RAc

The layout is fairly intriguing. I'll give it a go on my "soft concertina" vnoizepad application once I can shell out a few cycles. One of the things I like about it is that (as opposed to the traditional Crane layout in which it doesn't work for Bb and B) ALL power chords can be fingered by flattening a finger to play the two notes in consecutive columns together.

well, I don't know. To me it is more like the app can select any sound font resident on the device via Bluetooth. But I'll be happy for Kurt if I'm wrong!

But on that same page, if you scroll down to the bottom there'll be a list of Roland Synthesizers to which you can download the Axial fonts ("select your synthesizer"), and as far as I can tell, the Ae-10 is not among them.

I wouldn't hold my breath (pun intended, though the gadget seems to be very nice) that it's possible to change the sound fonts, at least with respect to the internal synthesizer (ie everything that is output through the internal speakers of the instrument). This list here implies that the sound fonts are hardcoded in the firmware. Yet the rules change when the flute is used as a MIDI instrument over USB, because in that case the instrument code is just a number sent to the recipient of the MIDI data (usually some PC based software). That software is free to reinterpret the instrument code and remap it to whatever it wants. Thus Phil's sound font may be loaded into some MIDI synthesizer software to replace an existing sound font (instrument), allowing the sound input from the MIDI flute to sound like a concertina. I may be wrong though. Some wiz my be able to analyze the firmware image and patch different sound fonts into it...

Be as it may, does that vindicate the practice of data mining by private companies or make it any less opposable? I still don't see why you brought governmental privacy issues into the discussion.

True, but it's also worth pointing out a few other things: 1. Governmental access requires permission of the disclosure by a judge (at least in all western democracies), so there is control over who gets access and who doesn't. 2. There is a significant difference between the interest of the government in the data and the interest of private companies (such as escrow companies). 3. The government normally doesn't resell the data for profit once they were able to gather it 4. (at least in Europe) a government is not allowed to reassemble unrelated data. For example, the social security services may get access to your health records, and police may get access to your financial transaction records, but the two may not exchange or merge the data belonging to the same person. Private companies (unless forbidden by law, but even then there are grey data paths) don't have sruples in putting together as many data about individuals from all sources as they can possibly get. So unless you believe that the government by definition is the enemy of the individual (as I understand some people do, especially in the US), I don't really see a point in your above statement.

well, we can only speculate why Steve is hesitant to use PP. I don't mind PP being profit oriented (again, it's the basic right and reason for existence of any business, as long as the profit isn't generated through immoral or criminal activity), and I don't mind if they're a PITA, and I don't mind them freezing your funds at their own descretion (rather on the opposite), and they're as entitled to an occasional mistake and inconvenience as is any company. Here's my major gripe about PP: They're data miners. They'll strip you naked and sell your nude pictures to anyone willing to pay (metaphorically speaking), and they make you believe that the "free or cheap" services you get in return don't cost you anything. Well, they do. While data mining is a fairly accepted and in some cases relatively unharmful practice, it's something I wouldn't want my financial life to be subject to. Have a look at this , in particular section 4, for example Sutherland (that is, find out what a "telemarketing service provider" knows about what you paid whom and when). And then ask yourself why you would be surprised that you have difficulties finding a health ensurer when all the medication you ever ordered online and paid through Paypal help "service providers" obtain a fairly detailed knowledge about your health situation (= very valuable data for insurance companies that without any doubt try to get their hands at it). Of course, it's one's own choice what to pay through Paypal and what not (not much potentially harmful information to sieve off an occasional concertina sale), but remember that the sale of your data is the main income of Paypal, or at least the subsidizing of your "free" account. That's the reason why they make the payments so "convenient" and "easy" to you and encourage you to make as many transactions as possible to them (or, in their terms, provide lots of resellable data to them).

That's not what I meant. A business must make profit, otherwise it wouldn't be a business. I don't have any problems with that.

I hate to become political, Paul, but I must disagree. Nobody should have a Paypal account. Their business model is immoral and inacceptable. Steve to me becomes so much more respectable for refusing to become part of that big mistake.

No problem, I just need to get in touch with him personally. He can either sign up to the forum and send me a PM, or send me an Email (as admin, you have I believe access to the email addresses, and in this case I authorize you to pass it on to your friend.). Thanks!

Yes, Will Allen is a fantastic player and an unsung hero (I guess). Very enjoyable, thanks for the video!

Here's some more on the history of the tune (and the Cotillon in general): http://cotillion.yolasite.com/tunes.php I was first introduced to it in around 2016 by Jochen Riemer. The photocopies he gave us were attributed to the Hardcore English collection (although I can't find it anywhere in the TOCs available on the 'net, so I'm afraid I can't pinpoint an exact source. I still have a scan of the original page though). The explanatory notes to the tune in that copy are very similar to the ones in the link posted above. I copy them here, watch out for the spellings: ------------------------------------------------- Chain Cotillion (Cotillon) In Aird 3 and Anon7408 MS as La Nouvelle Hollendoise, as La Louise in S. Dawes (1818, BL), and as The Louisa in Johnson's 200 Favourite Country Dances 5, (1750). Features in early US manuscripts such as J. Greenwood and J. Turner, 1785. In Lewes Favourites as The Cotillion, from the MSS of the Bosham Band, Sussex, mid-nineteenth century. -------------------------------------------------- It's interesting, Jim, (though not surprising! ;-)) that you should give the tune a definite Morris touch. In our session tribe, we tend to play it slower, with an almost sacral flavor such as here . In fact, I introduced the Cotillon to the bal folk group I play in around three years ago, and we played it an a christmas environment.

Once more, thanks for the very comprehensive and useful answer, Dana! One last thing: The two sentences I extracted to me appear to contradict each other, but that probably means there is an error in my thinking. The first sentence to me reads that for each wire, there is some minimum coil size under which the spring can not be wound without affecting the elasticity (the absolut size of this coil diameter of course depending on the wire thickness and other factors, so looking at the wire size alone will not suffice to determine the minimum). Applied to cone springs, this implies that the small end of the spring (which has the tightest coil) in turn determines which material can or can not be used. For example, if the small end of the coil must be 3mms, I must pick a wire that tolerates coils as tight as 3mm diameter, right? Now if I choose a wire thicker than the one I have - given in theory all other factors are equal -, shouldn't this thicker wire require a larger minimum coil diameter, meaning the 3mm requirement might not be held anymore? Shouldn't I pick a thinner wire instead? Thanks again and sincere apologies if this error in thinking should be prove me foolish (which it will likely do).

First of all, thank you very much for this valuable information, Dana! Could you elaborate a little bit on "right" in the two contexts you use the word ("right diameter wire" as well as "right result")? Do I read you correctly when paraphrasing this as "depending on the wire strength, you need exactly the amount of stretching that does the job but doesn't overstretch the spring" (which effectivelys reiterates Charly's 4:44 statement "don't stretch it too much, or it will ruin the spring")? Effectively this would translate to a trial-and-error process, sacrificing springs until the right amount is accomplished? Thanks again!

I have electronic copies of both, but I only looked at each one for about 30 seconds. It's impossible to say which tutor/strategy will work better for you as you carry your own individual approach into the musical process and will thus relate differently to every learning strategy. I benefitted tremendously from the few skype lessons I had with Jody and Kurt Braun. Kurt (being the Crane specialist between the two) suggested to start working with both hands as soon as realistically possible, which I did. However, he may suggest differently when working with somebody else. The only thing I can recommend is to work with a human tutor (teacher); I believe that every musician will benefit more from direct and personal interaction with a teacher than from a non interactive book.

I actually tried to go down that road first, but the dimensions are fairly small, so as you suggested, tools available to the everyday person wouldn't be able to build a mandril for that job. I then considered designing a mandril with FreeCAD, have it printed and use that one, but I'm quite sure you'd also need sophisticated tools to get that to work (I don't have a lathe to begin with, just a Makita rechargable battery powered drill). It seems as if my technique works, I'd just be curious to hear other folk's opinions; very likely there's something I don't see or know (yet), and I'd hate to drive a truck down a dead end... Thanks!

Thanks for the reply, Tiposx! Sorry for not making myself clear, I am using steel spring wire (fwiw, 0,8mm ordered from Juergen Suttner, but very likely any fitting guitar string will do likewise). I understand that with this material, you don't need to temper if you wind the spring directly into its target shape, but as I explained, I am taking the extension first, then force into compression form factor strategy which so far I wouldn't have thought would work. I was just wondering about more thoughts on the subject. Thanks again!

Hi everybody, I have devised a way to make cone springs needed in a lockdown design project (details to follow). I found a video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubQqYq5vmnc) in which it is suggested that any compression spring could be made by making the corresponding extension spring (meaning adjacent tight windings) and then pulling apart the spring. Now it is much easier making an extension cone spring than a compression cone spring (you basically lead the spring wire in between two washers the wire thickness apart and wind under tension). Pulling out the cone into a compression form afterwards works, but the spring is not durable - unless, as I think I have figured out, I temper the spring after pulling out (this appears to work fine using a normal cigarette lighter by holding the spring into the blue part of the flame until the spring turns copperish). Is this an appropriate way to make lasting good springs, or can I expect the springs to weaken out after some time longer than the few minutes I had a chance to test? If the approach basically works, are there better ways of tempering which do not require professional type equipment? (I read somewhere that springs need rather high temperatures to temper; would a gas torch be sufficient)? Any other thoughts on the subject? Thank you for your responses!

Hi there Gail, I have seen an incident of this phenomenon where two pads were too close together and began to get in each other's path. If one of the affected levers is rather long, there is lateral play that may cause the two pads to get in touch with each other. What you can do here is take some fine colored powder, lightly dust the pad of the affected button all the way around and check to see if the powder has died off to one of the adjacent pads. The fix the person who had this problem applied was to take a scalpel and cut off a very tiny part of the pad. Of course this is a fairly invasive operation, and one needs to take care not to take off too much material. The probably preferrable option in this case would be to replace the pad with a smaller one that still seals the hole correctly, or correct (eg bend back) the lever.

But you're still playing the bones, no?

actually, the snapshot must have been taken before Feb 20,2019 because at that date Chris had (upon my request for privacy protection) removed my name from Wheatstone 20796. On the snapshot it's still there. I received your #3 about a week prior to that, so I suspect your entries weren't on the site yet when the ICAs snapshot was taken.

Amazing, John! The contact page on that presence leads to the ICA, so someone over there supposedly restored the old cranceconcertina.org? I can probably pinpoint fairly closely at what time the snapshot was taken... good catch!

I'm sure Rod (the new owner - https://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php?/profile/7691-saguaro_squeezer/) will jump in. Here's a link to the website onto which he has salvaged some of the old content: http://www.craneconcertina.net/

I'm not sure if we're talking about the same track here, David. AFAIK, there is no rendition of Northwest Passage on Stan Roger's album named Fogarty's cove. The video I was referring to was the Longest Johns' rendition of Northwest Passage that TimV posted. Or is there an album named Fogarty's cove by the Longest Johns which features Northwest Passage (I couldn't find an indication for that on their home page)? Or were you back to the original video I posted of Barrett's Privateers? If so, do you refer to Stan's Band as "more or less talented self pleased white men?" I'm a little confused...

I had seen that video before, and it didn't impress me too much, but there is no point in debating (musical) taste. It's certainly a reasonable arrangement, but to my ear it doesn't fit the lyrics which (as in Barrett's Privateers) ask for strong vocals. But again, that's purely personal, sorry for bringing in my opinion earlier, I shouldn't have done that...