Forward planning - an instrument for all styles...

[Marcus]

I'm seriously considering getting myself on the waiting list for a "true" concertina, but I'm not sure which maker to approach. I play a variety of music both Irish and English and so I would want to pick an instrument that would be equally capable of either style. I was thinking of having something made very much like William Kimber's 7 fold bellows Jeffries c/g. The Jeffries seem to be just as striking playing both Irish and English style music. Does Colin Dipper make a Jeffries Style concertina - and has anyone played one for both styles of music? I see Jurgen Suttner has a 31 button c/g Jeffries style in his catalogue - I know it can play Irish style wonderfully thanks to Tim Collins and Michael O'Raghallaigh - does anyone know how well it can bang out a Morris repertoire?! This won't be a decision taken lightly so time is on my side! 5 - 10 years I guess! Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[michael sam wild]

At your age it would be worth the wait!

 

I play both styles and I would go for a 38 C/G with concertina reeds and if you can't afford a Jeffries, Wheatstone or Crabb then Suttner , Wakker or Dipper seem very popular but I would go for a historical instrument myself ( Chris Algar could advise)

 

You could play in C, G, D, F, Am, Em , A, Dm, Gm, Bm if you had the other accidentals

 

 

I am looking for a nice C/G with more buttons for the same reason , although I love my Jeffries 26 button C/G for Irish music.

[maccannic]

Any decent maker (and they don't come much more decent than Colin Dipper) should be able to make pretty much whatever you want, so I'd get yourself on the waiting list as soon as possible.

 

By the time they finally ask you what you want, you will probably have decided.

[Bruce McCaskey]

By all means, get on the waiting list sooner rather than later. I've had a request in with Colin Dipper for over six years and have not as yet heard from him regarding establishing the details of the instrument, so I have at least another year yet to wait, perhaps more.

[david_boveri]

By all means, get on the waiting list sooner rather than later. I've had a request in with Colin Dipper for over six years and have not as yet heard from him regarding establishing the details of the instrument, so I have at least another year yet to wait, perhaps more.

 

have you talked to him at all in the last six years? when placing an order several years out, it is ok to call any maker about a year in advance if they do not call you, and is not considered rude. if you wait another year, it is likely that year will turn into another, and another.... etc. it is not rude to start calling colin once a year about halfway through his projected wait time, to see when he projects the instrument will be ready. he does not always do the orders in the exact order that the deposits were placed. it is also the case that if you don't call, it is likely that he might push it back further in the queue than if you had called him. i have many friends who are happy customers of his (some of them have multiple instruments from him), and i even know people that ordered at the same time and got their concertinas several years apart. one called to check up, and the other didn't.

 

and of course, the purpose of the phone call is not to put any pressure, or to demand anything, but rather just to ask him for a projection. i know this may seem to be contradictory, but the act of asking him when he thinks it will be ready in itself will increase the expediency of you getting your concertina.

 

i don't mean any of this in a negative way--colin is a wonderful crafstman. all of his concertinas are works of art, all unique and different, and it takes a lot of time and energy to make such creations. concertinas are generally not profitable enough to hire a secretary to keep track of a decades worth of data, so i think it is very reasonable to surmise that if someone is putting so making such individualized and complicated instruments, that the process itself would HAVE to be idiosyncratic.

[Bruce McCaskey]

By all means, get on the waiting list sooner rather than later. I've had a request in with Colin Dipper for over six years and have not as yet heard from him regarding establishing the details of the instrument, so I have at least another year yet to wait, perhaps more.

have you talked to him at all in the last six years?

 

You pose a good point David. Just before I placed the order I spoke with Colin (early fall of 2003) and asked what the wait might be - he said 3 years. I spoke with him a few months after sending him my written request to verify that he'd received it, then checked with him once a year the next two years. I've spoken with him a couple of times in the last three years regarding other concertinas, but didn't question where things stood on my order after the third year of the wait. I guess by then I'd settled into the notion that it wasn't happening anytime soon and I'd seen others comment on up to seven year waits so it didn't seem my own experience was out of line. I haven't asked others recently what a typical wait is for a Dipper these days and just assumed it was running long.

 

Since I'm on the topic I'll relate details on another attempt to purchase a new Dipper. Six months after writing the letter to Colin to request a concertina, I noted that Lark in the Morning listed Dipper concertinas in their catalog. I called and spoke with them and was told that while their catalog said the wait might be as much as 36 months, they expected to have one available within six months. The price was higher than I liked but the notion of a six-month delivery was attractive, so I placed an order and put down an $1,800 deposit. The short of this story is that three years went by but no concertina. Another year went by and I finally asked Colin about it since Lark wasn't giving any specific information, Colin told me he wasn't filling orders from Lark anymore and he advised me to seek a refund from Lark. It took several calls and about three months to make it happen, but I did finally get my deposit back along with a note of apology from the owner of Lark.

 

Back to my original order, I'd only requested one of Colin's standard models - nothing out of the ordinary - so I suppose I should give him a call and ask where things stand. He's always quite friendly and interesting to converse with, as is his wife. I had the pleasure of consulting with her just a few months back regarding a possible bellows issue on a used County Clare I was considering purchasing and she was quite helpful.

[Chris Ghent]

have you talked to him at all in the last six years? when placing an order several years out, it is ok to call any maker about a year in advance if they do not call you, and is not considered rude. if you wait another year, it is likely that year will turn into another, and another.... etc. it is not rude to start calling colin once a year about halfway through his projected wait time, to see when he projects the instrument will be ready. he does not always do the orders in the exact order that the deposits were placed. it is also the case that if you don't call, it is likely that he might push it back further in the queue than if you had called him. i have many friends who are happy customers of his (some of them have multiple instruments from him), and i even know people that ordered at the same time and got their concertinas several years apart. one called to check up, and the other didn't.

 

and of course, the purpose of the phone call is not to put any pressure, or to demand anything, but rather just to ask him for a projection. i know this may seem to be contradictory, but the act of asking him when he thinks it will be ready in itself will increase the expediency of you getting your concertina.

 

i don't mean any of this in a negative way--colin is a wonderful crafstman. all of his concertinas are works of art, all unique and different, and it takes a lot of time and energy to make such creations. concertinas are generally not profitable enough to hire a secretary to keep track of a decades worth of data, so i think it is very reasonable to surmise that if someone is putting so making such individualized and complicated instruments, that the process itself would HAVE to be idiosyncratic.

 

Excellent advice.

 

Chris