Anyone familiar with the Irish concertina company

[rockportland]

Anyone have any experience with the Irish concertina company? They have 3 models, I’m particularly interested to hear about

the Vintage and the Eiru. Both have concertina reeds and sound fabulous. Just checking out options to buy.

Thanks

[David Levine]

I owned the top grade for a while, the Gold. I liked it. I did not think it was better than a top-quality Dipper, Carroll, Suttner, Ghent ... or a good old Jeffries. But they are available, with "real" reeds, at a better price than the others, and that means something, 

Edited February 3 by David Levine

[LR71]

They cost less, though, excepting the cheapest Suttner. Was the playability almost as good? 

Edited November 2, 2022 by LR71

[pentaprism]

I have a chance to play a Vintage. It is a beautiful instrument. The sound is bright (for sure brighter than your Kensington), not necessarily a bad thing.

 

The buttons are light and even. I myself prefer delrin to metal, however.

 

The bellows are very soft, in fact, too soft to my taste. Even when new, you close the concertina, and put it down, the bellows don't expand much, may be 1/4 - 1/2 inch. IMHO, the softness of the bellows makes the concertina less stable when being played fast. Note that I'm not commenting on the quality of the bellows, which I think is quite good.

 

I haven't played many concertinas, but among the ones I could get my hands on, I best like the feeling of the Morse Céilí bellows. They feel just right, not too hard nor too soft, when new and when well-played.

 

By the way, I had a chance to deal with Sean Garvey, the owner of The Irish Concertina Company, on some issues regarding shipping. It was not his fault, but he was very nice and very accommodating.

Edited November 4, 2022 by pentaprism

[DR SQUEESE]

If you read the Website there are single card options made by Peter o Connor from Tralee who also makes for 7mount. So please state what top end you played that does not compare with Suttner etc. Because on the Wdbsite everything is explained as to the quality of thd Reeds in each instrument. If you are looking for an honest Maker who is upfront about the type Reeds in each Model the Irish Concertin Company is it.

 

[DR SQUEESE]

On 11/4/2022 at 5:43 PM, pentaprism said:

I have a chance to play a Vintage. It is a beautiful instrument. The sound is bright (for sure brighter than your Kensington), not necessarily a bad thing.

 

The buttons are light and even. I myself prefer delrin to metal, however.

 

The bellows are very soft, in fact, too soft to my taste. Even when new, you close the concertina, and put it down, the bellows don't expand much, may be 1/4 - 1/2 inch. IMHO, the softness of the bellows makes the concertina less stable when being played fast. Note that I'm not commenting on the quality of the bellows, which I think is quite good.

 

I haven't played many concertinas, but among the ones I could get my hands on, I best like the feeling of the Morse Céilí bellows. They feel just right, not too hard nor too soft, when new and when well-played.

 

By the way, I had a chance to deal with Sean Garvey, the owner of The Irish Concertina Company, on some issues regarding shipping. It was not his fault, but he was very nice and very accommodating.

Pentaprism,  throwing a negative comment saying there was some issues with shipping but he was nice and accommodating  leaves the readers with dout and questions like - is this a person I can work with. All very negative. Is this what you meant to convey. By the way both the Morse Ceili which is not made anymore and the Clare and old versions of the Vintage have the same Bellows as they were all made using Accordion Card.

[Notemaker]

On 11/2/2022 at 10:33 AM, LR71 said:

They cost less, though, excepting the cheapest Suttner. Was the playability almost as good? 

Thanks for the post. BTW which Suttner is cheaper than what ever you are comparing it to? Last I looked his prices are up 4.5 K USD and over.

 

Thanks.

[seanc]

10 hours ago, DR SQUEESE said:

Pentaprism,  throwing a negative comment saying there was some issues with shipping but he was nice and accommodating  leaves the readers with dout and questions like - is this a person I can work with. All very negative. Is this what you meant to convey. By the way both the Morse Ceili which is not made anymore and the Clare and old versions of the Vintage have the same Bellows as they were all made using Accordion Card.

Reading his shipping comment as an unbiased reader. I see nothing negative about the maker here.  Quite the opposite. As a person that has experienced catastrophic shipping issues. Having somebody that helps, or even resolves is huge.

 

 

 

[Jillser Nic Amhlaoibh]

11 hours ago, DR SQUEESE said:

If you read the Website there are single card options made by Peter o Connor from Tralee who also makes for 7mount. So please state what top end you played that does not compare with Suttner etc. Because on the Wdbsite everything is explained as to the quality of thd Reeds in each instrument. If you are looking for an honest Maker who is upfront about the type Reeds in each Model the Irish Concertin Company is it.

 

 Forgive my ignorance here but are you affiliated with the Irish Concertina Company? That was the impression I got from older posts you've made.

[Peter Laban]

1 hour ago, Jillser Nic Amhlaoibh said:

 Forgive my ignorance here but are you affiliated with the Irish Concertina Company? That was the impression I got from older posts you've made.

 

 

One of the good dr's old posts is pretty unambiguous, so well spotted:

 

Quote

David, Thank you for looking after my customer. In reply to those enquiring about my prices of different models, you can find all the details on the front page of our website:  

  https://www.irishconcertinacompany.com/

Thank you for your kind comments,

Sean Garvey 

Maker

 

 

This morning I was driving to Ennis, on the radio Ryan Tubridy was talking about Illeism. A clear case of that here.

[pentaprism]

On 4/13/2023 at 5:08 PM, DR SQUEESE said:

Pentaprism,  throwing a negative comment saying there was some issues with shipping but he was nice and accommodating  leaves the readers with dout and questions like - is this a person I can work with. All very negative. Is this what you meant to convey. By the way both the Morse Ceili which is not made anymore and the Clare and old versions of the Vintage have the same Bellows as they were all made using Accordion Card.

Where is the negative comment in "It was not his fault, but he was very nice and very accommodating"?

 

To be honest, at this point I still don't really know what the cause of the shipping problem was. All I knew at the time was that the concertina, instead of going directly from Dublin to California, decided to take a scenic tour to other countries. When I informed Sean of the problem, he was just as surprised as I was as how that could have happened, and he did try everything he could to make me happy, including offering a full refund. I didn't take the refund offer because that would be unfair to him. Fortunately, in the end it was resolved, even thought it did cost me a little bit of time and money.

 

As for me, based on that experience, I'd deal with Sean again any day. Did I tell you that the problem was not his fault, but he was very nice and very accommodating?

Edited April 15, 2023 by pentaprism

[LR71]

On 4/13/2023 at 8:13 PM, Notemaker said:

Thanks for the post. BTW which Suttner is cheaper than what ever you are comparing it to? Last I looked his prices are up 4.5 K USD and over.

 

Thanks.

 

That was quick, last year when I made my spreadsheet attempting to document prices from makers who use traditional reeds Suttner still offered a model - probably the A2 - at €3,530.  Now they're at €4,300.  Which is the same as the Eirú Gold, the ICC's top of the line.  Guess it's inflation at work.

[papawemba]

When I was a complete beginner (still am but a better one ha ha) I simultaneously had The Clare (concertina company) and the Morse Ceili...but budget pushed me to get rid of one...I couldn’t choose ! 
I liked the sound of The Clare better than the Morse...but the Morse has more sound projection, it filled the room which was pretty nice. I finally kept the Morse because of bigger size (big hand) and the sound projection. But then I also sold the Morse because I didn't care for the sound that much (right side was pretty good, but not the left. And with tipo a mano option). 
Guess I am not a fan of Hybrid after all !
They have a new video comparing their concertinas line :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7jQrXQh-gg 
First time I hear The Clare with brass reed, interesting sound !  
Discovering Aoife Johnson, what a great player !!! Love her style.

 

Nicolas

 

[Don Taylor]

When she says that she is playing a Clare with brass reeds and another Clare with aluminium reeds, I presume that she means the reed shoes and not the reed tongues?

 

If so, then this is an interesting demonstration on how this affects the sound - quite striking I thought and I really liked the brass version.

[Bob Tedrow]

They are steel reeds. I don’t know of anyone building with  brass reeds. 
 

http://hmi.homewood.net/concertinas

[Oberon]

15 hours ago, Don Taylor said:

When she says that she is playing a Clare with brass reeds and another Clare with aluminium reeds, I presume that she means the reed shoes and not the reed tongues?

 

If so, then this is an interesting demonstration on how this affects the sound - quite striking I thought and I really liked the brass version.

 

The accordion reed plates are brass and aluminum respectively. I've seen some photos showing them in situ. It does sound quite different and if they're the same level/brand of reed, it's surprising. Perhaps it being a larger reed plate than a concertina reed has some kind of impact. 

 

 

[Ray Wall]

I'm a beginner, I was looking for a new instrument to try after a head injury affected my ability to play my other instruments. I bought a cheap 2 row hohner. Got a little feel for it and a friend of mine had an inexpensive 30 button (stagi). I tried that and found it usable. I took a zoom group class in the winter and later went to Catskills Irish Arts Week with Catriona Fee instructing. I still wasn't very successful learning. I could only remember 4 measures at a time (a tune i knew on other instruments in the past but the next for measures would erase the first 4)  and I had told Catriona that I had a head injury ahead of time and not to slow the class down for me.

The last day we passed around instruments. There were lower end mcneela"s which I didn't like. someone had the top end mecneela which felt good and sounded good. mine was in between those. then Catriona's, oh my! it felt like a dream!!!

I can't remember what she had but it was incredible to play. You didn't have to push the buttons I don't think, just sort of think at them and it sounded beautiful.

My daughter and son in law had planned a trip to Ireland for me before my head injury. They delayed it by a year, but I said I wanted to go. My daughter planned everything.  They were coming from Mali Africa and I was coming from the USA. I was nervous. My head injury is a bit debilitating. I had paperwork from my primary care physician and my neurologist about my head injury. Sometimes I walk like I'm drunk or back then talk and not make sense and I didn't want to get kicked off a flight or other trouble. I got to Dublin before they did and did ok and we had a great trip and near the end I went to the Irish Concertina Company Store and bought a concertina! 

Unfortunately, they had just been to a festival so they didn't have a lot of stock and unfortunately I got there near closing and didn't really know what I was looking for. The very top end models were sold out. I had been prepared to buy a custom US made concertina but I didn't want to WAIT!  I ended up buying The Vintage

The Vintage was a giant leap over the Stagi! When I thought about it I didn't need a higher model above The Vintage. Though Sean did say he would always take it back for an upgrade at a future time if I wanted

I worked on playing it and it played well until the season started to change.  It leaked and played a bad bass note, sounded a little out of tune.  I ended up back in Dublin about 6 weeks later (impulse, unplanned, almost slept in the woods one night because of my inability to plan) and brought it back. No more leaks, The bad note sounded perfect. and I had been walking around in what we call a Boston Rain. You can't really see any rain but your face gets wet for the past week. I guess typical Dublin weather. It fixed the concertina and Sean must have thought I was a nutty American lol.

Now I know to tighten up those screws when I turn the heat on. My instructor, Lexie Boatright's concertina sounds a little out of tune to me and she just got it tuned. She says it is just as in tune as a fiddle player!!

So, I would definitely recommend The Vintage Concertina. It's way better than any of the mcneela by far, my only gripe is my hands are large and I wish that all buttons were just a little farther away. the inner row is too close for my big hands. Otherwise I'm very happy with it. The Vintage sounds great in my opinion.

Also, Sean seems to like to close up shop promptly. So, don't go late in the day. I did both visits and I felt a little rushed to get out of there.

Edited January 28 by Ray Wall

[David Lay]

Keep your instrument in its case with a Bóveda pack and small humidity monitor.  If you live where it gets very dry, you may need to add a small case humidfier.  Keep it between 40% and 60% RH.  There are a lot of discussions here about this, so do a search if you need more information.  (Also, try to keep the case and instrument at room temperature.)

Edited January 28 by David Lay