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Protect That Concertina!


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I'm so thankful for all of your previous warnings in this forum about putting away the concertina in a closed case when I'm not playing it during a session!

 

In tonight's session a fellow musician knocked over a full pint of Guinness, thoroughly splattering me (good thing the weather's warm, because I was soaked until I could reach home!) and my Dipper in its closed case. The Dipper case is even better than I realized: not a drop reached the interior of the case--or the concertina.

 

So folks, please heed the warnings. If you put down your concertina in a session, put it into its case and close the lid.

 

And carry a thick blanket in your trunk so you can sit on it when you're soaked with beer and not mess up your car seat! :lol:

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You have a good memory,My warning followed a session at Simouth where a whole pint of bitter poored into my CG Jeffries and continued to stick up the reeds for weeks afterwards.

The problem certainly in the UK is that the pub floors are uneven,certainly in the George the floor slopes downwards and any stamping of the feet or dancing gradually inches the pints towards the downward direction of the slope and tips over when it reaches the edge.Since it happened I not only close the lid but put the box well under the table.

Also if you leave the pub room make sure you put your concertina in a safe place with a friend,do not leave it in the middle of the room unprotected,which a friend of mine did recently.

We have one of the best places ever to hold a session,one of the oldest pubs in the world, but two handbags have been stolen in our time there,no instruments yet.

I agree with the topic headline,protect that instrument.

Al

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...any stamping of the feet or dancing gradually inches the pints towards the downward direction of the slope and tips over when it reaches the edge.Since it happened I not only close the lid but put the box well under the table.

Seems to me you'd also want to seat yourself at the uphill end of the table. ;)

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Good idea Jim,it also means that your pint is the last one to go over.

Al

ps.That reminds me.

Did you hear about the Lemming that died of natural causes and his mates threw him over the cliff, because that`s what he would have wanted ?

 

 

(Edited to put in the right threw (thanks JIm)

Edited by Alan Day
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The way to know that the floor is level is to see if the concertina player is drooling out of both sides of his mouth---

That only works for "level" in one direction.

To be sure the floor is truly level, you must be sure to rotate the concertina player slowly and observe the drool (not to be confused with sloshed ale) in all orientations. B)

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I know that technique works for banjo players but with instruments like the concertina I've noticed a strange phenomenon that appears as soon as a tune starts - concertina face (melodeon face, fiddle face and other variants I've also seen)

 

This is usually manifest as a complete loss of muscle control in the face since all available neurons are occupied trying to play without too many mistakes. One might think this is where the drooling starts but it seems also to be accompanied by a tilt of the head to one side. This looks very much like a dog when you make an unusual sound and they get that quizzical look, tilting their head over to one side.

 

In the case of my dogs I've always thought it was a case of trying to get all the brain cells over to one side in a vain hope that they'll cooperate. Come to think of it that pretty well describes my concertina playing too!

 

My other excuse is that I'm trying to hear the notes I'm playing in a loud session so the drool usually ends up on the whistle player to my left ... <_<

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My other excuse is that I'm trying to hear the notes I'm playing in a loud session so the drool usually ends up on the whistle player to my left ...  <_<

Not a very good excuse for tilting, considering that on an English concertina you can expect the notes to come pretty much equally out of both sides. :D

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Hey Al,

 

Hearkening back ( is that first a real word?) to your quandary with the perfumed box. Sorta fits in here.

 

I read where you can rid something of odor by dampening a dryer (contraption to dry clothes) sheet and putting it in a jar and then into the box. You can even use a used dryer sheet. Keep box closed for 3 days. Odor supposed to be gone then. Do you have dryer sheets?

 

Or have you already solved the perfumed box problem?

 

Should we have a contest to rid your box of smells?

 

Wouldn't put the concertina in the box with the container of damp dryer sheet.

 

Helen

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Hearkening back ( is that first a real word?)

Yep. "hearken" (also "harken" or "hark"): to pay attention or heed.

Special Concertina.net meaning: to listen to Ken ;)

 

I read where you can rid something of odor by dampening a dryer  sheet and putting it in a jar and then into the box.

I presume that's a non-perfumed dryer sheet. B)

 

...damp dryer sheet.

Not to be confused with a dry damper sheet or a dryer damp sheet? :unsure:

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in the George the floor slopes downwards and any stamping of the feet or dancing gradually inches the pints towards the downward direction of the slope and tips over when it reaches the edge

Have you tried the time-honoured trick putting a few beermats under the legs, to level the table ?

 

Otherwise, you could try drinking faster, so that at least the glasses are empty when they fall off . . . (mind you, the floor might start revolving sooner ;) )

 

Cheers !

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in the George the floor slopes downwards and any stamping of the feet or dancing gradually inches the pints towards the downward direction of the slope and tips over when it reaches the edge
...you could try drinking faster, so that at least the glasses are empty when they fall off . . .

I don't know that fragments of glass are particularly more concertina-friendly than beer. :o

I suppose it would be unreasonable to suggest that you keep an eye on the glasses and periodically shift them back upslope? :unsure:

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I don't know that  fragments of glass are particularly more concertina-friendly than beer. :o

On the contrary, I can think of nothing less concertina-friendly than soaking it in beer (in my experience concertina players are much better at absorbing copious amounts of beer than their instruments :wacko: ), a few shards of glass will cause much less terminal damage to the instrument.

 

Anyway, I still think the beermats are the best answer.

 

Slainte !

Edited by Stephen Chambers
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