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any custom concertina maker recommendations?


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I would recommend Andrew Norman (http://www.acnorman.co.uk/). He has recently developed a bass Anglo and I am sure would look at any ideas you have. He looked at making a Wheatstone Double Duett for me and came up with a plan (though I didn't follow it through, as I had other projects on the go).

Andrew has repaired a few concertinas for me and has always done a very good job, so I would recommend him.

Peter

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3 hours ago, Peter Smith said:

I would recommend Andrew Norman (http://www.acnorman.co.uk/). He has recently developed a bass Anglo and I am sure would look at any ideas you have. He looked at making a Wheatstone Double Duett for me and came up with a plan (though I didn't follow it through, as I had other projects on the go).

Andrew has repaired a few concertinas for me and has always done a very good job, so I would recommend him.

Peter

thanks but I also need single action and he uses accordion reeds witch are double action

thanks again

 

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Colin Dipper has made some 48 key English double action basses, essentially for the West Country Concertinas group at Ruishton, Taunton, and he has mended my single action Wheatstone C  bass. His son John (the folk fiddle man!) seems to be taking the business over now at Heytesbury, Wilts.

 

I don't know whether anybody has made any with double reed pans (ie. two at each end, one with the big bass reeds, and lots of wooden plumbing, which reduces the size a bit. I don't know whether that needs to be single action either.) There is a tremendous variety in bass concertinas - they were probably all made to custom specs.

 

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4 hours ago, Nick Oliver said:

Colin Dipper has made some 48 key English double action basses, essentially for the West Country Concertinas group at Ruishton, Taunton, and he has mended my single action Wheatstone C  bass. His son John (the folk fiddle man!) seems to be taking the business over now at Heytesbury, Wilts.

 

I don't know whether anybody has made any with double reed pans (ie. two at each end, one with the big bass reeds, and lots of wooden plumbing, which reduces the size a bit. I don't know whether that needs to be single action either.) There is a tremendous variety in bass concertinas - they were probably all made to custom specs.

 

thanks

 

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14 hours ago, Bassconcertina.net said:

thanks but I also need single action and he uses accordion reeds witch are double action

thanks again

 

When I tried Andrew Norman's bass anglo I thought it was pretty resposive given the size of the reeds.

If you are within striking distance of Shrewsbury it might be worth a visit.

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For a time I had a full 48-button double action bass.

Its main drawback was that it was much heavier than a single action.

If you can get a double action bass with a reduced range, maybe 36-buttons, that would be more manageable.

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2 hours ago, John Wild said:

For a time I had a full 48-button double action bass.

Its main drawback was that it was much heavier than a single action.

If you can get a double action bass with a reduced range, maybe 36-buttons, that would be more manageable.

Thanks I also had an idea to convert a double action bass into single action by removing the pull reeds and the valves that are right beside those

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11 hours ago, Bassconcertina.net said:

Thanks I also had an idea to convert a double action bass into single action by removing the pull reeds and the valves that are right beside those

I suspect removing the reeds only would not make much difference to the weight. You would still have a larger instrument in its larger frame. There is the question of the overall size needed to accommodate extra reeds/reed chambers.

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On 8/22/2021 at 8:23 AM, Richard Mellish said:

Bass Englishes are usually single action, but why do you need that?

 

1. Weight, big reeds are heavy

2. double action big reed instruments need big valves, which (no matter how skilfully set up) are slow to respond and can cause breathiness and delays in note sounding

3.  there is more room in the instrument to enable better balanced reeds which have a better tone, more power and responsiveness

4. more room in the concertina for a better compass, especially on 'G' basses

5. cheaper to make.

6 less effort to play, less tiring on the wrists and thumbs.

 

and so on.

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On 8/23/2021 at 12:45 PM, John Wild said:

I suspect removing the reeds only would not make much difference to the weight. You would still have a larger instrument in its larger frame. There is the question of the overall size needed to accommodate extra reeds/reed chambers.

Actually John, it does make a difference to weight, think of all the brass in the reed frames that you would be setting aside, yes the reed frames are slotted but I recon that 48 reeds with an average weight of 25 grams, 1.2Kg..

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4 hours ago, d.elliott said:

Actually John, it does make a difference to weight, think of all the brass in the reed frames that you would be setting aside, yes the reed frames are slotted but I recon that 48 reeds with an average weight of 25 grams, 1.2Kg..

Hello Dave.

I may have misunderstood the point i was replying to, but I think I was saying the same as you in essence. I understood the suggestion was to remove the reeds only, and I suggested that alone would not make much difference to the weight. The reed frames and everything else would still be there.

Sorry if I have misunderstood what was being said.

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