Paul Read Posted November 22, 2004 Share Posted November 22, 2004 (edited) Yesterday I was asked how many concertinas the likes of Colin Dipper and Steve Dickinson (Wheatstone) make a year. I confess I have no idea but I've a feeling the answer is out there on the Forum. Any takers? Edited November 22, 2004 by Paul Read Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken_Coles Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 Not only have I idly wondered this myself, but I have also wondered, are modern makers keeping files of numbers and dates so in 50 years it is easier for us to date a Morse (say), that it is to date a Lachenal now? Or is production a proprietary secret? Maybe figures could be released after so many years. And I know Rich Morse numbers his boxes (I have 036, first sold in October 2000), but I'm not aware that Tedrow or Edgely do. Gentlemen? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Reid Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 ... Rich Morse numbers his boxes (I have 036, first sold in October 2000)... And I have no. 175, dated October 31, 2003. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Barnert Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 Anyone aware of a new concertina Steve Dickinson has produced from scratch since 1990 or so? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Tedrow Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 I merely date and sign my instruments now. Since I cannot make more than one/day a serial number is moot. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLucas Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 Yesterday I was asked how many concertinas the likes of Colin Dipper and Steve Dickinson (Wheatstone) make a year. I was told years ago that Steve D.'s production of new instruments was less than 40/year. Without confirmation, though, I'd class that as a rumor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLucas Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 Since I cannot make more than one/day a serial number is moot. Yes, the date can serve the same purpose as a serial number, but is it visible externally? And in the distant future, someone may be interested in knowing what percentage of your instruments have survived. With serial nos. that's possible, but with dates only it would be hard to know the total. Do you keep a record of all the instruments you've made? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Morse Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 We do number our Morse concertinas and keep good accounting of when each was made and any significant changes to the models as we go (such as starting with the Albion #whatever-it-was we incorporated an air button). If our label was removed/missing from a concertina we wouldn't be able to tell exactly what number it was but could tell from which batch it came (we usually do 20 concertinas in a batch/run with sometimes double batching a run). So far we've made about 60 concertinas this year, and each year we seem to make about 20% more than the previous year. While I don't have first hand knowledge about how many other people make, it's been my sense that the Dippers produce between 15-20/year and that Steve Dickinson currently produces considerably less than that. I got my SD Hayden in 1985 which has the serial number 60075, which Steve told me was the 75th one he'd made. He started his numbering with 60000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Tedrow Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 My dates and signatures are all on the inside of my instruments. Some instruments don't have Tedrow appearing on the outside at all. A few have Tedrow in gold tooled 12 pt Elizabethan font....when I am playing with the gold leaf. I have not been able to increase my production. I find that whenever I have gained any savings in time due to skill or standardization, I immediately reinvest the time into another aspect of the instrument. I even took my computer out of the shop because I found myself anwering email when I should be at the bench. I now answer emails in my PJs with coffee in hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Read Posted November 23, 2004 Author Share Posted November 23, 2004 I know that Colin Dipper has a lengthy waiting list (4 years). What is typical for you gents? Anybody know what the Suttner production rate is? With the info so far, it looks like the old instruments can only become more valuable as they disappear to collectors. I have noted, however, that the advent of Ebay has started the old instruments appearing from attics (especially in Australia). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLucas Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 I got my SD Hayden in 1985 which has the serial number 60075, which Steve told me was the 75th one he'd made. He started his numbering with 60000. Sounds to me like he started numbering with 60001. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RP3 Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 It's been a while and my memory isn't what it once was but I remember from my last e-mail conversation with Suttner, he told me that his production was about 25 instruments per year. Put another way, that's just a touch over 2 per month. Since the serial number on my new (2003) 38 button Ab/Eb is only #178, and my first concertina from him was serial #48 back in 1995, I don't think Suttner has been at a 25 concertina/year pace for very long. Ross Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Chambers Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 I was told years ago that Steve D.'s production of new instruments was less than 40/year. Actually, Steve has told me that he would expect to make about ten instruments per year, allowing for repairs and rebuilds as well, but he has not been making many recently. I remember from my last e-mail conversation with Suttner, he told me that his production was about 25 instruments per year. I was talking to him in Kilrush, in fact we did the Concertina Workshop together, and he told me that he has been able to increase his production to that sort of level now that he has an assistant and is out-sourcing parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Reid Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 I merely date and sign my instruments now. Since I cannot make more than one/day a serial number is moot. Last year a friend's bouzouki was stolen. This was a one-off, handmade instrument from a well-known maker who signs and and dates his instruments (including only the year, not the month/day) but does not include a serial number. My friend reported the theft to every police department in the region and plastered music stores and pawn shops with flyers. He said the biggest problem he faced in this task was that the police invariably asked for a serial number. Lacking one, they were hesitant to include the bouzouki in their database of stolen items, which they compare against items in pawn shops. (The second biggest problem was that the police didn't know what the heck a bouzouki is. He took to calling it a "ten-string guitar.'") The instrument was recovered, by the way, thanks to some alert music store employees who recognized the quality of the instrument when a guy walked in and asked $100 for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce McCaskey Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 I've spoken with both Colin Dipper and his wife Rosalie several times on the phone and while I didn't make a direct inquiry regarding the rate of production, Rosalie commented early this year that Colin receives several orders for concertinas in a month, but only makes "about 20 per year" so the wait for delivery is growing with every new order. In a conversation last year Colin commented he'd received three concertina orders in just the preceeding week, He said that things had fallen behind in the 'office' because Rosalie was helping out more with production and spending less time with the paperwork. Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike byrne Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 I have a Colin Dipper (Celebrated Acoustic Band Anglo) made in the latter part of 1987 with the serial number 163. There was a review on C-net of a Dipper Cotswold manufactured in November 1998 serial number 293. This makes 130 concertinas in 11 years - 12 per year if the numbers run in sequence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Edgley Posted November 24, 2004 Share Posted November 24, 2004 I no longer number my concertinas. I sign and date them inside. I have been averaging about2/month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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