2017 ICC Clare versus recent ICC Vintage

[PaulDa321]

Hello all,

 

I felt the need to make a concertina comparison video as I've obsessed over the differences between instruments in the past few years.  I'm definitely going to be showing some gaps in my knowledge. I'm mostly coming from a novice-player's perspective, as I'm going over the differences, and not so much a technician's perspective.  I've come to love both instruments a lot, but there were some things that I had to get used to.  The older Clare has tall narrow buttons and I had to adjust my attack a bit and come at the buttons more straight-on--this probably was good for me.  The Vintage has comparably shorter and more wiggly buttons that allow for me to hit them at different angles and still be comfortable. 

When I first got the Vintage the wiggly buttons made me nervous and I found that, depending on the wiggle of the button, that one pad wouldn't align completely with its hole.  I bent the arm a tiny bit (with considerable anxiety) using 2 pliers--one to stabilize and not torque the post.  It hasn't given me any trouble since.  I also noticed that a spring is leaning on a post, but it doesn't seem affect the playing.  I should add, that the wiggly buttons seem ok when playing--it doesn't feel like a moving target. I played an Edward Jay once and it had the same wiggly feeling to a greater degree, but it didn't present as a drawback in playing, from my perspective.

The bellows on the Clare are unmarked and I don't know who made them.  The Vintage Bellows are O'Connell Bellows.  The extension is very similar, though the Vintage has 7 folds. The Vintage requires far less air to play, whether this is due to the capacity of the bellows, nature of the reeds, or something else.  The Vintage Bellows feel much more stiff--and this made me nervous about the switch at first, but I don't feel like I am muscling them, as long as i'm in the sweet spot, and I rarely need to extend them far because of all of the air efficiency.  They seem to have the added benefit of stability/security in that, I'm not gripping the instrument as hard--my hand can almost sit in the strap without much thought.  This will probably change over time as I spent the last year or so really finding the right grip on the Clare.  I am hoping that they loosen up a bit.  I stretch them each time I play--I think that the ideal would be somewhere between the old Clare's card bellows and the Vintage's cloth/linen bellows.  The Vintage's bellows make a little bit of a sticky sound when pulling apart, but it doesn't seem to actually stick and I certainly don't hear it while playing.  I'm thinking of applying a shoe cream, but haven't yet.

I haven't owned a concertina that hasn't had quirks or didn't require some minor self-repair.  I owned a Phoenix for a month that required major bellows repair and sent that back.  I think that my experience so far is likely on-par with the norm, but I thought I would mention it for transparency.  The overall package of both of these has been great.  The Vintage is definitely an improvement overall from the Clare.  When I played them at the shop, the Eiru was an improvement over the Vintage.  While I think that the distance between the experience of Clare and Vintage is greater than the distance between the Vintage and Eiru, it still seems logical to me that, if you were buying new, you might as well spring for the Eiru.  I know that others might say that there isn't much to be gained from that, but I thought there was.  I could not tell the difference between the Eiru Gold and Silver, from my ears.

Here's the video. Hope it helps:

 

[Tiposx]

Nice playing. The Clare sounds like a very nice hybrid,which of course it is. The Vintage sounds just like the one I have. I have described this previously on the forum as " not like a hybrid, but not like a traditional reed instrument" (or words to that effect) and that shows through in the video.

 

[PaulDa321]

I am struggling a bit with the word “sweet” when describing tone. I used it in an attempt to characterize the reeds having a smooth and non-metallic sound, almost like a woodwind instrument. Am I using that correctly?  It’s almost slightly stuffy or woody, but not in a bad way. I thought Michael O’ Heidhin’s recording had a bit of that sound to it. Kind of a softness. Might have been his playing style. 
 

I do think that the Vintage exists in a strange space between the more professional concertina reeded instruments and the intermediate hybrids. I was far from ready to dish out 5k or 6k usd for an instrument that I take to a bar and I’m just not at that level yet. It’s nice to have that in-between and I’m not sure what else is out there to compare it to.   I wish I had a whole table of concertinas to compare!