£235 Anglo Kit

[Squeezebox Of Delights]

Hello all,

 

So I was just trawling through old melodeon.net articles, and I came across a post about a Swiss company that makes several sorts of free reed instruments. As well as doing ready-made instruments, they also sell a range of DIY kits; such as a couple of accordions, a harmonium, and most importantly, three Anglo concertinas - a 10 button, a 6 button and what appears to be a 2 button. The most complete of these - the 10 button model - has one row of 5 buttons on each side, and is in the key of C. The kit costs 300 Swiss Francs, which is currently equivalent to £235.94 or $324.25, which seems like quite a reasonable price for people who want the experience of building (and then being able to play) a working instrument. It's not particularly orthodox in build, having 12 sides, 4 fold bellows, accordion reeds and an action like that of an old melodeon, but it certainly does the job. The other, smaller concertinas are a bit cheaper, but I feel like people would be more interested in the larger one, and there are no videos of the smaller ones. I just thought I'd put this here in case anyone was interested, because I certainly am!

 

http://akkordeonwerkstatt.ch/eigenbau.html

 

 

Edited April 12, 2021 by Squeezebox Of Delights

[charleschar]

Very interesting! If the aim is to deliver the experience of building a working instrument for a low cost, though, I am curious as to why it was designed with 12 sides, as I would think that adding more components to the build would drive up the price.

[JimmyG]

I think the 'Akkordoline' looks amazing!! Take a look at the rotating transposition feature.

[Don Taylor]

1 hour ago, JimmyG said:

I think the 'Akkordoline' looks amazing!! Take a look at the rotating transposition feature.

You can ask Youtube to translate the sub-titles.

[Daniel Hersh]

If anyone successfully contacts this company, let us know!  I heard several years ago that at that time they didn't seem very interested in selling to customers outside their own country.

[gcoover]

Hey Daniel,

 

I'll check with the good folks at Akkordeonschule Aarau in Switzerland - they might be familiar with these instruments and also might be able to help facilitate getting some into our very curious hands!

 

Gary

Edited April 12, 2021 by gcoover

[TJPearson]

Having been disappointed when discovering that the Clover Anglo kit was no longer available.

This looks like it could be a great project, for the not too distant future, hopefully🙂.

I am watching this thread with anticipation.

Shalom  TJ

[Pistachio Dreamer]

On 4/12/2021 at 6:15 PM, Don Taylor said:

You can ask Youtube to translate the sub-titles.

Pausing at 2:35 - it look like they are constructing the bellows in a somewhat similar way to how I am currently for my less expensive builds - with cards applied to the fabric, no separate gussets. However they are dividing this into individual strips of pairs, rather than the whole sheet. This does have some advantages, so very interesting to see. The twist to change key is intriguing, must be trade offs with airtightness but a great idea nonetheless.

[dabbler]

I really like their "bandoline", a bandoneon with an intuitive button arrangement, like a stringed instrument tuned in 5ths.

-George

 

[dabbler]

On 4/14/2021 at 4:41 PM, Pistachio Dreamer said:

Pausing at 2:35 - it look like they are constructing the bellows in a somewhat similar way to how I am currently for my less expensive builds - with cards applied to the fabric, no separate gussets.

Interesting.  Seems like this would make it possible to pull the bellows into a straight cylinder, or a dodecagonal prism more precisely.  Would this not cause stability problems?

[Pistachio Dreamer]

On 4/16/2021 at 3:33 AM, dabbler said:

Interesting.  Seems like this would make it possible to pull the bellows into a straight cylinder, or a dodecagonal prism more precisely.  Would this not cause stability problems?

I have found it results in a greater range, without the natural stopping point you get with bellows made with individual gussets, which is no bad thing in a way as it helps with the range. However, I use a really thick card-like material called kraftex, which is relatively stiff and is actually quite hard to pull all the way back out into a cylinder, though seems supple enough in the playable range once you have compressed the bellows.

 

If they are using relatively thin leather or leather type material, I suspect it would be easier to draw the bellows out into a complete cylinder as you suggest, unless they have some further mechanism to prevent this. In the extreme case, you could find that when you return the bellows the cards could conceivably pop out rather than in, which would certainly make playing interesting! Looking at the videos it doesn't look like this would be an issue, maybe in the way they have tucked the additional gusset material to the back of the cards, which does look a good deal neater than my attempts.

 

I initially experimented with an armature within each top run to help the bellows keep their shape. After a while I realised these weren't necessary and use them just to keep everything regular during construction, then remove them afterwards. I wonder if there is something similar here, or if there is a jig to use to make sure each run is lined up with the previous.

[Roger Hare]

I was just looking at he Akkordoline video. I noticed that the buttons are actually numbered - clearly shown

in the attached 'still' from the video. Anyone know any details of this numbering system, in particular why

it's not continuous, and if it's the same on the other end, or if it goes 7-10-8-11-9-12 - and why - is there an

accompanying tutor or something? 

 

Ta.

 

 

Edited May 9, 2021 by lachenal74693

[Graham Collicutt]

1st, 2nd, chord etc in scale as selected from rotating ends as marked on left side.

[Roger Hare]

6 hours ago, Graham Collicutt said:

1st, 2nd, chord etc in scale as selected from rotating ends as marked on left side.

Ah! OK, that makes it clear - thanks!

[JimmyG]

Graham is correct. The third of chord 3 is usually augmented which provides the relative V for chord vi, but don't know for sure in this case.

[RP3]

TJ, 

 

If you go to the Concertina Connection website, it still lists Clover as being sold and the expected delivery time. If interested, you might want to check again.

 

Ross SCHLABACH

[TJPearson]

Hello RP3,

Thanks for your kind help.

I have been to the website and the Clover Anglo is available as a finished instrument.

I am not sure they still sell it as a build it yourself kit.

I have emailed them and we will see what they reply.

Thanks again Ross.

 

Shalom TJ

[Ken_Coles]

My understanding is that Wim only sold the Clover as a kit for a couple of years. i got one of the first batch in 2009 or 2010 IIRC and spent a summer building it (sanding by hand is the slow way to do things), quite an adventure. It came out great.

 

Ken