Is the C/G 30 button Anglo concertina the most available of all concertinas for purchase today?

[Jody Kruskal]

I'm working on a new book of my tunes for the C/G 30 button Anglo concertina. Here is the start of my introduction. Do you think the second sentence is really true?

 

"This book is a collection of my original tunes edited and transposed for harmonic play on the C/G 30 button Anglo concertina. If you buy a concertina today, that is the kind you will likely get."

Edited August 24, 2023 by Jody Kruskal

[alex_holden]

Maybe "If you buy a newly manufactured concertina today"? The second hand market still has more variety.

[Roger Hare]

On 8/24/2023 at 5:34 AM, alex_holden said:

Maybe "If you buy a newly manufactured concertina today"? The second hand market still has more variety.

I spent some time thinking about this yesterday.

 

I think the premise outlined in the title of the thread is pretty much the case, even with AH's suggested modification of that second sentence.

 

It's a self-perpetuating cycle innit (chicken and egg)?

 

Someone writes a tutor/tune book based on C/G Anglo, so

Someone buys a C/G Anglo, so

Someone else writes another tutor/tune book based on C/G Anglo, so

Someone else buys another C/G Anglo...

...and so on...

 

Nothing wrong with that, but I'd love to see a tutor/tune book with carefully selected tunes aimed at G/D Anglo, if only to redress the balance a little...

 

 

Edited August 25, 2023 by lachenal74693

[SIMON GABRIELOW]

I would not think it really matters what key instrument is in as long as you have a chromatic choice of notes you can play in multiple different keys(as that is what those additional notes on rows are for).

 

[gcoover]

I don't think it's the tunebooks that started this! They address the market of the instruments that are predominantly available, and for most of history the C/G 20-button has been far and away the most common, with C/G being the most common for 30-button, especially for the cheaper mass-produced instruments.

 

I've not seen anyone break down the estimated numbers by keys, but I'd hazard a guess of 90% C/G, 5% Bb/F, 3% G/D, and 2% other. I have no doubt this will stir up some interesting responses!

 

Gary

 

[Ken_Coles]

Either the dealers or the folks doing the Lachenal dating project could give you an estimate of proportions by tuning - they've made records of hundreds of instruments from the largest maker of yore. Maybe they will chime in here.

 

Ken

[Geoffrey Crabb]

14 hours ago, gcoover said:

I don't think it's the tunebooks that started this! They address the market of the instruments that are predominantly available, and for most of history the C/G 20-button has been far and away the most common, with C/G being the most common for 30-button, especially for the cheaper mass-produced instruments.

 

I've not seen anyone break down the estimated numbers by keys, but I'd hazard a guess of 90% C/G, 5% Bb/F, 3% G/D, and 2% other. I have no doubt this will stir up some interesting responses!

 

Gary

 

 

Gary, your probably right but looking back 100 years plus, the following break-down of the 114 Anglos made in the  Crabb workshop between September 1889 and December 1891, shows how things have changed.

Anglos made:

                          G & D.  - 32 Button (1). Total 1

                          Bb & F. - 31 button (12). 32 button (5).Total 17

                          B & F#. - 20 button (20). 26 button (11). 31 button (22). 32 button (22) Total 75

                          C & G. - 31 button (13). 32 button (7). 40 button (1) Total 21

 

Apologies Jodie, not really relevant, but may be of interest to some.

Good luck with the Book.

 

Geoff

 

[Roger Hare]

16 hours ago, gcoover said:

I don't think it's the tunebooks that started this!...for most of history the C/G 20-button has been far and away the most common...

I've not seen anyone break down the estimated numbers by keys, but I'd hazard a guess of 90% C/G, 5% Bb/F, 3% G/D, and 2% other. I have no doubt this will stir up some interesting responses!

I hope the hypothetical 'time-line' in my earlier response to JK's question wasn't perceived as starting anything? That was certainly not my intention. That 'time-line' could equally well have been presented as:

Someone buys a C/G Anglo, so

Someone writes a tutor/tune book based on C/G Anglo, so...

...and so on...

The order is immaterial, and my remarks were merely a general observation that there seems to be no widely available tutor/tune book available (as far as I'm aware) which is aimed primarily at G/D Anglo-ers, and that it would perhaps be nice if there was.

Many moons ago, there was an article (by Ken Coles) here entitled If it's not a C/G, what is it?, but I can't find it now. It came to some conclusions about the relative popularity of different configurations which (more or less) matched GC's own conclusion.

Whatever, any book authored/edited/compiled by JK is something to look forward to, even if it's scored for Patagonian nose flute in the key of Cbmaj...

________________________
For other reasons, at the same time, I did a breakdown of the tunes in my 'master tune book' (ABC), and came up with more tunes 'suitable' for 20-button G/D (9359) than for 30-button C/G (8451). I hadn't done such an analysis before, and the result surprised me! I dunno where that leaves us...? Maybe G/D players are really an 'oppressed majority'?😊

 

 

 

Edited August 26, 2023 by lachenal74693

[Ken_Coles]

2 hours ago, lachenal74693 said:

Many moons ago, there was an article (by Ken Coles) here entitled If it's not a C/G, what is it?, but I can't find it now. It came to some conclusions about the relative popularity of different configurations which (more or less) matched GC's own conclusion.

 

 

Here it is. It was based on my anecdotal experience, and is out of date. Many of the missing combinations have since turned up, at least once or twice.

 

Ken

Edited August 26, 2023 by Ken_Coles
Edited to note that many links in the article no longer work - sorry.

[Roger Hare]

4 hours ago, Ken_Coles said:

 

Here it is. It was based on my anecdotal experience, and is out of date. Many of the missing combinations have since turned up, at least once or twice.

Thanks! It may be 'anecdotal' and out of date, but it was (and still is) interesting. I took a copy at the time I read it, but failed to record the URL...

[Kathryn Wheeler]

On 8/26/2023 at 5:19 PM, Geoffrey Crabb said:

 

Gary, your probably right but looking back 100 years plus, the following break-down of the 114 Anglos made in the  Crabb workshop between September 1889 and December 1891, shows how things have changed.

Anglos made:

                          G & D.  - 32 Button (1). Total 1

                          Bb & F. - 31 button (12). 32 button (5).Total 17

                          B & F#. - 20 button (20). 26 button (11). 31 button (22). 32 button (22) Total 75

                          C & G. - 31 button (13). 32 button (7). 40 button (1) Total 21

 

Apologies Jodie, not really relevant, but may be of interest to some.

Good luck with the Book.

 

Geoff

 

 

This is fascinating, thankyou!  I am suspecting that who and what you want to play concertina with is having a big influence.