Availability of South African concertinas?

[MatthewVanitas]

I saw an article from March 2005 on Concertina.net, which asked if there was much possibility that the US market may be interested in concertinas made in South Africa. It seemed to indicate that there might be enough expertise and tradition, and at an advantageous currency rate, to make such appealing. Article here: http://www.concertina.net/la_koot.html

 

So did anything ever come of this? Have many folks here acquired Koots Brits or other concertinas? I've seen a few clips on YouTube of "12 sided" concertinas player by Boer musicians, that were pretty catchy.

 

Are there just not any makers in 2010 in the RSA, or do they just not have much internet presence? Is the situation with the rand still favorable enough to make Afrikaner-made Boer concertinas a viable mid-step between outsourced East Asian boxes, and the US$4,000 UK pieces?

 

(If any South African concertina-makers are reading, and leads on a competitively-priced SA Hayden Duet box? )

[jdms]

I don't know if it's still available--he had it on EBay as well--but there was a 40-button C/G Koot Brits Anglo here from c.net user Ben on the Buy and Sell forum a few months back. Having bought my 40-button C/G Aeola from Ben at about the same time, I can recommend dealing with him--the instrument was just as described, and he went to some pains to make sure it got from him in Ontario to me in Massachusetts in time for Christmas despite some delays I ran into getting the payment to him.

 

jdms

[MatthewVanitas]

I saw the Brits Anglo, but was unclear as to whether it was a newly-built instrument, or an old imported Wheatstone refurbished by Koots. Might need to PM the seller and ask. I'm not personally in the market for an Anglo, but curious as to whether many boxes are coming out of SA, and if the price-quality ratio is good given the value of the rand.

 

Being on various trad music instrument sites, I'm struck by what appears to be a tendency from folks to buy (relatively) locally, even though there are great options on the other side of the planet. I'm currently about to order a set of open-fingered Scottish Smallpipes from a maker in New Zealand. His prices are very competitive, and he used some interesting local woods native to NZ. There are certainly some great makers in the US and UK, but this NZ fellow has satisfied customers online, YouTube reviews, and extremely competitive prices, so I'm giving him a shot.

 

Just curious as to whether South Africa might be a somewhat-overlooked source for decent squeezeboxes, and was really interested by the 2005 article linked above, where the author suggested gearing up more South Africans to make and export concertinas.

[jdms]

The Anglo is a new (2009) instrument with, if memory serves, vintage reeds, and has the 20-sided Lachenal Edeophone look. Since the seller is in Canada, though, the exchange rate with South Africa doesn't apply.

 

jdms

[Daniel Hersh]

I saw the Brits Anglo, but was unclear as to whether it was a newly-built instrument, or an old imported Wheatstone refurbished by Koots. Might need to PM the seller and ask. I'm not personally in the market for an Anglo, but curious as to whether many boxes are coming out of SA, and if the price-quality ratio is good given the value of the rand.

 

Being on various trad music instrument sites, I'm struck by what appears to be a tendency from folks to buy (relatively) locally, even though there are great options on the other side of the planet. I'm currently about to order a set of open-fingered Scottish Smallpipes from a maker in New Zealand. His prices are very competitive, and he used some interesting local woods native to NZ. There are certainly some great makers in the US and UK, but this NZ fellow has satisfied customers online, YouTube reviews, and extremely competitive prices, so I'm giving him a shot.

 

Just curious as to whether South Africa might be a somewhat-overlooked source for decent squeezeboxes, and was really interested by the 2005 article linked above, where the author suggested gearing up more South Africans to make and export concertinas.

There's somewhat newer info about the South African makers in this thread from late 2007. The info that Ben provided on that thread seems to indicate that they'd be happy to take overseas orders, but I'm not sure if anyone has followed up on that. I don't know if any of them use e-mail, which makes things a bit more complicated for the non-local buyer.

[MatthewVanitas]

Minor update

 

I called Mr van Wyk today, and chatted with him for a moment. Very pleasant gentleman with a fascinating accent. Though it turns out that a young American with a strong regional accent calling on an Iranian cellphone from Afghanistan to an elderly Afrikaner is pretty much a recipe for confusion. So I ended up speaking very slowly and over-enunciating on a fuzzy phone connection, and we managed to establish that he is booked up for two solid years, and specializes in the "30 and 40 button chromatic" (presumably Anglo-German) boxes. He did recommend that I call Mr Koots Brits, but the phone number I have for Mr Brits from the 2007 thread doesn't appear to be working.

 

I've PM'ed Ben (who provided the 2007 info) for an update, and will also try pinging the old email addy for Mr Brits' neighbor, as well as PM a few of the Boer concertinists on YouTube who might be familiar with current makers. Will report back here on whatever I find.

 

EDIT: Messaged springbok07, the main poster of Boer concertina on YouTube, to see if he has any input.

Edited April 5, 2010 by MatthewVanitas

[jdms]

...I've PM'ed Ben (who provided the 2007 info) for an update, and will also try pinging the old email addy for Mr Brits' neighbor, as well as PM a few of the Boer concertinists on YouTube who might be familiar with current makers. Will report back here on whatever I find.

 

EDIT: Messaged springbok07, the main poster of Boer concertina on YouTube, to see if he has any input.

 

Unless I misunderstood our conversations while I was working up to buying my Wheatstone, Ben and springbok07 are one and the same.

 

jdms

[MatthewVanitas]

For the purposes of better centralising SAfrica 'box info, quoting Ben's post from another thread. The below has a different phone# for Koots than the 2007 thread (and I haven't been able to reach him at that number), as well as mentioning two other makers.

 

The best person to check out the instrument would be Piet Visser, Phone #(083) 542-4069, who is a member of this forum, he lives in Kraaifontein, Brackenfell, Cape Town. Another person to help you out would be Allen Green from Mosselbaai (Mossel Bay). He builds and repairs concertinas.

 

With regards to learning concertina music...see Piet Visser. There are also two branches of the Boeremusiek Guild in Cape Town where they have weekly meetings/sessions playing Boeremusiek with concertinas and piano accordions. You can also check out "Boeremusiek Gilde" on Facebook for more information and contacts.

 

You may wish to start saving some money to buy an "Engelse" - or anglo concertina from Koot Brits (012) 804-7082 or Willie van Wyk (012) 802-1104.