C#/G# concertina (Eb Anglo)

[Bothy1932]

Looking for a C/G Anglo concertina, with a 30 button Jeffries layout, but sounding in E flat (C#/G#).

[Richard Mellish]

I hoped someone else would respond by now, but as no-one has I will. I can't make sense of your requested keys. Do you want the basic keys to be C# and G# or do you want one of them to be E flat?

 

You'll have to go a long way to find a concertina with basic keys of C# and G#, but if you do find one it will have some D#s on both push and pull, as those would correspond to Ds on an ordinary C-G. Unless you also require non-equal-temperament tuning which makes D# different from E flat, you will have some E flat notes. If on the other hand you mean that you want one offering the key of E flat as one of its basic keys, that's going to be equally hard to find.

[John, Wexford]

Many current concertina makers will offer tuning options for their Anglo concertinas ranging from F/C right up to D/A.

[David Levine]

It is also possible to have a C/G concertina tuned up a half step, to the requested C#/G#. It would preferable to do this on an Anglo concertina with real concertina reeds (steel reeds in a brass frame), rather than re-tune a hybrid concertina (with accordion reeds waxed into place). That said, there is no reason why a hybrid concertina couldn't be tuned up a half-step. I haven't ever done it but it does seem possible.

[arti]

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Edited July 8, 2023 by arti

[Little John]

5 hours ago, Richard Mellish said:

I hoped someone else would respond by now, but as no-one has I will. I can't make sense of your requested keys. Do you want the basic keys to be C# and G# or do you want one of them to be E flat?

 

It's my understanding that Irish players play mainly in D on a C/G box. In consequence they refer to C/G concertinas as "D concertinas". Hence a C#/G# box is a "D# concertina". Or Eb.

[John, Wexford]

3 hours ago, Little John said:

 

It's my understanding that Irish players play mainly in D on a C/G box. In consequence they refer to C/G concertinas as "D concertinas". Hence a C#/G# box is a "D# concertina". Or Eb.

 

I suppose you could say that, when it comes to Irish Traditional Music on the Anglo Concertina, the concertina has two names: the formal name, as in the names of the rows - G/D, C/G, D/A etc. and the "nickname."

 

The nickname is usually one note above the first key, so a C/G would be a D or concert-pitch concertina. A C#/G# would be an E flat concertina, a B flat / F concertina would be a C concertina and an A flat / E flat concertina would be known as a B flat concertina.

[Richard Mellish]

Thanks for the nickname info, which was new to me. The OP's best bet would seem to be to get a C/G, of which there are plenty at all prices and qualities, and have it retuned a semitone up.

[John, Wexford]

The "nickname" is my description for the alternative name, and not anything formal.