According to the information in Newsletter 200, 1972 which is in the digital archive of the ICA, there was an Inaugural meeting on 27 September 1952 of the International Concertina Association. See below: “No.2 Newsletter was issued in October 1952. It is not signed and bears no address so we do not know who wrote it. Among the names mentioned in it are: Fred Read, Alf Edwards, Charlie Parslay, Wilfred Pearce, J. Floyd, Inga Webb, Sylvia Webb, Cheetham Walters, Helen Bland, Father Loveless,Al Coomber, Herbert Greene, Sid Ive, Rosa Loader, Teddy Stream, Con Courtney, J. Mearns, Thomas Murphy, A.G.Peters." (My italics). This is from newsletter no. 150 in 1968: "Very pleasant to have good wishes from Syd Ive, whose baritone concertina is in regular use by the Holloway Monday class". Chris

That's something, thanks. I have a picture of a man born around the beginning of the 20th century and a music hall/variety performer in the 30s and 40s, which ties with the time the Accordeaphones were made in the mid 1930s and the paint job he had done to it. As an older man he belonged to the ICA and loaned concertinas to new players. Could be pure fantasy but at least it ties up with the little we know. Chris

If you do, John, we would very much love to hear. After quite a bit of searching all we do know is this: a) according to the professional card affixed inside the instrument case he lived in Wood Green, London N22; b) according to a 1950's Concertina World the Holloway (I think it was) branch of the ICA thanked him for the loan of some concertinas. It's not much to build a picture on ... Chris

That'll be the unplayable one in the Horniman. Colin Dipper's is the same black finish. Ours is ... a bit strange.

Hi all. Some of you will know that we have owned a Lachenal Accordeaphone (surely among the world's rarest musical instruments) for a good few years now but we hadn't made much of it as it needed quite extensive renovation and it has proved a problem finding a repairer who would take the job on. Well I am now pleased to report that Jake Middleton-Metcalf of Wolverton Concertinas has taken the job on with great fortitude and triumphed! Yesterday we got the machine back, beautifully renovated. The Accordeaphone was intended to be Lachenal's answer to the piano accordion, which in the 1930s was sweeping all before it. It has three reeds on each note and uses concertina reeds and methods of construction throughout. The button layout is that of an English concertina. 20 were made but only 8 were sold by the time Lachenal went bankrupt. Wheatstone bought their stock and scrapped the remaining 12. Of the 8 sold we only know where four are and this is one of them. In this video Anne Gregson plays The Lark in the Clear Air on the beast. Chris