Any New Swan concertina owner ?

[Dutchman]

Hi,

 

Just joined concertina.net - though I'm not completely new to the concertina. After having owned 2 Lachenal anglo concertinas, one metal-ended and one mahogany-ended, some 20 years ago, I abandoned the concertina and focussed on the button accordion. But recently, just for fun (Christmas gift to myself), I bought a New Swan anglo from McNeela. And I must say, I enjoy it very much - and am making good progress building a repertoire.

 

In my opinion, the New Swan is a great concertina for the money. It looks quite decent, sounds good enough and response is quite fast too. The only thing I like less about it is that the buttons are relatively thinnish. Slightly thicker would have felt better to my fingers.

 

And, following up on the previous post, I have no issue with the air valve. Easy to reach, and lets in plenty of air too.

 

Best,

 

Han.

Edited February 13, 2019 by Dutchman
Fixing typos

[Timv]

18 hours ago, Dutchman said:

In my opinion, the New Swan is a great concertina for the money. It looks quite decent, sounds good enough and response is quite fast too. The only thing I like less about it is that the buttons are relatively thinnish. Slightly thicker would have felt better to my fingers.

 

After playing mine for a while now, I have to agree. The buttons are much thinner and longer than what I was used to. Although I believe that is only personal preference, since I am getting used to it.

However, the buttons are more slippery than those on my previous concertina. I thought the thinness of the buttons would counteract the slipperiness, but I still need to take breaks to dry my hands more often.

 

As for the loudness that was discussed previously, I have found that it being too loud was just due to my lack of bellows control. On my previous concertina, you couldn't affect the loudness via bellows that much, but on the Swan this effect is much more pronounced. So this was more or less a user error and I am getting more practice to help with this.

[priscillaj]

On 2/11/2019 at 10:36 AM, reenact12321 said:

the cheaptina!!!

I don't usually lol, but this hit the nail on the head!  I want to play for my own entertainment and enjoyment but I don't want 'cheap' and am afraid of shelling out the money on something that has poor sound.  I have a 20+ year old 'red' concertina made in Italy bought in Feb 2019.  Buttons are

 wiggly and sticky.  I have strongly considered the Swan and I am afraid of a harsh or brassy sound--maybe just the higher notes? Timv's video is very good and the Swan does have a nice sound.  It didn't seem loud to me at all.  And is a 30b really necessary?  For the price I could get them all, even if I seldom use them!   I guess  I need to figure that out for myself.  Timv video sounded very nice though.  I would be inclined to go ahead and buy a Swan.  

Edited May 6, 2019 by priscillaj
typo

[pkemner]

Has anyone run into an ad on facebook for a company selling the Swan for 1/6 the price with free shipping? The photos and info are the same.

"Our goods are authentic, with genuine patents, counterfeit must be investigated! Customers please identify our products!"

 

This sounds "Too good to be true" as the saying goes....

 

[Don Taylor]

(deleted).

 

Edited July 28, 2020 by Don Taylor

[Margaret Dexter Waldbauer]

I started with the Swan and had played nothing else so I had nothing to compare it to. I started as a complete beginner (though I do play other instruments -piano, guitar, tin whistle, clarinet). I learned with Caitlin Nic Gabbhans beginner course online, and now about ready to be moving along to the improver course. At one point I had a key stick and was bummed about that, but  McNeela responded to my email with instructions on how to fix this, and it was easily remedied. No problems reaching the air button and no trouble with fingering. I recently  found a Tedrow on ebay and got that as a step up and wow, I do really like it more than the Swan, but I feel like the Swan did well by me for a good year and 1/2, and could have kept playing it, but something about trying something else got into me and so it goes. I am glad that I didn't start with the Wren, I imagine I would have set it aside and not continued if that were the case. Hope this is helpful. 

[Spencer Chandler]

I have enjoyed having a Swan concertina for the past year.  It was and is a great instrument to learn and develop on.  I would recommend it.  I'm sure the more skilled one is, the more control one would have in producing good tone, ornaments, etc.  But a more skilled player is more likely to own a more complex instrument.  So, for beginners or intermediate/occasional players, it provides a lot of capacity for growth.  It won't stop you from learning tunes or developing your style.  

[Tony Curtin]

On 5/2/2021 at 6:55 AM, Margaret Dexter Waldbauer said:

I started with the Swan and had played nothing else so I had nothing to compare it to. I started as a complete beginner (though I do play other instruments -piano, guitar, tin whistle, clarinet). I learned with Caitlin Nic Gabbhans beginner course online, and now about ready to be moving along to the improver course. At one point I had a key stick and was bummed about that, but  McNeela responded to my email with instructions on how to fix this, and it was easily remedied. No problems reaching the air button and no trouble with fingering. I recently  found a Tedrow on ebay and got that as a step up and wow, I do really like it more than the Swan, but I feel like the Swan did well by me for a good year and 1/2, and could have kept playing it, but something about trying something else got into me and so it goes. I am glad that I didn't start with the Wren, I imagine I would have set it aside and not continued if that were the case. Hope this is helpful.