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Instrument Survey


shipcmo

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has anyone thought that advertising the ownership of multiple expensive instruments is not the best home security policy?

Well, being in America, I suppose I should also in fairness point out that I also own a number of firearms... (*)

 

(Grin)

 

--Dave

 

 

Finally, if there any readers of this forum planning a career of stealing expensive concertinas from owners around the world, be aware that the big money in this occupation is most likely from selling the movie rights for use as a slapstick comedy after you are caught at home in a room that looks like Chris Algar's web site picture.

 

Again, most emphatically :)

 

Dan Madden

 

Chaps,

 

Just thinking of the number of stolen instruments reported around, and more recently the two missing Morse from the Music Room in the UK.

 

As for myself, we in the UK don't have guns, (although I am a qualified rifle coach and once shot in an international competition (came 86th out of 550 entrants!) ). So these days I have a trusty catapult, but the cat won't keep still.

 

When we were allowed to hold firearms in the UK, the Police used to insist that anonimity is the best form of security. hence my 'health warning'

 

Dave

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There was a peice of newspaper inside which Andrew Norman fished out when he was repairing it which had a date of 1890s on it which makes it earlier than the date by numbering system

Not sure I understand that comment. Newspaper inside has to have been earlier than when it was put in the instrument, but that could be anything from earlier the same day to decades before the instrument was made, no? Even if it was put in some time after the instrument was made.

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I've got one concertina at the moment (and four melodicas, three piano accordions, an Indian harmonium, an old Canadian parlor organ and lots of non-free-reed instruments...)

 

The concertina is a C-G Anglo. It has 31 ivory buttons (including a C drone), Jeffries-style metal endplates, and no maker's name anywhere. Steve Chambers, who restored it and sold it to me about 20 years ago, said it was most likely a Jeffries or Crabb made roughly between 1880 and 1890. Neil Wayne once looked at it, inside and out, and said about the same thing, adding that it's more likely a Crabb than a Jeffries but there's no way to know for sure. Whatever it is, it's a great instrument with a nice tone and incredibly responsive reeds.

 

Daniel

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One Bastari WS15 30-button anglo, one Herrington anglo with the 24-button Edgley system keyboard, and three Cajun-style accordions (with my baby being a Louisiana handmade in C by Lee Begnaud from Lake Charles). Plus a Casey Burns keyless Irish flute (nice straight-grain blackwood w/silver mounts), assorted tin whistles, and old cheap mandolin and a set of plastic Scottish bagpipes stashed away in a closet somewhere.

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Now I'm jealous of all the people with lists of nice instruments.

I have an elderly 30 button Bastari Anglo C/G, in the late stages of being loved to death. But a concertina that needs to be taken apart weekly for maintenence is better than no concertina at all. So I'm content.

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Okay, I'll start with the cool stuff first B) . It's an English Wheatstone 64 (+1 air) button, #35773. I looked it up once and it was from the early 50's. (Can't remember the exact year.) It has amboyna ends (I love saying, "Amboyna."), and silver colored buttons. I first saw and played it at a new branch of a growing music store in my area, and fell immediately in lust with its tone. (The middle/low octave would sound, but the upper reeds were all frozen.) The asking price was US$2995. Alas, I could not afford it :angry: I went back 3 months later, wondering what had happened to it while it sat for 3 months on a music store counter filled with curious, but potentially dangerous, tactile-feely musician types B). Amazingly, it survived. :rolleyes: I offered US$950 for it and the owner said, yes! One week, and an evening later I had it in my grubby hands, and had managed to get all of the frozen reeds freed up and sounding beautifully, and knew that it was the find of a lifetime. I still consider it a gift, more than a purchase....

 

Oh yeah, and a big ole double reeded, wet-octave-tuned, cheapo, pine wood, 20 button Anglo.

 

And I have a Stagi 48 button English. Which I have 'plans' for.

 

And a plastic Anglo. The kind sold by Lark in the morning. I couldn't resist it. (I'm a modest fan of, but not owner of any instruments by, the plastic instrument maker Maccafferi. See? I don't even know how to spell his name.... :D) It actually plays. Not pleasantly. But it plays!

 

I have harmonicas, cheap and otherwise. A Hohner Melodica. A piano accordion, and a couple of cheap push-pull toy melodeon (playable, a little) type thingys.

 

I have a bunch of other non-free-reed instruments, too. They range from a humble, but respectable collection of pennywhistles, ocarinas and flutes, to strummy/picky things like guitars and ukes. I also own a cheapo 29 string harp, and a lead tenor steel pan/drum (with an amazing voice) that cost more than my Wheatstone did.

 

I have a bunch of other stuff too.

 

My living room was once (accurately) described as, "An ethnic music store that sort of blew up." :lol:

Edited by Aldon
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Oh :o ! I didn't realise I was supposed to list the three french horns, the harmonium, the tin tambourine and the shaky egg, the bones, the jaleika and the Armenian oboe-thing with a reed bigger than that of a contra-bassoon (can't remember the name just now, oh yes, it's a duduk!), the long model cornet out on loan and the autoharp ... :rolleyes:

Samantha

 

... and the flugel horn ... (added later)!

Edited by Samantha
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Also, last but not least: I have very recently (a few days ago) purchased a Lachenal 55-button MacCann Duet from Barleycorn Concertinas, but it has not yet arrived.

 

The other day it arrived! It is a beauty. It is a Lachenal, but it has no serial number. Anyway, so now I can include that as one of the best concertinas I own.

 

I've got one concertina at the moment (and four melodicas, three piano accordions, an Indian harmonium, an old Canadian parlor organ and lots of non-free-reed instruments...)

 

Are we supposed to list intruments that are not concertinas? Other members of the Free-Reed family? I'll have to do an inventory.

 

. Plus a Casey Burns keyless Irish flute (nice straight-grain blackwood w/silver mounts), assorted tin whistles, and old cheap mandolin and a set of plastic Scottish bagpipes stashed away in a closet somewhere.

 

Well, now we are including all of our instruments? I don't have time to do that inventory right now. Time to go practice concertina...

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Let's see. I also have a six string guitar that I really can't play, a Yamaha DX7, Korg MicroKorg and Roland XV-88 that I can, and a Moeck tenor recorder that is significantly older than I am.

 

My wife has a Roland Handsonic drum synth, more hand drums than I have room to describe, a cello, a classical guitar, an appalachian dulcimer, more whistles than I can comfortably count (including three Burke D whistles, a Burke composite low D whistle, and an Abell D whistle), and is awaiting the completion of a James Jones 30 string harp.

 

Some may note that she is awaiting a new instrument at the same time I am. This is in accord with the Law of Marital Harmony and Deplenished Bank Accounts (treats for everyone if treats for anyone).

 

Mostly right now, I'm hoping that Hurricane Isabel stays the hell away from the room with all the instruments.

 

--Dave

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Other instruments?

 

Cello (2), 5-string banjo (2), hammered dulcimer, mountain dulcimer, classical guitar (3), pipe & tabor, a couple synthesizers hooked up to my Mac, and more recorders and pennywhistles than I can keep track of. But who's counting?

 

And just keep Isabel away from the Squeeze-In and there'll be no trouble.

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And just keep Isabel away from the Squeeze-In and there'll be no trouble.

Last I checked in the the reports, Isabel had been downgraded yet again and the weather is now expected to be just rainy on Friday (down from high rains and winds) and clear and sunny both Saturday and Sunday. We'll see!

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Besides concertinas? 2 button accordions, a fiddle, a 5-string banjo, a piano, and a keyboard for which I finally got a USB midi connector for! I'm hoping that this move will speed up my notation input.

 

Oh - and a melodeon (the American type folding organ, that is) that's really gorgeous and really needs a lot of work. Makes for a nice plant stand though.

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  • 4 years later...
A special thanks to those who provided the serial numbers of their Lachenal concertinas.

 

Serial numbers/descriptions from other Lachenal owners would be much appreciated.

 

Now, it is time to make my contribution to the survey;

 

Lachenal #140871: 32-key Anglo C/G with bird whistle and cock crow; metal ends (ME); bone buttons (BB); the Oct. 1895 sales receipt indicates that it was purchased with an extra set of reed shoes with brass reeds (BR). It now has steel reeds (SR) except for a few high notes from the BR set. The extra reed shoes are long gone.

 

Hi,

I have a 50b Lachenal Anglo which also has a bird whistle and then some unidentified 'organ pipe' type addition that I haven't been able to work out. I wonder whether this looks like your 'cock crow' ?? I am still trying to restore these things and it would be very useful to see pictures of your concertina.

All Best wishes,

Neil

 

 

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I have:-

 

Dipper C/G baritone 30-button

Lachenal (restored by Connor) C/G 32-button including silly noise buttons

Jeffries G/D 38-button

Herrington G/D 30-button

Morse G/D 30-button

Jones G/D 26-button

Lachenal Bb/F 30-button (soon to be up for sale)

 

Anne has:-

 

Wheatstone Aeola English

Wheatstone 1850's English

Wheatstone baritone English

Morse baritone English

Lachenal Accordiaphone (very rare!)

 

Believe me - that's enough to be getting on with. You will note a certain weighting towards G/Ds in my collection.

 

Chris

 

Chris,

 

If I recall from past postings, the herrington is one of the square models, like Jim Besser also owns. Correct?

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Coming late to the thread, but here is my current line up...

 

1. Edgley C/G, Jefferies Layout which is generally my main squeeze.

2. Kensington Concertina, C/G. I like it a lot, but another guy in the session has one, so it is nice to be able to tell instruments apart... :).

3. Marcus Concertina, C/G. Wheatstone/Lachenal Layout. It is currently on indefinite loan.

 

I have a Suttner C/G on order that should be coming in a few years.

 

--

Bill

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