project Making The Concertari

[Hypnotic Melody]

I've been chewing on an idea for a while: something like the Commodordian (search it up on YouTube, it's incredible) but for the concertina. The idea that's come from that is The Concertari. A concertina made from two Atari systems mashed together! This post is mainly just to get myself to work harder on actually doing this project, but I would love any sort of advice anyone could give as well!

[RAc]

sounds great, thumbs up, go for it!

 

My only advice from personal experience is this: Always remember the 80:20 rule. Initially, you have a lot of momentum and get 80% of the project done pretty smoothly, but suddenly you realize that you need another four times the effort to finish the rest... can become fairly discouraging, most hobby projects get sacked at that time.

 

Sooo... make sure you have a plan A and B for every phase. Make sure you can keep the momentum going.

 

Best of luck!

 

Btw, it goes pretty much without saying, but the guy who built the gizmo is a damn good musician who probably played the piano for most of his life. Building that instrument probably was some icing on the cake for him (or he just tried to make a market niche that distinguishes him from a batallion of other musicians as good as him), but he would still sound good on any other instrument. So even finishimg your project (which would be great) does not mean you can play the Maple Leaf Rag from scratch. Practicing any instrument is not negotiable for musicianship, keep playing whatever while building your time machine!

[Hypnotic Melody]

Thank you for the advice! My current plans can be seen here: (https://app.milanote.com/1StRKN1KwpQwab?p=1eXVEAVsNmu)

And yeah, I totally get that 80:20 rule. Tons of projects have gone that way for me, and I'm gonna try to break that pattern with this one!

[Hypnotic Melody]

Oh also, do you have any ideas on what to do for the bellows? I can't really think of anything Atari based to make em out of, so unless someone has an idea for it, I'll probably just make some bland bellows.

[RAc]

it depends on whether you plan on using air pressure sensors; if yes, you will need air tight bellows which are much more elaborate than skeleton bellows.

 

I am experimenting with infra red distance meter transceivrs:

 

 

for which I can use anything that manages to spread the ends apart, no air tightness required. I considered scissor lift constructions and telescop bars but for now ended up with gussetless bellows made from cardboard and cambric tape. Search for Bob Tedrow and Zephyr, and you will get to a photo series in which he sketches out a process to make bellows (fairly late in the series).

[Hypnotic Melody]

Alright, I think making it air-tight would be neat and all, but a distance sensor would also do well, I think. I'll think on all of it