saguaro_squeezer

Paul, did the email go away? I looked in my personal area but didn't see it. There are a couple of messages that I'd save, if it's not going to be available in the future. Thanks!

It was a suprise, but probably because I wasn't watching. Still, I'm always told to embrace change so no worries. We all need new clothes sometimes!

I'm bored at least once a day by checking into c.net. Not enough duet threads, though!

And before I get flamed, a Harley is something you have to experience just to say that you have. Maybe like a Maccann?

Well, in reference to another thread, I shifted a BMW, Ural and Royal Enfield Bullet + spares to get my two Crane concertinas. I can ride out on the Harley, though.

I'm a bit late in posting this but I want to put a reference in for one of our own in the US, Greg Jowaisas. I bought a Lachenal EC - brass reeds, bone buttons, rosewood ends - from Craigslist because I wanted to see what a regular treble 48-key would play like. I only had the Jack at the time. The seller said that it had been worked on by a regular on c.net and by asking questions, I found that Greg was that person. The seller had bought it off of eBay and asked that Greg make it 'playable at the least possible cost. It's a simple, basic instrument. I asked Greg to tune it and fix the things that needed fixing ... pads, valves, bushings, etc. He examined it, gave me an honest evaluation of the instrument and its future capabilites and provided a very reasonable estimate of the repairs needed. During the process, we had a few phone calls and emails ... all very informative on the instrument's condition, some other things that might be needed and how I might care for it in the future. I learned quite a bit about concertina care from these exchanges ... lessons that I'm applying to my other concertinas, my melodeons and my harp as well. When I received the Lachenal back, I couldn't have been more pleased. It was in tune, played as well as it could and for a very reasonable fee. It's a lovely, quiet concertina that you can play late in the evening and not disturb spouse, neighbors nor cats. Greg followed up more than once afterwards to make sure that all was well. It certainly was. I would heartily recommend that you contact Greg if you have concertina repair requirements. He is also making a case for my Crabb Crane so I will post about it in the near future

I'd be up for that as well!

Something rather strange has come up that could prove very intersting. I've been corresponding with Jenny Cox (Marches and Tunes) about concertina bands and the possibility of doing something similar in the US. As it turns out, the Smithsonian is doing a tour of American Roots Music this summer and one of the stops is Nevada, MO. The intersting thing is that my great-grandfather, Rush Wagner Crawford, was a music teacher in the area, had 8 children and they had a travelling show called Crawford's Comedians. My mother told me a bit about this but I wasn't aware until recently that they were quite a thing. It might be interesting to see if we could get a group of concertina players to play as a band at one of the weekends in October when the travelling display is there. Any interest from those in the Midwest?

Duly noted, Geoff and please accept my apologies if I offended in any way. The idea shall remain hypothetical. (Where's that blasted red-faced smiley, anywaY?)

I hope that this is the right forum to ask this quesiton. Assuming one could get the reeds and shoes, how hard would it be to change the compass of the LH of my Crane? Currently, it is F-2 to c'. I would like to take it to C-2 to g ... essentially dropping the whole side by a 4th. I've attached a document with the proposed layout. Would the reed shoes be of similar enough size that they would fit with shimming or would wooden changes possibly be needed? It's hypothetical, I know.

You might want to shoot Xulutu an email. He's the poster referenced above. I'd asked him about a price and he replied to my request. Hopefully, it might be in the range that you're thinking of.

Conzertino, did you ever find your Baritone/Bass?

Welcome to the Crane club, Zak. I'm pretty new at it also but there are some wise sages to be found on c.net. Of course, you need to tell us a bit about your instrument and post pictures. As with many things concertina, cost = (buttons * age * brand * material) / (weight * condition) or some such nonsense. 55 key cranes aren't as rare as the larger ones. You might check with Chris Algar about the relative price of a 55 vs 48. Do a thread search here on c.net, too, to get others opinions on 55 vs 48 key cranes. I'm finding that, as a beginner, I'm not using those extra keys much. Now on my 69-key, I'm quite fond of the LOWER notes. Good luck on your musical journey!

So it was made by Harry or in China? If Harry made it, I'd be really interested. If it's an early Chinese model with single voicing, less so. I don't mean to create any confusion.

Sorry, I wasn't sure. I have one of his chinese ones but it's voiced in octaves. I know that there was allegedly a batch of 5 that were made initially. A fellow on youtube is playing one. Thought it might be different from mine but I guess that it's being single voiced and button colour would be the main differences.

Keith, is this a Harry-made one or a chinese one?

That's possible. I did get a Genus chinese hybrid with the c-system fingering to try but this one WAS interesting. The seller never wrote back to say if it was unisonic though I'd think that it was. Thanks for pointing it out anyway. Those wacky Germans. No wonder I married one

That's OK, it suddenly jumped out of my 'buy it on a lark' price range.

Thanks very much for your help, Miasmamann. I just didn't want to just rattle off a question in english on eBay Germany and cause some fellow a lot of trouble for a simple question. Let's see if I can get it .....

That would be interesting to play. I wish that my German were better so that I could ask him how much shipping would be to the USA.

This afternoon, my right hand G cleared its throat and sang like a bird! I guess a couple of days at 'normal' humidity and it was happy. Whew. Now I can worry about the lazy valve on my Lachenal. I'll still have to open it up but it seems a bit less daunting.

I wanted to give everyone an update. I really appreciate your responses. I talked to Chris Algar and he asked if I'd considered climate change as a possibility since the Crabb didn't have the problem when it arrived but had developed it over the couple of weeks here. I know that Greg J. and I had discussed this at length and I have little film canister humidifiers in my other two cases but not so with the Crabb. Its case fits too tightly, So, I went out and bought a humidifier and a guage and am attempting to get my study/music room to a standard 50%. It did bear fruit in that the low G in the left hand has ceased protesting and returned to normal. I will give the G in the right hand a day or two and if it doesn't settle down, I'll take a deep breath and reach for my courage and the screwdriver. Our standard humidity here is <20%. I like that but concertinas, apparently, do not. Thanks again for everyones kind responses!

Marien, I'd asked Mark about the pictures but he didn't respond. It does look like a beautiful insturment and I'm glad that you;ve secured it.

Well, they said that owning a vintage instrument would require this, so here it goes .... My Crabb has an issue with both low Gs though the left side seems to settle down after a bit. It sounds like the reed shoe not being tight in the seat. I've read Dave's 'Concertina Maintenance Manual' qute a few times but have trepidations about opening up such an expensive instrument. Other than alignment, keeping the screws in their proper order and not ham-handing the screws, is there anything else that I need to be aware of on a larger Crane? Sorry to be timid but have enough other experiences to realize that it's far better to ask first. Any replies would be appreciated.

If you're leaning towards Duets, you might also consider Mccann and (my favorite) Crane. The upgrade slope is a bit more gradual than Hayden's at the moment.