variations in sounds of Crane duet notes

[Mary B]

I started playing my Crane duet 4 days ago. Today when I was playing a tune that needed a melody note on the left side of the concertina, I noticed that the texture of the note B sounded different from the notes on the right side. It seemed "honkier" than the others. I then compared the overlapping notes, and the ones on the left had a very different sound from the ones of the same pitch on the right side. Since I have never seen or heard another Crane duet, I do not know if this normal. The instrument is an early (serial #378) 48 key Lachenal with steel reeds which was recently restored and tuned to concert pitch by Chris Algar. Has anyone else noticed something similar in his/her instrument?

[Daniel Hersh]

I started playing my Crane duet 4 days ago. Today when I was playing a tune that needed a melody note on the left side of the concertina, I noticed that the texture of the note B sounded different from the notes on the right side. It seemed "honkier" than the others. I then compared the overlapping notes, and the ones on the left had a very different sound from the ones of the same pitch on the right side. Since I have never seen or heard another Crane duet, I do not know if this normal. The instrument is an early (serial #378) 48 key Lachenal with steel reeds which was recently restored and tuned to concert pitch by Chris Algar. Has anyone else noticed something similar in his/her instrument?

I would suspect a replacement reed that doesn't quite match the tone quality of the others. This can happen on any vintage concertina.

[Geoff Wooff]

With old concertinas that have recently come out of retirement, which could be the case with your Crane, a certain period of 'waking-up' can mean that the tone of the notes improves over time. I have one concertina that is not happy after being unplayed for a week and can take several hours of playing to come back to full voice.

I also notice on my recently aquired Maccann that, as it 'wakes up" ,the notes I do play have a better sound than the ones I have yet to regularly exercise. Therefore ,it could be that the previous owner of your Crane played a lot in the cross over section on the left hand but played the right hand notes further up the scale, which might account for the tonal differences. However, each concertina, and the pieces of wood it is constructed from, is a little different and without the luxury of having a shop full to choose from we have to try to make the best of what we can get.

 

If I were you I would play all the notes every day to give them all a chance to wake up and sing their best song.

 

Good luck with your Duet playing,

Geoff.

Edited January 9, 2012 by Geoff Wooff

[Jody Kruskal]

Hi Mary,

 

You may have a left/right tonal issue with your instrument, but perhaps it's not such a big problem as the one you hear.

 

I'm an Anglo player and all of my instruments have some of what you speak of. Even my somewhat new Dipper has a different tone/timbre for each note. Really, the concertina is a collection of little one note instruments, each has it's own reed, setting, chamber, valve, pad and placement in the reed pan. The instrument maker strives to make them all sound like they come from one source but in fact that is artifice. It may be argued that some makers are more clever than others in voicing their instruments. Also some repair and tuning experts might do a better job than others in adjusting, but you can only take that so far.

 

In practice, my ear hears the tonal differences between notes as being great, but my audience hardly hears that at all. This has been reported by others as well. It seems that the player does not hear what the listener hears. How can this be? As you play, you may compensate for tonal differences between notes. Also, the listener is not sitting 18 inches from the instrument as you are.

 

Try recording yourself playing actual music that includes your problem notes. Play in a nice sounding room and place the recorder or mics at a normal audience distance, say 5 to 15 feet away from you. I would guess that when you listen to the recording you will not hear the striking differences in timbre that bother you as a player. This has been a shocking and dramatic realization for me. That is to say, it seems as though my music overpowers the limitations of my instrument.

 

My advice is to make great music with the tools that are available to you and ignore the imperfections. Sure... get the best tools you can, but the act of music making can transcend a rough or inconsistant instrument and become sublime through striving for your intention.

[Mary B]

Daniel, thanks for letting me know that this tone difference might be due to a replacement reed which is not something I could fix.

 

Geoff, I really appreciate your advice to play the problem notes to "wake them up" because my inclination was to avoid playing them, which would be the wrong thing to do! From the musty smell of the instrument, it probably was not played for a long time before I bought it.

 

Jody, I have not tried recording myself, but I will play for a friend and see if she can hear the difference from a distance. Thanks for your encouragement to enjoy the instrument and the thrill of making music in spite of a few imperfections. This is my first vintage concertina, and I love its tone on most of the notes. It sure is an improvement over my Jackie EC. I think the duet will inspire more creativity because I like trying to play harmonies with a song melody, which I found difficult on the EC. I borrowed an anglo, and discovered that I could play carols on it, but could not sing with it due to the need for too much concentration on whether to push or pull. I hope the duet will work better for song accompaniment. Playing concertina is a grand adventure.