English layout question

[DavidFR]

This may seem like an odd question, since I don't play the English system. But I've never seen any posts about different English layouts, which didn't seem odd to me because I assumed they were all the same.

 

Yet lo and behold, looking at Greg's post in the Buy & Sell Forum about his three English concertinas, I noticed that the one on the left has 4 rows of 6 buttons each, while the two on the right have a row of 6, a row of 7, a row of 6, and a row of 5.

 

Is this a simple shift of one button from the bottom row to the second row, or is something more complicated going on here? Are there big advantages/disadvantages to one system over the other?

 

-David

[DavidFR]

First photo is the LH side; the other two, the RH side.

 

Well that explains it. What it doesn't explain is how come I've never noticed before that English concertinas have different LH and RH sides! Just too anglo-focused, I guess...

[Leonard]

See the keyboard chart by John Nixon on Chris Timpson's FAQ at concertina.info: http://www.concertin...ges/finger6.htm

 

That shows, that if the RH side had the same 4x6 pattern, you would have an extra A flat (which is doubled by the G sharp on the LH side), but you would miss the highest C.

 

Enjoy the beauty of this system by its crystal clear regularity!

[DavidFR]

Enjoy the beauty of this system by its crystal clear regularity!

Thanks Leonard.

 

Guess my brain's just irregular, then, dontcha know.

 

My girlfriend would not be surprised.