A "special" Crane Aeola

[david robertson]

I have now added details of the range and a few pictures of the innards to my eBay listing, but for complete clarity,the layout is precisely as Geoff's diagram above - than you Geoff!

[david robertson]

I have now added details of the range and a few pictures of the innards to my eBay listing, but for the sake of complete clarity, the layout is precisely as Geoff's diagram above - thank you, Geoff!

[Little John]

Minor point - Geoff's diagram indicates 8.5" across flats. David's description is 7.5"

[david robertson]

Minor point - Geoff's diagram indicates 8.5" across flats. David's description is 7.5"

I imagine Geoff may have amended a chart from a "normal" 65k layout, and perhaps forgotten to amend that dimension. It is, in fact, 7.5" across the flats, presumably because the reeds are smaller than they would be in the conventional tuning.

[Geoffrey Crabb]

 

Minor point - Geoff's diagram indicates 8.5" across flats. David's description is 7.5"

I imagine Geoff may have amended a chart from a "normal" 65k layout, and perhaps forgotten to amend that dimension. It is, in fact, 7.5" across the flats, presumably because the reeds are smaller than they would be in the conventional tuning.

 

Exactly as David has said, sorry about that.

 

I have emended my master copy.

 

Geoffrey

[rlgph]

 

One thing I see immediately: The left hand layout appears to be the mirror of the right hand layout. (Edited to correct: I misread the column order, and it's not exactly mirrored. That is strange. Nevertheless, I'll leave intact what I've said about mirroring, even though it doesn't fully apply to this specific instrument's layout.) That sort of configuration has been suggested by a number of folks as a general principle for duets... same finger for same note (perhaps with an octave difference) in both hands, rather than same layout to the eye when laid side by side.

 

Until a little over a week ago, my seemingly unique Pitt-Taylor duet was the only instrument I had encountered which embodied that principle. But that's when I visited Neil Wayne, and one of the odd/bizarre instruments in his Concertina Museum collection also has mirrored keyboards, though with a slightly modified uniform Maccann/Chidley layout. Interestingly enough, it also has identical ranges in the two hands, rather than different octaves. Can there be a connection between these two instruments? (Neil's isn't by Wheatstone, but appears to be "homemade", with used Lachenal reeds.) Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any way to find out, as Neil's instrument has no documented history.

 

Wim Wakker informed me that the CC Peacock can be ordered with either ascending or descending keyboards on either side. That suggests that there may be one or more Wicki/Haydens out there with a mirrored configuration. I have, in fact, ordered one for myself with a mirrored left side. Starting to play concertina for the first time at 66, i decided to give myself whatever advantage i could, and the mirrored configuration fits my brain better. The lack of resale is of minor disadvantage to me.

[JimLucas]

I see that David has now listed this Crane on eBay:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Unique-65-key-Crane-Duet-Aeola-concertina-/281554150973?pt=UK_MusicalInstr_Keyboard_RL&hash=item418def663d

Well, the auction is over, with only one bid, so someone got this interesting little gem for David's "starting" price of £1500.

 

I'd be surprised if it wasn't one of our members. Want to tell us who you are?