Wolf Molkentin

a „high drone“ would be a fiddlish thing, wouldn’t it? i like that to

first advice (although admittedly not covering the issue in its entirety) is to position yourself in a corner, thus benefiting from the walls reflecting the sound of your instrument in multiple ways... best wishes - 🐺

blessed are they that lack absolute hearing... 😇

o.k., back to zero then - why not buy the "tutor" model at a reasonable price then? you might be willing to "upgrade" at some point later anyway... best wishes - 🐺

I absolutely agree, if not in relation to accompaniment, the pitch (within a reasonable margin) doesn't matter that much, if at all. But as Carla seems to intend play with accompaniment by sb. else, things would be different.

This was and still is my understanding... (had been a common practice with free reed instruments back then)

Carla, you're opening a can of wormes here! 🙂 Many (not just Duet players) will tell you the Duet is the way to go, and I would not strongly object to that proposal (I recently bought a larger Crane, and love to find my ways across the keyboards). But! I'm trained like you (from childhood on), and started playing the English Concertina in the summer of 2011 (after having considered Anglo and Duet). The English has, as clearly visible from the "Tutor" keyboard, the "white" keys in the center rows and the accidentals adjacent in the outer rows, which makes it a fully chromatic instrument with a diatonic core (or a diatonic instrument with chromatic extensions?). If you would think of playing the piano like "left hand - accompaniment" and "right hand - melody", the Duet would be in fact the equivalent. But I reckon you don't. Good keyboard playing is very much interwoven between the hands, and lots of the harmony happens under the fingers of the right hand. This quality is to my - very personal - oppinion best to be transferred to the English Concertina. You may listen to some of my SC tracks (see link below), or search the forums that will provide tons of oppionion re the question you're raising. I will be very happy to further discuss this but don't want to drown you with content and enthusiasm all of a sudden... 😇 All the best - 🐺

Hi Carla and welcome to the forums! The answer, I'm afraid, is "no" - would result in a deviation of about 20 cents, way too much (+/- 5 cents is o.k., 10 cents hardly bearable, but double it to 1/5 semitone - no way IMO! However, a stringed instrument (like guitar, mandolin, fiddle) could be tuned to your instrument of course... Best wishes - 🐺

good point Don

or a copy which a. doesn't match the CC layout but b. has their logo illicitly attached? 🙄

might be for a drone, according to what I have read today

here are links towards two respective ads (no connection with the seller, I once bought a Shruti Box, which to my relief was perfectly tuned to ET, from him as a gift for my wife) just to give anyone an impression of these instruments: Shruti Boxes Harmoniums

Olivia Chaney is not playing a shruti box here but an Indian harmonium (which of course is more convenient to be held on the lap, or usually a desk resp. the floor. No need to hold it upright as it has no „left“ side... A shruti box is considerably smaller and basically provides just the tones of an octave, not to be opened through keys or buttons but „static“ switches. Best wishes - 🐺

it might make sense to point you to a pleasant étude by Geoff from good old TOTM days... 🙂

I don't have the dates. However, there's not much generally accepted anyway I'm afraid. Riveted action, which any player would appreciate I guess, had been standard already in the 19th century. Tapered reed pans may be considered an improvement by many of us; Geoff might be able to give you an idea as to when it had been introduced. Others may be able to add more details which had been subject to development and improvement. Best wishes - 🐺