Tortoise End Wheatstone Aeola 56 button

[Leonard]

Looking at this 1920 pricelist, what's the difference between:

 

Model 14: 56 keys Baritone-Treble, 4 octaves from G on the first/bottom line of the bass stave and

 

model 20a: 56 keys Baritone, 4 octaves from G on the first/bottom line of the bass stave.

On the baritone-treble, middle C is in the left hand.

On the (just plain) baritone, middle C is in the right hand.

In fact, all notes are found in opposite hands on the two different kinds of "baritone".

 

How? Why?

• The array of notes on the standard baritone is "identical" to that on the treble, except that the note for each button sounds an octave lower than on the treble. This means that the middle C on the baritone will be in the position of the high C on the treble, and since one consequence of the English layout is that successive octaves of the same note are on opposite sides of the instrument, the middle C of the baritone will be in the opposite hand to where it is on the treble
• But baritone-treble means treble continuing into the baritone range (and tenor-treble means treble continuing into the tenor range). I.e., the middle C -- and every other note of the treble range -- is located just where it would be on a treble, in terms of which end of the instrument and which side of the center line. The only shift in location is a shift toward the higher end of the instrument, so that the array of buttons remains in the same place relative to the thumb strap and finger plate.

Thank you, Jim.

 

So on a 56 button Baritone Treble the bottom G and the top G are on the LH side?

Does that mean, that the column patterns left and right are the other way round as well: 7-8-7-6 buttons on the LH side, and 7-7-7-7 on the RH side?

 

Like this:

 

[JimLucas]

So on a 56 button Baritone Treble the bottom G and the top G are on the LH side?

That would be right.

Does that mean, that the column patterns left and right are the other way round as well: 7-8-7-6 buttons on the LH side, and 7-7-7-7 on the RH side?

 

Like this:

Since the only baritone-trebles I've seen have had 64 buttons, I can only say... probably.

 

Maybe someone else can tell us for sure. It seems possible that instead of dropping the Eb at the top of the left hand, they might drop the D# from the top of the right hand, giving 7-8-7-7 and 7-7-7-6. But from a production point of view, if for no other reason, it would seem to make sense to use the same pair of patterns as on other 56-button concertinas, except for having the patterns on the opposite ends.