MatthewVanitas
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Posts posted by MatthewVanitas
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I'm a fairly good guitar player, mostly Spanish and Flamenco, but a bit of classical here and there as well,
Oh, I was going to mention, a buddy of mine plays classical guitar, and says that he's been having a lot of success interpreting classical guitar arrangements on English concertina. Might be an angle worth considering.
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Hello Azaelius, glad to hear that you puzzled out which system best fits your goals! English defintely offers the chromaticism you seek, and singers like Danny Spooner and A. L. Lloyd certainly backed up their singing with EC to great effect. You also benefit from having several different sizes and pitches, good variety out there. Also the vintage market is priced much lower than the comparable Anglos, so you really can't go wrong with either a good vintage or a good high-end hybrid to upgrade.
I started out on an Elise concertina from Concertina Connection (Duet equivalent of the Jackie), and while unpolished it was an affordable and effective way to get into concertina.
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I know right now everyone seeing this thread is seeing the Udar thread, but for the sake of folks reading this thread in future months, it's worth checking out the thread on the "Udar" a small vaguely concertina-esque MIDI instrument by a Japanese inventor: http://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=17477
Something *very* close to this, just slightly more squeezy and with a Hayden layout, is basically what I was envisioning when I started this thread.
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For a couple years I've been vaguely meaning to get a Fagerstrom "Technopipes" electronic bagpipe, in the sackpipa (Swedish bagpipe) settup. The Fagerstrom is totally self-contained, just one chanter-sized baton with contact points on it, with the battery, processor, etc inside. Plug in earphones (or into a speaker), hit a switch and your drones kick in and you start producing melody from the fingerings.Th
Though I still would like on, with smartphones becomeing omnipresent I'm leaning more and more to finding something similar that is nothing but a body and contact points, and just plugging it into my phone for power, processor, etc. That way I can make any changes to sound/pitch/temperament, etc right there on my screen, don't need any separate charging settup, and can use different programs or whatnot rather than be stuck with whatever is stock inside the body. Come to think of it, I should drop the maker a line in Sweden, ask him if he's considering making a variant that is just the minimal hardware to jack into a phone, to save the expense and obsolesence of the other parts currently built in to the mechanism.
http://www.fagerstrom.com/technopipes/
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For what it's worth, I've been running a QuNexus (small MIDI keyboard) through my iPhone 6 using the "camera connector kit", a little widget that adapts the USB cable to go into the iPhone's Lightning port. I've been playing the keyboard through ThumbJam, and overall pleased with the program. Some of the sounds, including concertina, are decent, while some are uncannily realistic like sackpipa (Swedish bagpipe).
I've tried amplifying my phone through an external Bluetooth spearer, but there's too much lag to play accurately. Though I'm sure a smart person could puzzle the issue out.
As more and more folks are owning phones and tablets that can serve as a MIDI device, me personally I don't see motive for the hassle of trying to build the processor into the instrument, but would rather have just the mechanical bits and switches in the instrument, and run a cord out to my phone where all the magic happens.
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No worries. As you're an experienced player, you'd almost certainly find the Elise too clunky, as it's a beginner's box. So really for you it's a Beaumont, Peacock, or buying a new or used high-end. Really the only guy reliably making high-end Haydens is Wim Wakker, and his waitlist is around 2 years or so. And a used Wakker Hayden pops up on this forum maybe every other year, so not a lot of traffic in those. And a used Wheatstone or Dipper Hayden would also be extremely rare.
I haven't played the Peacock ever, and don't know how many people here have played one side-by-side with a Beaumont. My vague understanding is the Peacock might sound slightly more concertina-like in having that piercing quality, is a good bit less expensive than a Beaumont, but the build quality isn't as refined. Bob Tedrow has occasionally built Haydens too, but they don't seem to get the great reviews that his Anglos get, and are more a one-off project for him.
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Hello TJ, I own a Elise and a Beaumont, and have or have owned a Herrington hybrid Anglo, Jones vintage Anglo, and Lachenal vintage Crane Duet. So I'm no expert but have a little basis of comparison.
The Beaumont is a lovely item, very well finished, great smooth action, and surprisingly light and agile for a big box. From what I've seen it follows the same pattern as all the other Morse/Buttonbox instruments, so whatever you read of reviews of those broadly applies. Morse's design simplifies some of the skeleton, making his boxes very light, which I find great.
So far as tone, I've played my Beaumont next to my Lachenal Crane, and I do concede that next to each other, you can tell the difference between the true/vintage concert reeds and the modern hybrids. That said, the hybrids to me don't so much sound "accordion" (particularly since they're just single reeds, and a lot of what folks find "accordion" is multiple wet-tuned reeds). The Beaumont sounds somewhat more "organ"-like to me, which I'm actually fine with since I somewhat got into concertina since it's more compact than a harmonium.
Even if you can't lay hands on a Beaumont in your area, assuredly someone around there has a Ceili/Geordie/Albion by Morse that you could lay hands on and see how you like the feel, build, tone. And that broadly extrapolates to their Beaumont Hayden model.
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I owned one that I bought on this forum, and sold to a guy on this forum. It ended up going in like a four person loop and eventually ending back up with the initial buyer. It was kinda cool, but at the time I owned a Duet concertina and a Chemnitzer, and not knowing CBA settup is was kinda redundant. I liked the overall action/feel (for the money) but the tuning was wetter than I'm used to.
For anyone that has one or is fixing to get one, note that Geuns offers an upgrade package where he can install long zinc plate reeds (true bandoneon reeds) into the Student hybrids. He no longer produces the Student ones, but can do the upgrade on earlier purchases. It's not at all cheap, but cheaper than the full Euro-made one: http://www.bandoneon-maker.com/medium_hybrid.htm
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Almost nobody builds 20-buttons new these days since the market is so heavily 30-centric, and there's a decent backlog of vintage 20 button (as well as 24, 26, etc.) Anglos that sell for way less than 30s because... well, those numbers are fewere than 30.
Among the better ways to get such an instrument would be posting a want ad in the Classified section here. Folks were actually dicussing exactly this just a few days ago, and a few different options turned up. Aside from that, there are a few major purveyors of concertinas who might have such things on hand, most notably Chris Algar of Barleycorn Concertinas in the UK.
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Added another article on my "to do" list, for a South African concertinist in Boeremusiek:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japie_Laubscher
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Thanks for the help! If anyone else speaks a language, but isn't familiar with Wikipedia editing and doesn't want to learn, I can just take your translation and code it into Wikipedia for you for any concertina article, just ping me if needed.
I also just whipped up this article on the Carlsfelder concertina: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlsfelder_concertina
I'm still not totally clear on how a Carlsfelder differs from a Chemnitzer, but I did my best to dig up cited material and footnote it in, so at least the basic facts are out there. If anyone happens to have a photo, to which you yourself own the rights or was published prior to 1923, or a Carslfelder, I'd be happy to add that to the article.
UPDATE: Also created the "Category:Concertina makers", since we have four such articles now and they should be sub-categorized together: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Concertina_makers
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Just took 15 minutes and knocked out a quick bio on the inventor of the "big square German concertinas":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Uhlig'>
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Uhlig
Interestingly enough, the only Wikipedia that had a bio on him prior to this was Finnish Wikipedia. Any chance we have any German or French speakers (or any other language really) that can take a minute to help translate this article so we can put it up on other languages' Wikipedias?
Since he shuffled off this mortal coil nearly a century and a half ago, his photo is fortunately firmly in the public domain.
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Can you show us a picture of the ends of the instrument, the parts with the keys? With that we should be able to more specifically nail down some of the details.
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As for G/D I play that all the time. I find C/G frankly rather squeaky for my taste (though C/G baritone is wonderful for song accompaniment). G/D certainly suits English music well, makes a decent fist of French music and I suspect would make a better job of Irish music than current orthodoxy admits.
Tim Edey is well-known for bucking the orthodoxy and playing Irish on a D/G melodeon; I'd be curious to see if anyone has tried crossing-over some of his concepts onto the concertina:
http://www.themusicroom-online.co.uk/product_info.php/products_id/4428
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You can also upload a photo to http://tinypic.com, upload your image, and then post here the coding it gives you for display on message boards
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Just wanted to bump this thread in case anyone got any concertina recordings for Christmas and has run across any more examples of singers backed up solely by concertina.
I got another iTunes giftcard, so shall go forth and seek myself as well!
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Posting a pic of a nonagon so that not everyone has to google it individually:
Anyone clever with Photoshop want to work some magic to twist an existing concertina photo into this shape?
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Just got back to the US a little bit ago, back in DC for a few weeks. so this lines up great for me. I just got my Beaumont Duet back from the conservatory buddy who was babysitting it. If anyone's been wanting to try out a Buttonbox-made Duet, hit me up when I arrive.
I'll print out some pages of a Sacred Harp/Shape Note tune (still need to decide which one) and will bring that along for folks.
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Since I think the other poster was looking for an Anglo this week, I'll point out that Mary had offered her a used Jackie, might be worth pinging Mary to see if it's still available: http://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=17222
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Hmmm... Did Bob do anything else besides bushing the buttons?
CC now sells a reed upgrade kit: http://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=16892
Huh, that is interesting. I've been debating having some accordion maker in a cheaper-labor country I run across in work travels build me a small hybrid concertina, and buying a ready-made set of reeds might be convenient.
In particular I find interesting:
Complete set for a 34 key duet Concertina. $120.00can be used for our Elise model or your own build.
If used for the Elise, the chambers need to be reduced.
Price includes reeds, reed wax, material for chamber reduction,
instructions, and shipping within the USA.
By "the chambers need to be reduced" I take it that means the mount for these nicer reeds is smaller? So theoretically something with the same range as the Elise could be built into a somewhat smaller body? That's another of the reasons I'd have an accordion-based custom be a square-rectangular instrument, to make it easier for an accordion-experienced guy to build, but also to try to fit Elise-type range into a smaller box, given that the Elise is a rather big piece of gear for its range, though still an instrument I'm pleased to have started out on.
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Yep, but I can trim a few bucks off since it's not moving quickly. Rather a niche item.
My little Hero re-reed though, that I'm holding on to. Here's a clip of me seven years back playing (melodic stuff) on it up in Newfoundland: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3e7iYw7jj4
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I play a little 1-row melodeon. I've taken a shot at playing 2-row but it didn't grab me, and I briefly owed a C#/D before realizing that I was pretty much just playing it as a 1-row in D with the occasional chromatic (which is apparently not how such things are meant to be used).
Right now I have a little 2-stop Hohner 1-row in D, for whenever I eventually get off my tail and start going back to Irish pub sessions. I also have an adorable little 1-row Chinese toy melodeon which has been re-fitted with quality Italian reeds, and re-keyed in D, by Irish Dancemaster, and it is actually a really nice piece of gear and quite compact and handy.
Despite being able to play 1-row melodeon well, I just never warmed to playing Anglo. Shameless plug, but if any fans of half-step melodeon want a fun curiosity, I have a Bastari re-reeded in C#/C kicking around Cnet's classified exchanges that I can let go very inexpensively, like "a couple of rounds at the pub" inexpensively if anyone finds the idea fun.
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Posting here since as I understand it 40b Anglos are hard to come by, even in a hybrid. Plus metal ends are cool. EDIT: It's a G/D as well. And no, not my auction, just one I thought was interesting.
As of now, just over 4 days left, zero bids at $99, so everyone's biding their time.
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No worries, if a ) you think he's going to be playing it pretty seriously and b ) spending more like $400 is not totally unreasonable, I would suggest:
- Check around on a used Concertina Connection instrument (Rochelle, Jack, Jackie, Elise), definitely post an ad asking here, and also check with the owner of CC directly, as sometimes he has trade-in ones in stock. If you're going to buy a CC though, unless it's a big surprise you might want to check with your boy as to whether it is indeed Anglo that most appeals to him, just to be sure. Not that this should be a deciding factor, but for whatever reason I seem to see the Jack and Jackie (Englishes, treble and baritone respectively) turn up used at slightly better prices and a little more often. But if he wants Anglo, Rochelle it is. And even if you simply can't find one used and buy one new, a $415 Rochelle sells used for $350 or so, so if you do sell it (whether to upgrade or deciding it's not for you) you don't lose too much on it.
- If you are towards $400ish, shoot a line over to Greg Jowaisas, one of the major concertina restorers/dealers in the US. That's just about what some of his very cheapest refurbished vintage instruments go for, so with a little luck you might be able to find a playable 20-button made back 100yrs ago, of good playing quality, and such an instrument will almost definitely hold its value and appreciate as long as you don't just trash it. Anything more than 20b Anglo will cost quite a bit more, but you can do a lot with a 20b. Also occasionally his least-expensive English concertinas aren't too much more than that.
Hayden 46 Button Plus?
in Instrument Construction & Repair
Posted
I'm kind of at both extremes, where to one degree I like having extra buttons so I can do microtonal stuff with MIDI, and scales where (for example) G# and Ab are to different pitches. But to the other degree, I play a lot of instruments with little/no chromaticity, so I'd enjoy having a 24-button Hayden too.
So far as your specific question, if I were adding just one or two buttons to either side of the 46b you show:
- The Bb in the bottom left corner of each. My Beaumont has this and I find myself playing in Bb more than I expected
- The C# on the right hand layout, the one that's a row below your bottom right row, same as on the Beaumont. I don't use it terribly often, but it is occasionally useful for getting the low C# without having to switch to my left hand.
That said, if one isn't doing weird scales/temperaments, and can transpose with a tap on my iPhone screen, I'd be fine with the 46b MIDI personally, and likely with less. That's why I have really no interest in large layouts for acoustics (where they make the instrument big and I can't reassign pitches without major tweaking), but like the idea on MIDIs where more buttons means more discrete tones I can mess with and barely increases instrument size. And with my limited experience going from the Elise 34b to Beaumont 52b I haven't found any particular problem getting lost on the larger keyboard. Either I'm not pushing my bonds enough, or it might vary by individual, though I do find a little utility in the slight indentations I had BB put on the middle A of each hand so I can index my fingers when I start playing.