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I've been told that I have in the shed more than a liftime supply of steel reed material. Add to this advice a few tools, a bit of skill with the dooks and a burning desire to make a concertina. Then I have to say this thread and the generous efforts of Henrik in the kitchen have given me just the fillip to get down and dirty and let the chips fly. First step I suppose is to make the music bits... the reed shoes and reeds. I can't see the point in having a fancy leather covered box that is just a box because it makes awful sounds. I might just toddle off top the local CNC man for a chat!

 

Thank you, thank you Henrik

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...

I know its counter-intuitive but a higher spring rate comes from less turns, not more...

 

Chris

Not to me it isn't - but that wasn't very clear from my comment.

What I meant was: if the spring turns out being too hard, I can always try one turn more.

 

But that's all history now - I have made springs (for the left side, so far)

- larger diameter, a world of difference, great improvement. Pictures will follow, when the

case is ready.

 

/Henrik

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I've been told that I have in the shed more than a liftime supply of steel reed material. Add to this advice a few tools, a bit of skill with the dooks and a burning desire to make a concertina. Then I have to say this thread and the generous efforts of Henrik in the kitchen have given me just the fillip to get down and dirty and let the chips fly. First step I suppose is to make the music bits... the reed shoes and reeds. I can't see the point in having a fancy leather covered box that is just a box because it makes awful sounds. I might just toddle off top the local CNC man for a chat!

 

Thank you, thank you Henrik

You are most welcome! And a brave man you are, for your first post in this forum, that is :D . Let's hear more about it!

/Henrik

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You are most welcome! And a brave man you are, for your first post in this forum, that is :D . Let's hear more about it!

/Henrik

 

Progress so far is a make-do bellows, a few reeds knocked up out of said reed material and a shoe or two to hold the reeds. I wanted to make sure I wasn't being had or having my leg pulled! They were pretty rough and ready and not a pretty sight by any stretch but I got some noise out of them. I then had a bit of success tuning them, so reckon I'm off and running. I don't however intend making sixty shoes by the same method or out of the same aluminium window moulding. That's one job I'll leave to the repetition experts once I get a digital file prepared. I don't expect I'll be finished the concertina by the weekend so the next progress report will be a ways off. Thanks for the encouragement in any case

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi all,

 

I recently had the opportunity to meet with Henrik and inspect his concertina. I feel that some comment is deserved.

 

Henrik has constructed an instrument that can be truly classed as a concertina that meets the criteria he set for himself.

 

Although he has used some parts that have been ‘made out’, he has produced a fully working model that demonstrates his preferences and has shown a high degree of skill in the parts that he has made himself.

 

Whilst the concertina may not readily suit established players of the English system, I hope that interest will be generated among new players from the production of this instrument.

 

I think, and I am sure that Henrik will agree, that his original title, ‘Kitchen Table Concertina Making’ for this project may have been a bit optimistic realising the difficulties encountered along the way

 

Overall, I must congratulate Henrik for putting his thoughts into practice and presenting to the public a concertina he should feel proud of.

 

Geoff Crabb

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  • 3 months later...

Hi, all C.netters -

 

May I guess that more than a few of you have had the thought "So - the instrument is ready - and then what...?"

 

I am aiming at my four months of complete silence about the project. In retrospect the months have been one blur of work, work, travel and lots of "no time, sorry" - nothing unique there.

 

But the months have also been spent with Geoff's very encouraging words in mind (thanks, Geoff!) - looking back at the Bradfield weekend and Eigse Mrs. Crotty the following week, I now realise how new to me the instrument was. I am sure all recognize the feeling of "growing" into an instrument and in this case it has taken a number of months. A good metaphore is probably "like getting a new pair of shoes".

 

The changed layout

No little finger rest, wide button spacing horizontally, an angled handrest and a handstrap - now feels as good as I hoped for. There are things I can do on this, which I can't do on a standard EC, or at least only with difficulty.

 

The sound

There is thread running about accordion versus concertina reeds ("Why use accordion reeds?"). Without digging too deep, my opinion is that the key point is best stated with Rich Morse's comment (Dec. 11): that 90% of the sound is determined by the construction (quoting Rich):

 

...the way the reeds are mounted (banks vs. pans and everything in between including proportions, surfaces reflectivity/dampening, resultant airflow dynamics....) accounts for about 90% of the way the reeds sound - IF everything else were identical (pad and pad holes, action, bellows, endframes, fretwork, et.).

 

But after fiddling with little screws and frustration over not being able to see what goes on on the inside the chamber (valves sticking etc), I can only conclude that it is hard to beat the traditional way of slotting individual, shoed reeds into a dovetailed track. Simplicity rules.

 

I am quite satisfied with the sound of most of the notes (!). But some of them stick out, and reading the "Article On Cavity Resonance Now Available" and the following comments put me on track. So far I haven't done anything thab play with spreadsheets and grapher programs, but that's interesting enough.

 

The first effort in the new year will be changes to some of the chambers - some of they are much too deep, and I can see that the overtones (2nd, 3rd, 4th) of certain notes coincide with the chamber resonance - if I can trust that calculation, which I don't. But there's a practical way to verify that. Time to do something again!

 

Oh, yes - and stronger springs (again) - the buttons are still too trigger-happy.

 

Conclusion

The kitchen table, which is also the dining table, is in 2 hours going to be filled the delights of Swedish/Danish Christmas food, so I am outta here!

 

A Very Merry Christmas to all of you!

 

/Henrik

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Henrik, I was very impressed with your project when we met in Kilrush. I really enjoyed playing tunes with you, and found that your instrument fit well into any session I heard you playing in. I only wish I had some clue as to how to play a tune on an English concertina, and would have loved to play one on yours. I have had many friends build whisltes or even guitars and mandolins from formulas in publication, but you really did it on your own after much study and carefel analysis. Have a great new year, and enjoy your big Christmas.

 

All the best,

Lawrence Reeves

Florida

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