Anglodeon?

[JimLucas]

Just one man's opinion, but there's appears to be a great supply of Chemnitzers and Karlsfelders floating around without a huge demand.

And the original poster did say:

I did consider a "Pearl Queen" small, square German Konzertina...

But that seems contrary to the originally stated desire:

Just wondering if any concertina and box players had considered an Anglo concertina with the same note layout as a D/G (or similar) melodeon/box ?

From what little I know of Chemnitzer, Carlsfelder, or bandoneon layouts, they're even more distant from a melodeon layout than a standard anglo would be.

[Stephen Chambers]

From what little I know of Chemnitzer, Carlsfelder, or bandoneon layouts, they're even more distant from a melodeon layout than a standard anglo would be.

 

A Bandonika would certainly be the simplest and most readily available option, seeing that it's already in melodeon layout, and they were made in one, two, two-and-a-half (Club model) and three-row versions on the right-hand side, with melodeon basses on the left.

 

They did get exported and I've come across quite a few of them in England over the years (so some might have made it to Australia ater all?), but you'd probably more-easily find one in Germany - there are three on German eBay at the moment, though this three-row one seems to be the only option amongst them, and it clearly has individual Dix accordion reeds on zinc plates: Bandonika Galotta 106 tönig

 

It has a Buy it now price of €200.00 and postage to Australia would be another €32.00 - so around AU $345.00 (plus import duty?), and they even advertise that theyre open to offers...

Edited April 1, 2014 by Stephen Chambers

[twisper]

Just one man's opinion, but there's appears to be a great supply of Chemnitzers and Karlsfelders floating around without a huge demand. I bought a great hybrid one in the US for about $300, almost fully in tune. This one (since sold): http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=morbidoni+concertina&sm=3

I've seen almost nothing of folks playing them other than polka bands in the US, and a few oddities like the band 16 Horsepower using one of a few tracks. If you don't need your concertina to be tiny (though some Karlsfelders aren't much bigger than an Anglo), the "big square German accordions" might be a neat thing to try.

 

 

A word of caution here, after having owned and refurbished a few Chemnitzer-style boxes,( Langes, and a Pearl Queen), I would like to say that many of these, if not most, have long multi-reed plates. These plates have a pre-determined layout of long and short reeds dictated by the mysterious button system. In my experience, these are not too difficult tune and maintain in their original note layout, but to re-arrange notes is almost a supernatural heroic quest. One cannot simply swap notes around from button to button without a major remodeling of reedblocks and/or plates. This is probably the reason that these instruments are so easy to come by.... they are limited in their possibilities to alter them into a more useful pattern. There is a possibility, however, that some of the more late-model Italian made Chemnitzer style boxes may have individual reed-plates, which might allow some form of custom layout.

Edited April 1, 2014 by twisper

[Smeeinit]

Thank you all for the feedback, links and leads.
Much appreciated.

[Stephen Chambers]

Just one man's opinion, but there's appears to be a great supply of Chemnitzers and Karlsfelders floating around without a huge demand.

 

 

The one in your photo looks to be a 2-row Bandonika, rather than a Chemnitzer, so it would play just like the button accordion beside it.

[Smeeinit]

G'Day to All,

I am very happy to let any interested squeezers know, that thanks to the talents, patience and dedication of Bill Crossland, I have a retuned Anglo playing the right side as for melodeon melody notes and the left representing melodeon base and chords!

Therefore, (being a melodeon player) I can now pick up the converted beauty and play the same pattern as I have learned on the melodeon.
No Face pulling or drooling!

Thank you so much Bill.

[malcolm clapp]

So we might see it in action at one of the Concertina Convergence sessions at this Easter's National?

[Bill Crossland]

Thanks Shane. The project did make my brain hurt, but being able to laser cut new reed pans in three layers of 2mm material made the project possible. The cutouts for the reed frames were slightly undersized and then hand filed to match the reed frame profiles. The remainder of the instrument was the original Lachenal 24 key anglo.

 

Best of luck with playing it!

[Smeeinit]

So we might see it in action at one of the Concertina Convergence sessions at this Easter's National?

Only if you play it mate, you know how shy I am.

Looking forward to the National.