kaapenaar
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Posts posted by kaapenaar
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thank you for the offer, I am very interested and will most probably be in touch.
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Frank: I see, that's very helpful thank you - It does sound like a difficult job the more advice I get.
Theo: No I haven't - but I see now yes that could be a very good way to learn the inner workings etc without diving in at the deep end. thanks for the good tip.
Leo: Thats great, thank you I will definitely be studying it all asap.
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TomB-R: Yes the photo essay at hmi.homewood.net is wonderfully documented, I'm just trying to get as much information as possible to assess the big picture of what the task entails. I was not aware of that kit, thank you I will note that.
Greg: Thank you for the tip on the film. Yes that sounds like a good idea, I've been researching to find south african builders. I'm aware its not a gold mine but I think ultimately the profit looks reasonable from what I can see.
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I have been seriously considering the idea of beginning to build concertinas (still wondering which specific kind, possibly Anglo or Boerekonsertina). Having searched the forums I have found the http://hmi.homewood.net photo essay as well as a broken link to Henrik Müller's photo essay but that is all. I would greatly appreciate if someone had further relevant links or possibly names of books or even dvds etc. I noted on another thread people said to copy an existing concertina.
thanks
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Feedback after many months: I bought the Schöler boerekonsertina and I am very pleased with it, it is worn but sounds lovely, and I can now play two Boeremusiek songs crudely after painstakingly guessing/copying the notes. The problem now is just to try to learn more Boeremusiek, as the nearest gild is a little while away. I just bought Die Oudag Boere-Orkes cd which is great, and I hope to one day learn the Sonop Vastrap.
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Thanks Neil, I decided upon a Schöler boerekonsertina after all, I'm still waiting for the delivery though so have yet to play it. The Rochelle was a possibility when a few weeks back I saw a second hand one on ebay, but I got outbid and I cannot afford a unused/new one. Although Schöler seems to vary greatly in quality, I'll take my chances, as long as it is possible to make music with the concertina.
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Nevermind, was outbid in the last 3 minutes.
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I had no idea about that. Interesting info otherwise.
I used MDFRed Alert here!!!
MDF is considered to be connected with cancer. Working with it means lots of dust, lots of touching with bare hands and spreading dust everywhere. I made one end with it, then abandoned the whole project as dust was uncontrollable.
The worst part is that after you finished and painted the ready ends, the dusty debris lay everywhere and the kids play with them.
How about plexiglass? It's dense, easy to work with, looking good and not as crumbling.
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That's good to know.
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Thats very interesting - that thick padding you experimented with sounds like it could have a beneficial effect when playing in certain situations/surroundings. The Rochelle concertina I intend on getting seems to have a smaller overall area of holes and a very different layout to the majority of 'high end' type concertinas so I began to wonder what the impact actually is.
Rochelle:
and a more high end type concertina: 
Considering what you've said I'd probably have an advantage if I was to attempt to pad the ends of a Rochelle as the holes are few and simple in comparison to the other. I look forward to experimenting.
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Just outside of Cape Town, but not rural. The speed is ok but the main provider, telkom, charge ridiculously high rates for a very small monthly bandwidth allowance, and its capped too. I've just moved here and had a lot of trouble accidentally going Way over the limit inadvertently, its 5gb for an entire month I believe, but i've exceeded it twice accidentally already. I don't think hotspots are available here, perhaps in the most expensive hotels and so forth - but yes I have seen internet cafes here and there. So in general the speeds here are not terrible, but its the price you pay, the bandwidth limits, capping and braindead helpline assistance that really impacts you.
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Ah ok no problem. I was wondering for a while that it seemed paradoxical hehe
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Ah alright. I agree, although in the case of a concertina that is too 'tinny' or 'boxy' sounding than it is perhaps an idea if you add holes to make it more mellow as you said.
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Ok, interesting - I will test that out when I get my first concertina.
The material used for the ends clearly has an effct on the sound quality and volume.
The combined area of the holes must also have an effect on quality and volume. To test this idea, block some or all of all the holes up and see what happens. ;-)
As for the shape, I would guess that any set of shapes that more or less equally distributes the holes will do.
Note that better players than I am choose which reed to use on an anglo according to whether or not the sound is affected by the position of the hand that is holding the instrument.
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Thank you both for the information, I'm content then that Rochelle is a fine choice to begin with. I will hopefully purchase the Rochelle that I have in mind, I will say in a few days whether all has gone as planned. Yes, its terrible to say the least, as I think of all the concertina videos/song/tutorials floating around the internet - but life's life. I'm slightly fortunate in that just before I started this new highly limited connection I recorded quite a few boeremusiek songs/medleys from an internet radio - so I'm sure they will help when I'm learning.
Thank you
boeregroete
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I was wondering about precisely what role(s) the 'holes' (I don't know if that is the technical term) on either end of the concertina play - if they have any substantial impact on the sound a concertina produces and if so what - or are they purely for embellishment. As I was thinking, what if one was to modify their concertina adding holes to change the sound and so forth? - Or if the holes have no impact on the sound, if you could just add extra holes in desired shapes to make your concertina more elaborate and unique.
boeregroete
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Thank you very much for the information. Unfortunately I cannot look at all the videos as here in south africa my bandwidth is ridiculously small and expensive - but I'll remember what you've said. Thats interesting about the German school, I have noticed some concertinas that look exactly like scholers, down to the flower decoration but without any mention of brand. Ultimately I am not too concerned about the 'cheapness' of the concertina as I have gotten by for years on a 'cheap' guitar with no problems. I wondered about that, I'm glad to hear it would be easy to change reeds if I wanted to. I have found a very reasonably priced second hand 30 button Rochelle that I'm seriously considering purchasing so it may be an option. I've managed to find about 3 samples of it playing also and I like its sound - it doesnt have that 'boxy' sound of some other cheap concertinas I have heard in videos. Yes I've considered it, and I probably will try the banjo/ukelele in the future at some point as I am interested in it, as well as having played the guitar now for many years. I also saw a cheap mandolin the other day in a farm shop. Thank you for the detailed response, I will remember what you've said and most probably make use of it in the future.
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I realized that I do not want to limit myself, so would much rather prefer a 30 key. As my topic in the buy/sell forum explains I have not got much luck though in finding what I want.
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I have found my only choice for a first concertina is to pick it up in person from either Central London or from around the Wes Kaap in South Africa. So far I have found only an overpriced Stagi 20 key in a London shop and a second hand 20 key Scholer in South Africa. My budget is unfortunately around £160/R1824 maximum. Ideally a 30 key anglo. Please help!
Boeregroete
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Ah - Thank you for the information, i'll keep that in mind Daniel and catty.
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Thank you very much for the information Ben. It looked like a great bargain at first, however when I looked up the name Scholer later last night it appears most regard it as a terrible brand of concertina and should be avoided at all costs. The seller is also in Jeffreys Baai and that makes picking the concertina up in person very difficult if not impossible. So I'm beginning to think perhaps I should wait and save if the majority of cheap concertinas are going to be of remarkably inferior quality, its just going to take a very long time to save enough for these custom made concertinas which appear to all be very expensive.
Thank you, that sounds very interesting - I'm glad to hear of it. I visited the Boeremusiek Gild website(s) and saw on the instrument section the name Scholer mentioned, without any information as to its quality, so I foolishly assumed that it would consequently be a fine/reasonable brand to purchase.
So do boeremusiek concertina players play engelse consertinas as frequently as they do boerekonsertinas? I wasn't sure if all boeremusiek concertina players rigidly only play boerekonsertinas or if they just play whatever type they wish to play. I was just worried about buying the 'wrong' type of concertina for boeremusiek. I remember reading somewhere that Willie van Wyk is booked up for 2 years! Id have liked to have bought the Scholer for how cheap it is, but if its going to be a terrible instrument then i'd better not.
Boeregroete
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Hi,
Thank you very much for the information I will keep that all in mind when inspecting the concertina. I have a guitar tuner that works a bit like a harmonica, so I could possibly use that for testing - ( it has the notes E A D G B E on it ). It appears this diagram matches the layout of the concertina in question, and so I could potentially use it in order to test various notes -
Also, might someone be able to confirm that this concertina is a 'Boer concertina' or boerekonsertina as I suspect, but am not sure about.
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Evening. After having listened a long time to boeremusiek i've decided I would very much like to learn the concertina and begin making my own boeremusiek etcetera. However I am on a very small budget. I have done research and have found a second hand Schöler concertina for sale for what seems to be a very reasonable price. However if I was to inspect the concertina in person I would not know what to look for, aside from obvious cracks/woodworm damage, to make sure the concertina was in working order. Is there a way I can tell if there are false notes etc/that something is wrong? I'd greatly appreciate any advice. I have attached the photos I could find of the very concertina in question.
Boeregroete
Sources of information for concertina building.
in Instrument Construction & Repair
Posted
Thank you very much