David Hornett Posted December 17, 2014 Author Posted December 17, 2014 Following Bruce's advice I have added a sampler to sound cloud: https://soundcloud.com/wasplike/tiger-concertina-sample-sound-track (Please excuse the poor musicianship.) David
David Hornett Posted December 17, 2014 Author Posted December 17, 2014 (edited) Have a merry Christmas all, I am off to Nariel, Victoria a place worth visiting from Boxing day until Jan 2nd, all very welcome. David Edited December 17, 2014 by David Hornett
adrian brown Posted December 19, 2014 Posted December 19, 2014 Hi Adrian, yes, sorry about the confusion, I have absolutely no idea why it posted twice, the first time it refused and said the file was too big, I checked the file size and then reposted, and lo and behold two postings! Yes, all your observations are correct, the Jeffries is brighter, (To my ears, I would say more raucous, -- sacrilegious?), and the sound travels better, especially in a session. Because of the Jeffrie's thinner reeds it is more easy to play. Mine has wider, and parallel reeds, hence more pressure and a slightly nasal sound: in fact I have a brass reeded Crabb and the sound is similar, not the edge of a steel reeded instrument, but the Tiger is less sweet than the Crabb. But all this aside, it does accompany well, not so much a constant screamer, as a nasal sniffer I suppose. Thankyou for your comments, I have tried to posted a sound bite without the jeffries G and D row. But unfortunately it seems I have exceeded my allotted space for attachments. Thank goodness I got that correct David! While it's difficult to make a judgement solely on a recording, it does sound remarkable for what (if I understand you correctly?) is your first traditional reeded concertina. I also think it's great somebody else is making the 38+1 system. Adrian
David Hornett Posted December 20, 2014 Author Posted December 20, 2014 Again, thank you for your comments. In building the instruments I made a few interesting discoveries (for me anyway): 1, If a thin (1.5mm) piece of soft wood (in my experiment, huon pine) is run around the reed frame to the hight of the action board so making each chamber a sealed wooden box, the tone becomes noticeably more mellow both on the push and pull 2, Different reed shoe weights make a different tonal quality, ie my shoes and reeds are rather wide and approx 30% heavier than an equivalent Lachenal shoe and fitted reed (at D# mine are 6 grams, the Lachenal 4 grams) The reeds are the same length for the same note, but my parallel reeds are 3.40mm wide as compared to the 3.15mm (at the root) of lachenal tapered reed. Now because of the wide reed shoes I had to modify one, a G4, by narrowing the shoe down to fit in a slightly restricted, tapered chamber. The resulting reed suddenly took on a more 'concertinaish sound', the overtone bussing one associates with the instrument. But, now, no matter what I do with that reed assembly, including replacing the reed tongue, can I reduce the reed's typical concertina sound back to the more nasal effect you noted, and the concertina effect remains even if I mount the same reed in another G4 spot. So, this may explain, in part only, why reed plates on harmonicas, accordinas and cheaper German concertinas and accordions sound so, well, cheap: not enough reed shoe mass on the thin plates immediately surrounding the reed. Yes it is the first one I have ever built, but there are three others in the batch awaiting tuning: an A/E, two C/G, A job for after the folk festival season I believe. (My son is a realist, "It's all yours when I kick the bucket" I told him. "What do I want that bloody thing for, they deserve to be in museums." said while strumming his guitar.) David
Dana Johnson Posted December 27, 2014 Posted December 27, 2014 Are these copies of files or copies of Jeffries ( implied anyway) and if so, who made the copys. No matter how much effort is expended, copies often don't sound like the originals they were copied from. I'd rather know the maker's name since their peferences on reed style ( light - heavy) don't always match the instrument they used for a pattern. For that matter, Most older concertinas have a wide variety of reed weights depending on who was making that particular set. Knowing that you consider the Jeffries copy reeds to be lighter is a useful thing since it affects the tone vs playing pressure. The weight and stiffness of your flap valves can also have a dramatic influence on tone. Jurgen Suttner went as far as to offer different valve sets depending on your tone preference for a while. I don't know if he still does that. Heavy valves can both dull the tone and make the concertina sound less open. The right valves can make or break an instrument. Fortunately, they are easy to replace.If you are making your own, be sure to cut the valves so the long axis runs in the direction the leather has the least stretch. This preserves its springiness. Valves cut across the grain are floppy and limp in comparison. Grain direction changes from back to belly, so test each bit you are cutting valves from before you orient them. Dana
David Hornett Posted January 4, 2015 Author Posted January 4, 2015 Hi Dana, Thank you for your interest and comments. I am not sure of the denotation of 'copies', but assume you are referring to the reeds and their shoes, if so, they are not really authentic copies of any reed assembly. The reeds are parallel, like some of the Jones and approx 10% wider than a Lachenal (1900 approx.). The profiling was based on the Lachenal figures I gave to Terry McGee on this site. The reed shoes are fractionally undercut, but not as extensively as the Lachenal. I have posted my reed (D#3) compared to the Lachenal equivalent. Yes the leathers do make a difference, and I am currently experimenting with plastic accordion valves, although their slapping shut is an annoyance. The instrument itself was based on a 38 button C/G Lachenal, (but my box is 1cm narrower). My reeds and their arrangement had to be altered as it is a D/G, so had a number of longer bass reeds, this led to a different position for the air valve and some reeds facing point out rather than point in, I was concerned this would effect the tone and response, but I can discern no problems). The reeds are wider because the sketched drafting design, and my comments, were misinterpreted by the CNC drafter, I had asked him if it was possible to undercut reeds by up to 7 degrees, as a trial, he interpreted it as a 7degree taper and went ahead: assuming I would have known it is not possible to undercut on a lazer cutter I suppose -- so I am wearing my poor instructions. Again, thank you for your comments and all the best. David.
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