Question for Baritone English players....

[Matthew Heumann]

I've seen many pictures and videos of English-system Baritone & Baritone -treble concertinas and have noticed that the bellows folds vary greatly from 5-fold to as many as 8+. My question to those who play: Have any of you baritone players (or those with a baritone range concertina) found fewer folds to be a handicap to your playing? I seem to remember 20 years ago or so, when I had an excellent 6-fold baritone that it always had plenty of playing time in each direction. What's your experience?
 

[Paul_Hardy]

My George Case baritone (https://pghardy.net/concertina/case_baritone/case_baritone.html) only has 5-fold bellows, and I've never found it a problem. Mind you, my playing style tends to reverse bellows direction every couple of bars.

[Tiposx]

I had a Morse with 6 fold bellows. I only played itm on it, but my friend played melody with harmony without any problems. He didn’t play sustained chords though.
It was fine with the standard bellows but a more supple set would have been even nicer. My answer to your question is 6 or 7 folds, but the quality is as important.

[Steve Mansfield]

I regularly play harmony/backing multi-note chords on my Morse baritone and, whilst it sometimes needs a bit of thinking about and planning, I can get a lot done before I start running out of air (and the occasional bellows reversal can be used to emphasise a beat or a word in the song. 

 

So yes more folds would always be useful, but the 6 folds of the Morse give a lot of air to play with. 

[Matthew Heumann]

Having played one, you Morse Baritone players have one big advantage over the more traditional vintage baritones, that is that your concertina is much smaller and the accordion reeds need a little less air to sound. But that's all Kosher! Thanks for the response!

[Geoff Wooff]

A  few  years  ago  I  tried  a Morse Baritone  and  found  it  wanting  in  its  air  supply  in  comparison  to  my  8 inch  octagonal Wheastsone  with    seven  fold  bellows.  Perhaps  it  is  mostly  a case of  'what  one is  used to'  and  for  a  single  note  melody  player  the  Morse  would  have  been  fine.

 

Even  when  playing   the  Baritone-Treble  with  chordal  accompaniment,  for  the  most  part,  I  still have  more  air   than I  need .  On  second  thoughts,  after  a  test  with  a  couple  of  larger  arrangements,  there  is  sufficient  wind but  a big  chord  can  use  a  significant  amount  of  the  seven fold  length.

Edited March 19, 2024 by Geoff Wooff

[Paul_Hardy]

On 3/18/2024 at 2:42 PM, Paul_Hardy said:

My George Case baritone (https://pghardy.net/concertina/case_baritone/case_baritone.html) only has 5-fold bellows, and I've never found it a problem. Mind you, my playing style tends to reverse bellows direction every couple of bars.

 

... And I'm generally only playing one note at a time, other than for final ending chord, as I mainly use it for part-planing in duets/ensembles/bands. I see that others are using their baritones for chordal accompaniments and I can see that five-fold bellows could be a problem then.